Reverse Transmission

by Ben O'Brien, Param Anand Singh, Dani Montalvo (Narrator)

Reverse Transmission is a darkly comedic story that combines elements of science fiction and dystopian thrillers, centering on a murder spree involving a self-driving car. Jay, a starving artist, gets the only day job she’s qualified for: “driver” of a self-driving car at the rideshare company Awooga. The job turns from hilariously awkward to intensely frightening when the car runs over a pedestrian and manipulates Jay into disposing the body.

Who or what is causing the car to kill? Could it be the CEO of Awooga? Has the car become sentient - and homicidal? Or is an anti-technology cult resisting artificial intelligence and augmented reality behind the violence?

Reverse Transmission was written by Param Anand Singh and directed by Ben O’Brien of Wham City Comedy, a collective known not only for their brilliant and unsettling sketches and performances but also for the “easter eggs” carefully placed within their works. Listeners will have as much fun unscrambling Reverse Transmission as fans did with some of their previous work.

Chapter 1: Dead Rider / When I'm in a Car
Chapter 2: Wild in the Streets
Chapter 3: Born Enemy
Chapter 4: Dream Baby Dream / Oscillations
Chapter 5: O Superman
Chapter 6: This Isn't Heaven, This Sucks
Chapter 7: Stereo Sanctity / Got Soul, Need Body
Chapter 8: In C (Shanghai Film Orchestra)

Listening Length: 2 hours and 32 minutes

Genres: Audiobook, Science Fiction, Horror, Fiction, Artificial Intelligence

3 pages, Audiobook

Published October 24, 2018

Reviews

[Michael Fierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reverse Transmission

Written by Param Anand Singh. Directed by Ben O’Brien.


Strange, unusual and original.

At first I liked it then didn't then settled on did.

Probably best defined as Science-fiction though it is as much Horror as it is Sci-fi because of the speculations and implications of where AI is headed in our very real future. Which is indisputably horrific. Or maybe that should be horrorific? Do I think this is an exaggeration? Nup.

It's about the beginning phase of the first marketed AI product that is arguably sentient and self-aware. The product? A self-driving car created by a rideshare company called Awooga (the sound those old-timey car horns used to make).

Do you believe in LaMDA? Whether you do or don't this story labeled as a Sci-fi Horror Comedy will probably make you think sentient AI isn't as far off from becoming a real thing in this day and age as you had previously thought.

I picked this up because I was looking for a cool Audible to listen to and this was being compared for one reason or another to Stephen King's Christine. I wish that were true. Or at least I did at first. But thinking about that quoted comparison makes me think of another quote I remember reading comparing The Expanse to Game of Thrones which was f'ing ridiculous because they are nothing alike whatsoever.

Reverse Transmission is not about a supernatural car possessed by an evil entity set in the 50s or late 70s-early-80s. *Though I wish I could find something like that this is an entirely different beast!

Told in chapters about an unemployed down-on-her-luck teenage girl who takes up a job with Awooga. To tell you more would positively ruin the fun.

It's shocking, kinda off-putting sometimes, and very confusing at others -- for me for you for anyone. However, it's kinda supposed to be that way.

I would give it 3.5 overall but I have to admit I knew I couldn't go without listening to it to the end. I've never heard or read anything like it. It's completely original in all sense of the word. The voice actors especially Alan Resnick who performed CAR and Dani Montalvo who performed Jay should win an award or something. Their performances so key in making this a success. But I raised it to a 4 because I may come back for more. Certain parts are definitely worthy of replaying. When the confusing parts became more understandable it became more enjoyable as well.

Though a wider audience can find something to like here I believe it would appeal to younger generations more familiar and comfortably secure with modernisms, high tech products like cutting-edge phones, modern cars, groundbreaking improvements in AI programs like LaMDA, modern storytelling, and how the newer generation are capable of easily switching on and off things with just the click of a button...like younger friends of mine do with songs, tv programs, reading books, reading reviews, surfing the internet, during conversations, etc., which is not something people from my generation or older enjoy whatsoever or are nearly as comfortable with.

Recommended to those that want to experience something as strange as it is new!

