I, Starship

A Space Opera

By: Scott Bartlett

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

As a Marine, Henry Morgan would have said it was more likely he’d die from enemy fire than from being struck by a flying lawnmower while at a baseball game.

But it was the lawnmower that ended up taking him out.

A century later, Henry wakes up as a reconstituted intelligence, and is promptly drafted to be the governing AI for America’s first military starship. After decades of model-trained AIs wreaking havoc across the globe, humanity is ready to try something a little more…human.

Henry is perfect. For one thing, as a reconstituted intelligence, he has no rights and can be forced to do the bidding of the powers that be. For another, he’s the only Heritage Mind™ with any military experience that survived the Great Power Surge of 2072.

So, Henry’s it.

Blastoff, good Henry! Our hopes and dreams go with you. Oh, and while you’re at it, could you take a look at the aliens setting up shop in our asteroid belt? They seem to be…multiplying.

Download I, Starship now and grab the edge of your seat for this bold new space opera.

©2024 Scott Bartlett (P)2025 Scott Bartlett

Great new SciFi story with excellent narration

Scott hits it out of the park with his new Science Fiction series. He takes the concept of the main character becomes an AI, or RM in this series. The series has great world building, and the characters are well done and believable. In typical Scott fashion, he ties deeper issues into this book, such as, how people may treat or think of RMs, and discrimination they have to endure. Between the world building, the main story arc, the characters, and the underlying issues he ties into it, I’ll definitely be checking out the next book in the series.

Mark Boyett nails the narration, as always. He’s a fantastic narrator, and he gives all the characters distinct voices, does accents well, and will put emotion into the voices when appropriate.

This audiobook was provided by the author at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Great story, excellent narrator

Great story and different from other first-contact Sci-Fi tales. As a sci-fi fan I really enjoyed this one and will purchase parts 3 & 4.

A fun story and a fantastic pairing.

I’ve listened to a few audiobooks by Scott Bartlett and Mark Boyett. They are an excellent combination.

Even though I’m not very versed (aka interested) in the military aspects, I still enjoyed the story, characters and world building. I often had the book on while doing other things. There were some parts that required more focus though, especially in the second section.

Mark Boyett’s voice acting brings the characters to life. His ability to distinguish each voice reminds me of Luke Daniels narration of Philip K. Dick’s book Ubik.

I felt bad for Henry. He got the short end of the stick trying to navigate his new “life”. I loved his handling of pretending to be the assist bot during the later portion of the book. Him playing a short musical jingle like modern appliances do and his quips were golden. Henry not only getting a few clever jabs in at his situation, and the crew, but also being able to do so in a way that imitates and mocks G.A.R.Y. was cleverly written.

I’m looking forward to more of this series in the near future.

Good listen

Mark does an excellent job narrating. Book 1 was pretty good, keep me engaged, I think more could have been written about Henry during the humans sleep phase. Book 2 is okay, I was disappointed when the aliens were cats. It’s always disappointing when an author uses earth life for the aliens. The space battles were good, I wish he had gone in to more detail on Marines boarding action, it was action lacking. Overall it’s worth a listen if you have some extra credits

A fun story about an intriguing new world

This set contains the first two books in the I, Starship series by Scott Bartlett. Taken individually I would give book one 5 stars and book two 4. Both books contain plenty of the action and character work Scott Bartlett is known for.

The first book was lighter and more comedic in tone as the reconstituted mind Henry learns how to survive and thrive in his new environment. Of course, there are plenty of challenges to that thriving. Looking at you, Gary.

Book 2 brings back the grittier military feel of Bartlett's other works, as the Interchange begins to find itself becoming part of the wider galactic community. It's cool seeing them interact with the other cultures they encounter. Bartlett's creativity truly comes to the fore as he describes these encounters.

I think I slightly prefer the lighter side shown in the first book. Henry is an engaging character and I enjoyed watching him adapt and persevere in spite of the obstacles in front of him. There was some of that in the second book but it was all over the first one. Not that the second book was bad, or even worse. It was just a different vibe. Both are well worth the listen.

Kudos as usual to Mark Boyett, who lent his voice and skills to the audio presentation. I cannot imagine listening to a Bartlett book with any voice other than Boyett's on the narration. They are truly a dream team. I can't wait to listen to the second collection.