Collected Stories is the definitive compilation of Lewis Shiner’s short work, featuring over forty stories voiced by top narrators in the business. Contents include:

Introduction, read by Karen Joy Fowler “Perfidia,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Stuff of Dreams,” read by John Rubinstein “The War at Home,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Straws,” read by Scott Brick “Nine Hard Questions,” read by Kimberly Farr “White City,” read by Gabrielle de Cuir “Primes,” read by Arthur Morey “The Long Ride Out,” read by Rex Linn “Sitcom,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “The Death of Che Guevara,” read by Roxanne Hernandez and Stefan Rudnicki “His Girlfriend’s Dog,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Deep without Pity,” read by Rex Linn “The Circle,” read by Kimberly Farr “Twilight Time,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Jeff Beck,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Wild for You,” read by Kris Tabori “Till Human Voices Wake Us,” Read by John Rubinstein “Flagstaff,” read by Scott Brick “Tommy and the Talking Dog,” read by Janis Ian “Oz,” read by Kris Tabori “Love in Vain,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Steam Engine Time,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Kings of the Afternoon,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Sticks,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “The Tale of Mark the Bunny,” read by Janis Ian “The Killing Season,” read by Rex Linn “Scales,” read by Gabrielle de Cuir “Snowbirds,” read by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki “Match,” read by Kris Tabori “Relay,” read by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki “Castles Made of Sand,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Prodigal Son,” read by Rex Linn “Mozart in Mirrorshades,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Kidding Around,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Mystery Train,” read by John Rubinstein “Secrets,” read by Roxanne Hernandez “Golfing Vietnam,” read by Gabrielle de Cuir “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Gold,” read by Arthur Morey “Dirty Work,” read by Stefan Rudnicki “Lizard Men of Los Angeles,” read by David Birney

Lewis Shiner’s stunning science fiction debut

After the world’s governments collapsed, the corporations took control. Houston’s Pulsystems has sent an expedition to the lost Martian colony of Frontera to search for survivors, but Reese, aging hero of the US space program, knows better. The colonists are not only alive; they have discovered a secret so devastating that the new rulers of Earth will stop at nothing to own it. But none of them have reckoned with Kane, tortured veteran of the corporate wars, whose hallucinatory voices are urging him to complete an ancient cycle of heroism and alter the destiny of the human race.

Ray Shackleford is trying to deal with the death of his father and the collapse of his marriage when the impossible happens: music that no one has ever heard before begins to play from his stereo speakers. It is only the first step on a journey that will take him to Los Angeles, London, Cozumel, and points far beyond, and that will bring him face to face with Jim Morrison, Brian Wilson, Jimi Hendrix–and his own mortality.

“Outside the Gates of Eden is a powerful piece of work. Shiner writes about music, and the making of music, better than anyone I know. He gets across the tremendous excitement of the early days of rock and roll, the peace movement, Woodstock and the Summer of Love-but also the heartbreak of failure, betrayal, and loss. The prose is terrific, and the sense of time and place is first rate. A brilliant requiem for our generation and all our dreams.” -George R. R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones What happened to the idealism of the 1960s? This question has haunted a generation. Outside the Gates of Eden follows two men from their first meeting in high school to their final destination in the twenty-first century. Alex is torn between his father’s business empire and his own artistic yearnings. Cole finds his calling at a Bob Dylan concert in 1965. From the Summer of Love in San Francisco to Woodstock, from campus protests to the SoHo loft scene, from a commune in Virginia to the outlaw country music of Austin, the novel charts the rise and fall of the counterculture-and what came after. Using the music business as a window into half a century, Outside the Gates of Eden is both epic and intimate, starkly realistic and ultimately hopeful, a War and Peace for the Woodstock generation.

Slam is a bright and acerbic depiction of the slacker culture of Texas and a testament to a lost and found generation. Dave stepped out of Bastrop Federal Prison after a six-month stretch for tax evasion and into the home of one Marguerite Johnson, a.k.a. the Old Lady. The Old Lady passed on, leaving her house and her fortune to her twenty-three cats. But the cats need a caretaker–or so he thinks. There are others with an eye on the Johnson estate, and soon Dave is caught up in a whirlwind of anarchists, gold diggers, skateboard punks, lawyers, hackers, and arsonists–a population of dropouts and misfits who will do anything to avoid doing anything.