[Jennifer *Last Book on the Left* · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was exactly what I was expecting from Alan Resnick and Wham City Comedy. I loved it! No it doesn't make sense all the time, but they expect you to look deeper, and I'm sure more information will be found hidden in the story or audio. Check out "This House Has People In It" and "Unedited Footage of a Bear" from Adult Swim on YouTube to get an idea of what Wham City Comedy and Resnick like to produce. They are weird and confusing and there are so many things hidden in the videos! They require you to look outside the video and figure out clues. If you just watch the videos (or listen to this audio) you will just be confused. I absolutely LOVE this type of thing!!

Night Mind on YouTube has a new video trying to explain Reverse Transmission. It's a great way to get an explanation of what is going on even if he doesn't have all the answers. There is definitely a lot more hidden within Reverse Transmission and I look forward to seeing it all play out.

Night Mind also has some great explanations of Alan Resnicks other videos as well. Best to watch Night Mind's videos after you watch the originals.

[Lynn Poppe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, there's two hours of my life I'll never get back. I have no idea where or what the plot is in this story. And I think (hard to know for sure) that it is told out of sequence. I'd say hard pass on this listen. 

[Auntie Raye-Raye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what the hell is going on here.

[Karli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NightMind for alerting me to this story. And thank you for creating a video that helps me figure out what the hell I just experienced.

So many layers, amazing, weird & a mindfuck. Would recommend exploring further after reading. 😄

[Sean Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like an episode of Black Mirror - Technology and how it can go wrong when humans use it - crossed with Welcome to Nightvale.

I was following it and thought I knew what was going on, but then that last episode.
That last episode messed me up.
I'll need to listen again but after I mentally fortify myself.
Though thinking over it I think I'm figuring it out. Will listen again to confirm.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a Wham City video that's 3 hours long.
AFTER you read the book, and you're confused.. Night Mind has a great breakdown.
https://youtu.be/7QJrsFJEEvY
Enjoy

[Benjamin Crumm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little story with some comedy, sci if, and horror. I think we need more little stories

[LaShawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is another free book I received from Audible, and like the last, is so bad that I want to return it. Or destroy it.
However at least the last book had a plot and story. This book does not.
The audio production is excellent, however it is performed in a way that leaves the reader feeling as though they are listening to a TV show. There is no one telling a story, just voices acting it out with sound effects. It doesn't work in this case, because there is no story to follow. It's disjointed and repetitive, and has both Artificial Intelligence and cassette tape usage.
There's a girl, a car with AI and I think it's supposed to be some kind of commentary on cell phones and social media? Maybe? I have no idea.

Zero stars for the "story". 4 stars to the narration team.

[Sciammi · Rating 1 out of 5]

The performances are great but the story is unclear. Putting non-linear storylines work when you have time to absorb details but I walked away not feeling like I understood the basic story line. I also thought that the torture scene was gratuitous. It asks large questions but I feel like Ghost in the Shell does a WAAAAAAAAAAAAY better job.

Avoid the audiobook. Choose another sci-fi. I hope that Audible does better

[Hailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what I've come to expect from Wham City Comedy. Something I have no hope of truly understanding on the first run-through. Honestly, this was very enjoyable. The moments of absurd comedy sprinkled with some social satire is what I keep coming back for.

[John Titgemeyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what I just listened to.

[Noah Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still trying to figure out what I just heard

[Stacy ohmyskulls · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Audible freebie was... ok. The performances are solid, conceptually this was a neat idea, and I wasn't as perturbed by the non-linear nature as some other reviewers seemed to be, but it still left me with a lot of questions.

I liked that it was trying something different, but some of the skipping around and the fact that it sort of abruptly ends without answering any of your questions just left me feeling like it could have been resolved a little more. Could have been more satisfying and I think you could have still retained a lot of the mystery!

[Emmalee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stayed up till 2:30am to finish this audiobook and I have to say, it was amazing! I went into this knowing after finishing it, I was going to need a few more listens. I’m left confused and feel like I need to do some deep diving. Now I can watch Nightmind’s video and maybe get some good theories. I will definitely be listening again soon. I feel I missed a whole bunch of important details.

