Read Time: 2 Minutes
What Life Can Bring brings together three science fiction stories that are loosely connected by ideas around time. They each take that theme in a different direction, making for a collection that feels varied while still sharing a common thread.
The first story, following Poly after his release from prison, ended up being my favourite. It’s the most grounded of the three and the one I connected with most emotionally. Simple time travel with a touch of romance and old-style small-town life. From there, the collection shifts into more traditional science fiction, with a breakthrough scientific discovery drawing dangerous attention before finishing with a post-apocalyptic style tale of survival following what appears to be an alien attack. Each story has its own identity, which kept the collection feeling fresh.
Donald Zing’s writing is approachable and easy to follow. The ideas are interesting without disappearing into dense scientific explanations, although I did find myself wishing some of the bigger concepts around time and consciousness had been explored a little further. At times it felt like the stories introduced fascinating ideas only to move on before fully digging into them.
Where the audiobook didn’t quite land for me was the production. Andrew Zachman’s narration is perfectly listenable, but it has an uneven rhythm, with pauses that feel just a little too deliberate. It reminded me of an early performance where the focus is on reading the words accurately rather than letting them flow naturally.
The bigger distraction was the sound design. Rather than a straightforward narration, the audiobook uses background effects throughout, pushing it closer to an audio drama. Unfortunately, they rarely added much for me, and there were a few moments where the effects became loud enough to compete with the narration instead of supporting it.
Even so, I quite enjoyed the listen. If you’re after an accessible collection of science fiction that explores some interesting ideas without becoming overly technical, there’s plenty here to like. I just came away wishing the production had trusted the stories to stand on their own.
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