Rip-Off!

By: John Scalzi, Jack Campbell, Mike Resnick, Allen Steele, Lavie Tidhar, Nancy Kress, Gardner Dozois - editor

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton, Scott Brick, Christian Rummel, Jonathan Davis, Stefan Rudnicki, L. J. Ganser, Khristine Hvam

Audie Award Finalist, Original Work, 2014

In Rip-Off!, 13 of today’s best and most honored writers of speculative fiction face a challenge even they would be hard-pressed to conceive: Pick your favorite opening line from a classic piece of fiction (or even non-fiction) - then use it as the first sentence of an entirely original short story.

In the world of Rip-Off!, "Call me Ishmael" introduces a tough-as-nails private eye - who carries a harpoon; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz inspires the tale of an aging female astronaut who’s being treated by a doctor named Dorothy Gale; and Huckleberry Finn leads to a wild ride with a foul-mouthed riverboat captain who plies the waters of Hell.

Once you listen to Rip-Off! you’ll agree: If Shakespeare or Dickens were alive today, they’d be ripping off the authors in this great collection.

The stories included in Rip-Off! are:

• "Fireborn" by Robert Charles Wilson
• "The Evening Line" by Mike Resnick
• "No Decent Patrimony" by Elizabeth Bear
• "The Big Whale" by Allen M. Steele
• "Begone" by Daryl Gregory
• "The Red Menace" by Lavie Tidhar
• "Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi
• "Writer’s Block" by Nancy Kress
• "Highland Reel" by Jack Campbell
• "Karin Coxswain or Death as She Is Truly Lived" by Paul Di Filippo
• "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal
• "Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams
• "Declaration" by James Patrick Kelly

As a bonus, the authors introduce their stories, explaining what they ripped-off - and why.

Rip-Off! was produced in partnership with SFWA - Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Gardner Dozois served as project editor.

The full list of narrators includes: Wil Wheaton, Scott Brick, Christian Rummel, Jonathan Davis, Khristine Hvam, L.J. Ganser, Stefan Rudnicki, David Marantz, Nicola Barber, Dina Pearlman, Allyson Johnson, Marc Vietor, and Ilyana Kadushin.

©2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Thirteen authors, eight narrators--this themed anthology has something for everyone…. Longtime narrators Scott Brick and Stefan Rudnicki rub elbows with Star Trek alum Wil Wheaton and five others. The varied narrators mean that there's no common delivery style, but it's safe to say that everyone involved was having fun." (AudioFile)

I CARRY A HARPOON

Soliloquy On Ducks?
There are some really good stories included in this collection and some really bad stories in my opinion. Having read some of the other reviews, this is a very subjective thing. Some of the stories I thought were horrible, others loved. This is an original anthology, which are never as good as a best of anthology. Don't get me wrong Dozois is the best editor out there and he is a great writer. My theory is when an editor does a original themed collection, then he contracts with writers and gives them the rules. He is not going to insult a popular writer by turning done his story, so he is stuck with whatever he gets. In a best of he choses among stories already written and published. There is one writer included who seems to get in all of these original collections, whose stories are always painful to listen to. I will not mention this writer by name as the last time I did someone, went into my history of reviews and sabotaged me. If you get the collection and you hear a story that includes a soliloquy on ducks in the middle of it, you will know who I am talking about.

AGGRESIVE FISHING
One of the best things about anthologies his hearing from authors you have never heard of before. My favorite story was by Mary Robinette Kowal, who I have never heard of before. Her story "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" is a very touching story and is very believable. It touches on some very true subject matters that astronauts may be dealing with in the future. Allen Steele, Tad Williams and Mike Resnick write some very funny stories and these three stories are worth the price of the anthology.

