Emergency Skin

Forward collection

By: N. K. Jemisin

Narrated by: Jason Isaacs

2020 Audie Award Winner for Best Science Fiction

Audible narration by Jason Isaacs (Star Trek: Discovery)

What will become of our self-destructed planet? The answer shatters all expectations in this subversive speculation from the Hugo Award - winning author of the Broken Earth trilogy.

An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: A graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind - hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out ages ago. After all this time, there’s no telling how they’ve devolved. Steel yourself, soldier. Get in. Get out. And try not to stare.

N. K. Jemisin’s Emergency Skin is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

©2019 N. K. Jemisin (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Emergency Skin, by the award(s)-winning Jemisin, is part of a sensational project called Forward, which brings together six writers, each telling a story about Earth’s imagined future.” --Spine Magazine

“Narrator Jason Isaac’s voice is the perfect mix of insistent, pedantic, and scornful…This brief but clever tale is truly best enjoyed on audio.” (AudioFile - Earphones Award Winner)

“The tale is a fascinating experiment in story structure…Thoughtful and interactive.” (LOCUS)

“This is exactly how I like my techno-anxiety…Happy bingeing!” (Audible, an October Editors Pick)

Fantastic freebie!

The premise behind this short story was engaging, and it was very well executed. Like the collection it is apart of, it is a very forward thinking piece. The narration is great, and if you can pick it up for free I highly recommend.

Disorienting

The format was too much like listening to someone talking on the phone and only hearing one side of the conversation. It was uncomfortable. The premise of the story was not very well substantiated.

Narrator is fantastic!

It is a good story. It took me a bit to fully understand what was going on, but then it all made sense.

Loved this short listen

Unique narrative style. Thought provoking story idea. Jason Issac is fantastic. Excited to listen to more from this author.

interesting back and forth play of characters

time line was a little off in my mind but a very enjoyable and thought provoking story.