Weird Menace

by Ed Park

A retired actor and her director discuss the film that altered the course of their careers in this provocative new story by Ed Park, author of Personal Days.

Barbara Lee Handbook (pronounced "Hanbok"), whom fans will know as Barbie Moran, the ‘80s bombshell and star of the cult sci-fi film Weird Menace, sits down with director Toner Low to discuss the making of the classic film—set on a distant planet featuring mutant attackers, cyber ladies of the 34th century, and no shortage of warring spaceships—for the Blue Ray edition in this absurdly funny and poignant meditation on art, legacy, and our ambivalence about the life choices that define us.

Genres: Audiobook, Short Stories, Fiction

Audible Audio

About the author

I'm the author of the forthcoming memoir THREE TENSES: A TRANSMISSION FROM THE NINETIES (August 2026)—preorder it now!

My novel SAME BED DIFFERENT DREAMS (2023) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction and the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature.

My debut novel, PERSONAL DAYS (2008), was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Asian American Literary Award, and the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize.

AN ORAL HISTORY OF ATLANTIS, a collection of stories written over 25 years, was longlisted for the PEN Faulkner Award and appeared on numerous best-of-the-year lists, including those of Time, Booklist, NPR, and the Boston Globe.

What else? I'm a founding editor of THE BELIEVER, and I've written for The Atlantic, Harper's, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, Bookforum, The Baffler, and elsewhere. (Check out ed-park.com or https://linktr.ee/edpark for some recent pieces.)

THE REPAIRER OF REPUTATIONS, a work of weird horror, will appear later this year.

NB, I am *not* the author of THE WORLD OF THE OTTER, by the late nature writer Ed Park, but it's worth picking up if you see a copy (and like otters).

Reviews

[LittlePiscesReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

The voice acting is enjoyable. They were quite affable and it felt like they had known each other for some time. I wouldn't call this audiobook funny. Nor poignant. It is very expository, and often needlessly so.

It touches on an ex of the director but like everything else, it sweeps past. They're ambivalent about that choice, but not as much as the story itself. Beyond undwelt upon comments the closest it gets to meditating on the film (art) and its legacy is correcting one another on trivia. It is fitting that the fake movie they're talking about is a cheap space romp, however, because that conclusion is as desperate of an eject as I've ever read.

[Harry Collier IV]

This was a cute idea that in more skilled hands could have been something really special. As it stands it is amatuerish and basically one infodump after another. I understand the limited space in which Ed Park was trying to tell the story but I would have prefer more gimmicks to deliver the information than just remember-the-time-that-this-happened ad nauseam.
I guess in the end the only way to really discribe this story is to borrow a qoute from one of the two characters "There is crap and then there is crap."

[Lanie J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

the voice actors were great, but i just listened to two people have a conversation about movies i’ve never seen and people i’ve never heard of :)

[James Orlando · Rating 1 out of 5]

My Audible review: Wow that was stunningly terrible. The building tension was fun. The story really felt like it was going somewhere, then it didn't. This feels like a prank and I sincerely hope no one spent an Audible credit on this.

Eric Yves Garcia and Hillary Huber were great though. Their voice work and acting were stellar. It felt like they weren't reading from a script, but actually interacting with each other and reacting to the events as they occurred. Unfortunately, even their impressive performances couldn't pull this lemon up to two stars.

I'll rate this one, "Don't listen to this unless it's free and even then I wouldn't recommend it."

[Patti Harding Hubbard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different. I liked the way it built to something by pointing out little inconsistencies in the movie as the characters reviewed and spoke about it. I was a little confused by the end. Did he have a heart attack because he was caught on tape raping a girl? That's kind of what I felt like it was hinting at since he seemed uncomfortable when she brought up that he took the extra's place in the one love scene. Will have to listen again, because I feel like I missed something at the end there.
Either way. Pretty cool way to write it, from the perspective of an actress and director rewatching a movie to discuss it for a behind the scenes special. Fun and fresh, wish there was more to it.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a better concept than execution. The idea of an actor and director connecting while recording a commentary starts out okay, as it teases their history and other relationships. But it feels like the author got bored and then just gave up on it, leaving a number of story threads completely unanswered, and with a 'climax' that was just baffling. I think I understand what it was going for, but it failed. Even at under 45 minutes, I don't know that I could recommend this to anyone.

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of a dramatized video commentary as a narrative. This one is fun because I've heard so many commentary tracks on cult sci-fi and horror films. Amusing how the characters remember things differently about the film they made, which is a nice touch. The actors are fine, but it doesn't quite feel real.

[Art · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like a 2.5. Not entirely sure how I felt about this little story. It was annoying at times, and I am not sure I got the point. But I do want to listen again to hear what I may have missed the first time.

[Giovanni Idili · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most random things I’ve listened to in my life (audible). It’s a 30 minute long fictional movie commentary by the lead actress and a director. The concept in itself is interesting but very short and baffling.

[Jaq Greenspon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been something but it went nowhere. There was nothing to it, no point the writer was trying to make. Disappointing really, because the idea is great. Nice performances though!

[Moniqa]

I'm not really sure what to make of this.

[Nicole Sanborn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fine, but very predictable

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I actually thought this was an actual post movie DVD commentary but it's an actual short story that's not too bad. Once again it ended abruptly but it wasn't bad at all

[Brad Wojak · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a brief audio drama, this was fine. Good plot, albeit a bit short. Still, I enjoyed it.

[Yuley Burrow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book I've ever completed.🥺

[Jenni Stein · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an odd play through, very conscious thought. I have never seen weird menace so may have impacted my enjoyment