Deodand

A METAtropolis Story

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Deodand

By: Karl Schroeder

Narrated by: Jonathan Frakes

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About this listen

Interpol investigator Gennady Malianov finds himself in Immigration limbo. Then, a temporary gig comes along that could solve his problems. But what he finds out about the nature of consciousness and morality could change the world.

This story was originally published in the Audie Award-winning METAtropolis: Cascadia.

Anthologies & Short Stories

Science Fiction

Fiction

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I'm a big Karl Schroeder fan but this was a boring story. Like its predecessor, To Hie from Far Cilenia, this tale seems more interested in explaining its ideas about virtual communities and the development of technology than telling a good story. Most of it is tiresome exposition, with the lead character, Gennady, saying, "You mean...[insert info dump about technology]" before he moves to another location to do the same thing again. Pity, because the earlier Gennady stories, and the later Laika's Ghost are modern classics, according to me. Also a word about the narration: it's really bad, with a dreadful Ukrainian accent for Gennady, which makes it very offputting.

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