There are a few authors that are decent, but none of them are as good as Tao Wong and none of the narrators are as good as Nick Podehl. I am not a huge fan of Podehl’s voice (and some narrators on this have a better voice), but his range of voices and his ability to convey words, concepts, and character feelings FAR exceed any of these narrators. These stories are similar to many of The Best Of Science Fiction for the past few years…so focused on structuring a story to provide social commentary (much of it tied to our own specific paradigms and not related to the System Apocalypse Universe) that the story itself SUCKS! Where Tao Wong treats gay/bi relationships as normal and gender fluidity as something interesting to surprise the reader and make them question their preconceived notions, these authors focus on it to the point that the characters become caricatures with none of the soul of Tao’s characters. That includes the dog that is more Willoughby (annoying “Which-way-did-he go” Warner Cartoon dog) and less White Fang. Buy it-Burn it-Trash it? There are a few gems, but it is a long slog to get to them…definitely not a buy it unless it is on a deep sale.