ALMOST BLONDE ANNIE
The Big Whale by Steele is very funny and should by enjoyed by all, but will be especially enjoyable if you have read Moby Dick. HIS MISTAKE WAS, HE BROUGHT A GUN TO A HARPOON FIGHT.
Tad Williams does a rewrite of Genesis, involving God's daughter. Thanks to her trees are upside down, fish swim in the sea and not the ground, etc...
Mike Resnick has some huge LOL moments in his Noir story. In this story the names of the characters are hilarious by themselves. You will meet Almost Blonde Annie, Snake Hips Levine, Loose Lips Sally, Bodacious Belinda. and Bedroom Eyes Bernice just to name a few.
Robert Charles Wilson's story Fireborn is included in Dozois 30th Best of the Year Collection.

Most of the narrators are good, there were a couple I did not care for, but as a whole they were good.

GUNS ARE FOR LOSERS

Brilliance mixed in with not so much

Overall the concept is great. The reality was that it turned out very uneven. I enjoyed it, and if they ever decide to do something like it again, I'll probably buy it. Met some interesting authors I hadn't read and now will - and a couple I certainly won't.

Still - I enjoyed it and recommend it. Just be ready for the potholes in the road.

Mostly great - a mix of story types and narrators

This is a varied mix of stories and narrators, with something for most everyone if not always appealing to the same reader. Some very clever stories including some that take twists you don't expect. Humor, tragedy, science fiction, and fantasy in a Whitman's sampler of literature!

Did not enjoy stories

Did not like the stories. Performances were great however did not like the characters in most stories.

Some Great, some good, some to skip

Would you listen to Rip-Off! again? Why?

Yes just for the few great stories. you can tell which ones after the first 3 minutes of listening.

What did you like best about this story?

John Scalzi as always. Although Short, this has to be one of his best stories every.

Something for everyone!

If you get one book this year, get this one. It's the best of the best. a smorgasborg of a literary type.

Not bad but the stories were kind of all over the place

I enjoyed maybe half of the stories in this collection. That’s not to say that they were bad, they were just all very different from one another. Different styles for different tastes.
I do have one complaint, though. The first story in the collection took its opening from a book and author I’ve never heard of. I recognized all of the opening lines except that one. It seems very weak planning to open a book of stories about ripping off famous first lines with a story using an opening line from a little known author.

Great short stories!!

Would you consider the audio edition of Rip-Off! to be better than the print version?

The narration by some of these narrators was great. The book introduced my to some new narrators I will seek out.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I like the "Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" story. I thought the concept was great and I had a great chuckle. Great job Tad Williams.

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoyed the opening story. The imagery of folks flying through the sky was done well. I enjoyed "Highland Reel", the concept was great with a good story.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was taken by Wil Wheaton's narration, he surprised me. As I said previously, Tad Williams' story was a good touching story. The astronaut story was touching.

Any additional comments?

I truly enjoyed this book. Thank you.

Fantastic

I only read books that are part of a series, this is my first collection of short stories and I couldn't be happier with my purchase! I had previously read/listened to at least one book from every author that took part in Rip-Off! which is what caught my attention to begin with. Many of the stories leave you wanting more, which is a great thing to me, and all of them were narrated wonderfully. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in fantasy and/or sci-fi.

The SciFi is hit-or-miss, mainly miss

What did you like best about Rip-Off!? What did you like least?

The Concept. Most of the authors involved are well known and I like their other books. So they pick a first line of some other novel to base their short piece on. Sounded interesting with an interesting group of authors, and the narrators looked good, too. Only about half of the stories are SciFi. Well, written stories, but uninteresting to me. If I wanted to read about 1920's Chicago or prewar Germany, I would look in period fiction. I am not saying this is bad writing, just not Sci-Fi.

Would you ever listen to anything by the authors again?

I won't be buying any more with this format, but these are great authors, so yes. BTW, the listen button just gave too little information on this book to make a decision.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Narration was fine, though it was WIL WHEATON that mislead me. ("WIL WHEATON!" shouted like Sheldon on TBBT.) I love his narration and I probably wouldn't have bought it if his name hadn't been on there with Resnick and several others. WIL WHEATON!

Any additional comments?

I am a pretty hard core Sci-Fi reader. So these shorts that had fantasy, period fiction, with a touch of real science fiction just didn't do it for me. I can tell you that most of the writing was good, though I didn't make it all the way through the book. So take my rating stars based on your leanings.