A narrator well-known and well-liked in the world of science-fiction and fantasy, Mary Robinette Kowal was the perfect choice for the audio edition of Michael R. Underwood’s The Shootout Solution: Genrenauts Episode 1. A Hugo award-winning author of fantasy herself, Kowal brings Underwood’s excellent worldbuilding to life and does a brilliant job of voicing a strong heroine. She delivers ample feeling and sass in all the right places.
Kowal’s ability to immerse her audience in a new world is crucial to narrating Underwood’s The Shootout Solution. After a rough night on stage doing stand-up, Leah is approached and offered a mysterious job in what she will soon discover to be a very hazardous line of work. Her new employers, the Genrenauts Foundation, are tasked with ensuring that all stories play out as they should because all stories are real. Parallel worlds exist and all of Earth’s stories are played out on each genre-specific planet. If the Genrenauts are not there to set the stories that have strayed back on the right track, it could mean catastrophe for Earth.
Kowal has also voiced the works of authors such as Seanan McGuire and Jason Denzel. Mystic, the fantastic first installment in Denzel’s trilogy, is an excellent example of just how Kowal brings an entirely new world to life. Kowal uses emotion and attitude to illustrate the protagonist’s growth from a young girl with a lack of self-confidence to a powerful and triumphant heroine.
Listen to Mary Robinette Kowal reading an excerpt of The Shootout Solution below.
Michael R. Underwood’s The Shootout Solution: Genrenauts Episode 1 is available now in paperback, ebook, and audio formats from Tor.com! From the catalog copy:
Leah Tang just died on stage. Well, not literally. Not yet.
Leah’s stand-up career isn’t going well. But she understands the power of fiction, and when she’s offered employment with the mysterious Genrenauts Foundation, she soon discovers that literally dying on stage is a hazard of the job!
Her first assignment takes her to a Western world. When a cowboy tale slips off its rails, and the outlaws start to win, it’s up to Leah – and the Genrenauts team – to nudge the story back on track and prevent a catastrophe on Earth.
But the story’s hero isn’t interested in winning, and the safety of Earth hangs in the balance…
You can find the audio edition at Audible, or order the ebook edition at the links below!
Alex Calamela is an assistant working at Macmillan Audio. She currently lives in Staten Island, NY and can be followed on bookish Instagram @shadowsofshelf
