Also, Hopper! Any Stranger Things fan will be thrilled to hear him reading this story. Enjoyable, but also frustrating as it went out not with a bang, but a whimper. It raised so many philosophical questions about the divisions of our individual lives, and whether those acts can be predicted and even predestined before a child is born. This started out great but fell apart by the end. You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles, read by David Harbour: 3.5 stars While well written and impeccably narrated, I just can’t make myself care about casinos and the best way to randomly generate numbers and how someone would still find a way to cheat the system. A bit too mathematically heavy for me to find it interesting. Randomize by Andy Weir, read by Janina Gavankar: 2.5 stars

As I listened to the audio version of each story, readers are mentioned with the authors. Below you’ll find micro-reviews of each story, progressing from those I enjoyed the least to those that resonated the deepest. In most of these stories, technology is both our destroyer and our savior. What binds these stories together is their exploration of possible technological advancements in the not too distant future, without ever really giving away if the changes such advancements would bring would be for our collective good or ill. The Forward Collection is a great demonstration of this, and brings together vastly different authors to theorize on what the future might look like. I love how short stories are making such strides in popular fiction, as is speculative fiction.

Summer frost by blake crouch