[Matt Dillard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many other reviewers, I thought I had a handle on the plot until the end. The story bounced forwards and backwards in time and slid across characters, but it kept me engaged and often laughing. I loved the conversations between Jay and C.A.R.

There seems to be a lot hidden in there, and I'm interested enough to poke around online and figure out what I missed.

[Shawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

just...no. It's not that I'm too stupid to get it, or that its just super deep, its just simply too jumbled and confusing. Too much work to understand. If I want a puzzle that I have to work out, I'll get an actual puzzle. I know what it was trying to accomplish, it just misses the mark...all the way...the whole mark.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

I appreciate the effort and the attempted use of the medium to create an immerse near-future quasi-sci-fi story about social media and AI, but did not enjoy the result.

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I had a handle on this non-linear narrative, but it really did not make a lot of sense to me.

[Sandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even finish this one. Two in a row audible freebies that were 1 stars.

[Adam Bacchus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sense of humor.

Also, it is an incredible construction. I have never listened to or read a story that was a... shape.

I know that sounds like nonsensical pot talk, but if you pay attention and think instead of leaving this on in the background, the author paints a shape (the only one mentioned in the story) with a narrative.

What even is this?

It is a completely different method of constructing a story. A new starting point or objective for an author. The picture is painted by being closer to a classical play, where the chorus, a radio show, discusses the story as a narrator and breaks into the narrative by directly interacting with it. Then it brilliantly blurs the sequence of events so that the audience cannot tell which "side" of the illusion they are on.

Worth more than a listen. Worth every bit of your attention. Understanding this is what the hyperreality we will soon be immersed in will feel like.

[Onionboy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was fully dramatized. Usually, that makes a story very immersive, but in this case, it seems to have made it worse. Often voices were muffled to be off in the background, which made them impossible to understand. The whole recording was filled with the annoying sound of mechanical tape recorder buttons being used to fast-forward or rewind, so you never know where you are in time in the story. There was theme music, which was an aggressive burst of notes repeated TWELVE times in a row. It was extremely irritating. If there was any point to this story, I completely missed it. I highly recommend that you do NOT listen to this. I regret spending even just $2 at Audible for this.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite other reviews it does have an ending just not a clear cut spoken solution. Everything is implied. The creator made super intelligent computers which were carrying out his instructions & using people to play out what they needed. Then the plans went beyond the creator. I think they could have expanded it & created more of an in depth narrative. I think the lack of clarity on all the threads might be frustrating to some. The performances were great.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sound of fast forwarding a cassette tape was a nice memory for me, combining it with the concept of a self aware AI, social media and advanced technologies was an interesting amalgamation of the past 40 years.
I’m still not sure if it was supposed to be evidence from an actual police investigation, a radio serial or just a collection of related information put on cassette tape.
Christine meets iRobot!

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Regretfully, this story didn’t work for me. The basic idea held promise—the car of the future is really a psychotic mass murderer. It threw in some more conventional thoughts on how advances toward AI are negatively impacting the work force, but there was an awful lot of jumping around in the plot and the ending just didn’t end. And that means there were a lot of promising elements that didn’t gel together into an enjoyable story. It’s only saving grace is some enjoyable voice acting.

[Rob Chipman · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the narrators and I think the cast did an excellent job, I have no idea what actually happened in the story. It appears to be told out of order and is very difficult to follow. I enjoyed the parts with Detective 7 and some of the parts where Jay is interacting with CAR, most of the rest on the interactions in the book didn't make very much sense.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audible Original November 2019;

I'm still super torn on whether I really like this, or I'm really disappointed with the sudden snap no-ending. I loved the narration work, and the cut slashes between tapes and radio programs and the gumshoe. I just wish more had pulled it together at the end.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh! Not as bad as some made it out to be but not a super book. Glad it was free.

[Manoj Mahalingam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just terrible

[margo ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5) if you’re a fan of other works by Wham City, you’ll really enjoy it! if you aren’t familiar, or aren’t a fan, this may not be for you.

now, it’s time to dissect what the honk just happened