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The Salvage Crew

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The Salvage Crew

By: Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
Narrated by: Nathan Fillion
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Summary

Award-winning actor Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle, The Rookie) brings to life a snarky artificial intelligence you won't soon forget. Don't miss his hilarious performance in a story perfectly crafted for sci-fi fans of The Martian, Red Dwarf, and We Are Legion (We Are Bob).

They thought this was just another salvage job. They thought wrong.

An AI overseer and a human crew arrive on a distant planet to salvage an ancient UN starship. The overseer is unhappy. The crew, well, they're certainly no A-team. Not even a C-team on the best of days. And worse? Urmahon Beta, the planet, is at the ass-end of nowhere. Everybody expects this to be a long, ugly, and thankless job.

Then it all goes disastrously wrong. What they thought was an uninhabited backwater turns out to be anything but empty. Megafauna roam the land, a rival crew with some terrifyingly high-powered gear haunts the dig site, and a secret that will change humanity forever is waiting in the darkness.

Stuck on this unmapped, hostile planet, lacking resources, and with tech built by the cheapest bidder, the salvage crew must engineer their way to payday...and beat Urmahon Beta before it kills them all.

©2020 Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (P)2020 Podium Audio Fiction First Contact Science Fiction Space Opera Solar System Funny Witty Thought-Provoking Fantasy

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Critic reviews

"Yudhanjaya Wijeratne's ingeniously crafted The Salvage Crew starts with a comforting science-fictional familiarity, before using its A.I.-co-authored idiosyncrasies to hurtle headlong into the gravity well of its considerable ambition. A novel of meteoric energy, flaring brighter and brighter as it falls further into its world." (Indrapamit Das, Lambda Award-winning author of The Devourers)

"A classic sci-fi adventure wrapped around a deeply philosophical core. With skillful plotting, interesting details, and a motley crew of humans and A.I., it's a story that embraces its meta-origins...with an ending worth waiting for." (S.B. Divya, Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated author of Runtime and Machinehood)

"With animation and wry humor, Fillion introduces listeners to OC, an artificially intelligent yet poetic overseer...with tenderness and sorrow [he] conveys OC's dawning realization that their mission has turned into a nightmare. Fillion's talents are undeniable...." (Audiofile Magazine)
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Other than the sultry tones of Nathan Fillion, I wasn't sure what to expect from this story. The blurb suggests a comedy on par with Red Dwarf and Hitchikers Guide, and I guess there are elements, but it surprised me with something much deeper. It's philosophy. It's sometimes poetry. It's often funny but, it is not a comedy.

Nathan Fillion clearly loves this story and he demonstrates flawless understanding of authorial intent in his narration. Compelling and entertaining, comical and thoughtful, this story was such a break from the norm.

At only one point did I feel the story stagnated but it was brief. The narration is interdispersed with occasional complex poetry so, be prepared but don't fixate on understanding the prose, it isn't essential to the story. Enjoy it or let it flow over you, there's action and drama aplenty!

Plot: Following the trials and triumphs of a mismatched, underfunded crew on what appears to be a simple salvage op, the crew and their sentient, once-human AI, called an overseer, stumble on something that has much wider consequences, for them, the company and humanity as a species.
The sarcastic and esoteric AI must try his best to keep the crew alive while they work together (occasionally) to make sense of the situation and make the best of what grim existence can be had out here amongst the alien flora and baffling fauna.

A refreshing, at times comical, survival story.

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The narration is worthy of the depth of story. Yudhanjaya has created a thought-provoking story full of action and existential posture, which at no point appears preachy or dull.
Nathan Fillion’s performance was enjoyable from start to finish.
I put off my plans to listen to this book in a single day. Highly recommended.

Weird, brilliant, deep.

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Bought it for Nathan Fillion, stayed for the story. Nathan's performance is amazing, so immersive, funny and dramatic when needed. The story is an interesting take on space exploration. For someone that does not read a lot of Sci-Fi, this was very enjoyable!

Awesome performance, great story!

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Very smart in its approach and it’s story. The world building is clever and the ride is worth it. Small band of salvagers on the raggedy edge. Wonderful performance from Captain Reynolds

Hard SciFi but accessible for those not of the genre

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The story started brilliantly but became maudlin and repetitive until the end, when it became utterly hopeless. Got this as it was much hyped in the press, unfortunately the comparisons drawn between this and Clarke's work detract horribly from the latter. Narration by Fillion was excellent though - the only thing that made it possible to stick with it to the end. Disappointed.

Outstanding narration let down by story...

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