MindWorks

An Uncanny Compendium of Short Fiction

By: Neal Shusterman

Narrated by: Neal Shusterman, Greg Tremblay, Kimberly Woods, Ali Andre Ali, Michael Crouch, Megan Tusing, Brendan Shusterman

From the incomparable mind of award winner Neal Shusterman, New York Times bestselling author of the Arc of a Scythe, comes a collection of uncanny and unforgettable short stories.

This collection of unforgettable and uncanny stories could only come from the mind of award winner Neal Shusterman. Compiled for the first time in one epic volume, these stories both classic and brand-new will stretch your imagination from terror to the sublime and back again. Explore a world where bats block out the sun, where soup is a trap for your soul, or where the life-force of a glacier can bring back the dead. Journey to a place where the wind can be captured, time can be crafted into infinite attic space, or a hot tub can house an ancient monster. And revisit the Arc of the Scythe universe for two all-new tales of gleaning.

In this collection, the only thing that is truly certain is nothing is certain.

Critic reviews

"Seven talented narrators deliver Shusterman’s compelling science fiction stories, which include two new ones from the popular “Arc of the Scythe” series. The works provide introductions to new worlds and are loosely grouped into two categories: strange and terrifying beings and personal transformations. Shusterman; his son, Brendan; and the other narrators alternate, portraying males, females, and one genderfluid character, capturing the dark, surprising, and occasionally humorous aspects of their worlds. Some of the stories have been edited due to technological and social changes since their original publication. A full-cast interview serves as an enticing introduction to the production."

These are young YA stories

If you’re in high school you may like these stories. They’re all about children except the one Scythe chapter. That was good if you’ve read the Scythe series. The summary was a bit misleading, making the stories seem more interesting and adult than they actually are.

•A Unity Of Purpose - A president who is a dolphin.
•Eye Of The Storm - A brother lost but returned by a hurricane
•Smells Like Kafka - A stuffed bear named Kafka comes to life
•Obsidian Sky - A boy’s new friend turns out to be a bat.
•Ralphy Sherman’s bag of wind - kids sell an empty brown bag to another kid.
•The In Crowd - A boy’s seizures take over the minds of others
•The Living Place - kids discover a magical well
•Non player character - a boy ignored by his parents who play a video game
•The Midnight Michelangelo - a boy spray paints murals around the city at night.
•Boy on a stoop - girl meets boy who turns out to be a demon.
•Butterball - A sentient turkey refuses to be cooked
•The Bob Squad - Bob’s guardian angels annoy him.
•Special Deliverance - A pizza boy delivers a pizza to satan.
•Ralphy Sherman’s jacuzzi of wonders - Lochness monster in the jacuzzi
•Terrible Tannenbaum – A story about an evil Christmas tree.
•Dawn Terminator - survivors try to escape a supernova sun as told by a girl
•The Shit On Our Shoes - A tale about students on a spaceship.
•Number Two - a pencil wants a purpose in life
•Fear For All - a kid feeling no fear learns to feel only fear
•Bad Fortune At Richard Yee’s - fears over fortune cookies
•Pea Soup - mind controlling soup traps human souls
•Majority Rules - A boy alters the balance of what people believe
•Opabinia - boy time travels to save extinct marine arthropod
•Presumed Destroyed - a story told from the perspective of a gun.
•Caleb’s Colors - autistic savant artist child creates a valuable painting.
•Retaining Walls - a monster living behind a retaining wall is exposed by a boy
•Open House - a monster child traps parents in a doll house
•Mr. Vandamere’s Attic Of Shame •He kidnaps refugees and keeps them in his attic as slaves. Girl investigates and exposes him.
•Dark Alley - a bowling alley lane that only exists for a certain player
•Resurrection Bay - a glacier that resurrects the dead
•Perpetual Pests - boys dig up a dead woman bringing her back to life
•Yard Work - a girl learns there’s something strange when she tries to help her neighbor grow flowers that won’t grow
•Deadliner - a surviving carnie
•Loveless - a girl searches for a psychic
•The Body Electric - a lightning strike sends a boy back in time and into another body
•Mail Merge - a chat room for discussing parallel universes where people may be chatting with themselves from other universes
•The Elsewhere Boutique - kids wonder into a store where a drink sends them elsewhere
•Ralphy Sherman’s Inside Story - his cousins come to visit
•The Sole Exchange - what would you do if you could switch for a better body?
•Clothes Make The Man - He grabs the wrong luggage but keeps and wears the clothes that come to fit even tho there is a third sleeve in the back
•You Reap What You Sow - The World Of Scythe - A Scythe story
•The Scythe Interviews