My Wife Hates Time Travel and Other Stories

by Adam-Troy Castro, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator), Käthe Mazur (Narrator)

A utopia where the most privileged get to do whatever they want to do with their lives, indulging their slightest whims via the bodies whose wombs they occupy; a soldier's wife tries to love a husband who is little more than a backup memory; a society in which the citizens all make merry for nine remarkable days, on on the tenth get a taste of hell; the last ragged survivors of an expedition to a savage backwater world hunt down an infamous war criminal; a divorcing couple confront their myriad of troubles to gain resolution, reason, respect - but not without sacrifice. Introducing these stories (and more) from Adam-Troy Castro, whose short fiction has been nominated for two Hugos, three Stokers, and eight Nebulas.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Audiobook, Fiction, Dystopia

Audible Audio

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

Adam-Troy Castro made his first professional sale to Spy magazine in 1987. Since then, he's published 12 books and almost 80 short stories. Among those stories are "Baby Girl Diamond" (nominated for the Bram Stoker Award) and "The Funeral March of the Marionettes" (nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1998). "The Astronaut from Wyoming," a collaboration with Jerry Oltion, appeared in Analog and was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2000, before winning the Seiun (Japanese Hugo) for best translation in 2008.

His "Of A Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs" was nominated for the 2003 Nebula. His original short story collections include Lost in Booth Nine (published by Silver Salamander Press in 1993), An Alien Darkness and A Desperate Decaying Darkness (published by Wildside Press in 2000), Vossoff and Nimmitz (2002), and Tangled Strings (2003). He is also the author of the Spider-Man novels—Time's Arrow: The Present (written in collaboration with Tom DeFalco), The Gathering of the Sinister Six, Revenge of the Sinister Six, and Secret of the Sinister Six—as well as the nonfiction My Ox Is Broken! The Andrea Cort novels include, Emissaries from the Dead, The Third Claw of God, and a third installment currently in progress, tentatively titled The Fall of the Marionettes.

Castro, who married the divine Judi on 25 December 2002, lives in Florida with his wife and four cats: Maggie, Uma Furman, Meow Farrow, and the latest acquisition, Ralphie, an orphan of 2005's hellacious hurricane season.

Reviews

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite authors from LightSpeed magazine. I find that he lacks sophistication, but each of his stories just grabs me viscerally. There's always a moment where you realize the disguised significance of each story and his methods make twisted sense. He's a shocking author and I always ask myself if I'm ready to take another punch from his words before I listen.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good narration and even enjoyed the author's intros and personal observations. Stories were almost invariably dark, depressing, disturbing and even offensive (had to break the tautogram). But I enjoyed the storytelling and will look for more from the author.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved every single one of these stories. This was my first time reading (hearing) anything from this author, but was very impressed.

[Sara]

There future full by fragment of jasmen
and other empty as white cloud
and other closed and other open
the earth run around
and all tell there story
but she hate that future
wher snow pass the door of night
she hate travel to future
where the dream cant be grow enugh
she hate travel to future
where there many war of stupid
where sound of horses take us to end of fire
she hate travl to that future
where full of wounded
all hate that travel
all do

[Jenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only one time travel story and it wasn't even good. I did enjoy the short story "Survey" but it was not worth reading the whole book for. Seems like more horror-fiction than science fiction. I do not recommend it.

[Sarah Scherer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do enjoy speculative short fiction! This is a nice audiobook, though I took the advice to skip over all of the author intros to the stories. As always there were some misses but the couple hits on this one were pretty powerful.

[Taryn Moreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impactful collection of horror, weird fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy. Adam Troy-Castro is simply a talented storyteller, as adept at holding your attention as he is at really making the horror of his characters’ situations sink in.

[Kristen Edgar · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are amazingly written. Every single one had me so emotional. They're all incredibly bleak and depressing. So just be prepared to be depressed.

[Marty Solotki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these stories are great, some are weird or disturbing AF. The author’s audio notes really tie this all together. Lots of fun.

[Hugo Saraiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some heavy sci-fi stuff there. Great read!

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not finish it. It probably connects nicely to modern readers but not to me or my wife.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought some of the stories were excellent, others okay, and some just so-so. All seemed dark in some way.

[Conrad Toft · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of stories that read as though they are from sixties pulp fiction. Some gems and some painful, with a mix of sci-fi and horror.

[asif khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great short stories amongst it all. Although the author's trigger warning for one of them is pure PURE Garth Marenghi.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally I'd give it 2 stars, as most of the stories weren't my cup of tea. Too much horror or disturbing type themes, but that's just my personal taste not a review of quality.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked “My Wife Hates Time Travel,” “The Boy and the Box,” and “Big Stupe and The Buried Big Glowing Booger”

[Christopher T McArthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was almost a guilty pleasure read.. the stories are kind of pulpy and juvenile.. But the mix of horror and sci-fi ended up being written in a really fun, easy to read manner that I couldn’t put down. Definitely a book written mostly for people who are already fans of the genre. Reminded me of love, sex, and robots with a splash of dumbed down Vonnegut.