HUGO AWARD-WINNING SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY MAGAZINE
The Things
2011 Hugo Award Nominee, 2010 BSFA Award Finalist, 2010 Shirley Jackson Award Nominee, 2010 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction Story, 2011 Finalist: the Locus Award for Best Short Story, 2011 Theodore Sturgeon Award Nominee
The first half of this month's audio fiction is The Things written Peter Watts and read by Kate Baker.
Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 40 - The Things by Peter Watts [53:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (81049)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter Watts—author of Blindsight, Echopraxia, and the Rifters Trilogy, among other things—seems especially popular among people who don't know him. At least, he wins most of his awards overseas except for a Hugo (won thanks to fan outrage over an altercation with Homeland Security) a Jackson (won thanks to fan sympathy over nearly dying from flesh-eating disease), and a couple of dick-ass Canadian awards you've probably never heard of. Blindsight is a core text for university courses ranging from Philosophy to Neuropsychology, despite an unhealthy focus on space vampires. Watts's work is available in nineteen languages.
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ISSN 1937-7843 Clarkesworld Magazine © 2006-2019 Wyrm Publishing. Robot illustration by Serj Iulian.
Janbo wrote on January 24th, 2010 at 9:26 pm:
My first visit to Clarkesworld, and I get to hear an excellent audio rendition of a story by one of my favorite writers. Containing my joy will be difficult. Thanks to Kate Baker for the subtle, deliciously inflected reading. I will return -- with any luck, accompanied by monetary support for this fine website.
Zontar wrote on February 14th, 2010 at 2:20 am:
Wow! I've heard some good audio fiction before. I've heard audio fiction that expanded on favorite, even beloved works of art or literature. But this is the first time that I've heard (or read) a story that actually improved--*fixed*, even--the work from which it stems!
John Dodds wrote on September 28th, 2010 at 3:21 pm:
Beautifully written, cerrtainly. And another excellent reading by Kate. One person commented about the text story that it was poetic. I agree with that. Except, unlike good poetry, I felt it was too long and rather belaboured its point. Pesonally I felt it would have worked better at a shorter length. But I may be completely wrong about what Mr Watts was trying to do. He is absolutely a terrific writer. And a reworking of a classic story from another protagonist's point of view has been done before, but The Thing was a really surprising project to tackle in this way. On the other hand, it contained many great concepts and ideas - the idea of the human brain being a thinking cancer was absolutely brilliant! And the ideas kept coming. I applaud that in a science fiction story.
Patrick Johnston wrote on January 1st, 2013 at 12:50 pm:
Whoever we are now, we loved this story!
In my head, I have imagined various sequels and prequels to the original.
I even watched the abysmal recent movie prequel....... and died a little inside!
This alien-angle story however was an epiphany.
I simply loved it.
Great work.
Sergey wrote on October 18th, 2015 at 5:52 pm:
I was reading an article on Wiki about the books which won Hugo. There was this British author Peter Watts with his book "The things''. The story sounds attractive, so I tried to find an audio-book version.
Please, read it.
Mike wrote on May 11th, 2016 at 8:19 pm:
I have never listened to any audio fiction. I was an audio fiction virgin. Clarksworld couldnt have changed my status more perfectly. This is a simply beautiful story, beautifully written. But, more importantly, beautifully read by Kate Baker. Im glad to say listening to these stories has become a nightly ritual.
Languorous Lass wrote on April 22nd, 2017 at 2:11 pm:
My reaction is closest to that of John Dodds: That the story belabored its point and was too long. Plus I didn't like the last line. Had the narrator learned that much about humans that he understood the concept of rape? He (I'm assuming the narrator is a "he") had barely come to understand that humans and other sentence beings on this planet are separate consciousnesses. I had heard so many good things about this story, but now that I've actually experienced it, I'm disappointed.