Rip-Off!

Audie Award Finalist, Original Work, 2013In Rip-Off!, 13 of today’s best and most honored writers of speculative fiction face a challenge even they would be hard-pressed to conceive: Pick your favorite opening line from a classic piece of fiction (or even non-fiction)—then use it as the first sentence of an entirely original short story.In the world of Rip-Off!, "Call me Ishmael" introduces a tough-as-nails private eye—who carries a harpoon; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz inspires the tale of an aging female astronaut who’s being treated by a doctor named Dorothy Gale; and Huckleberry Finn leads to a wild ride with a foul-mouthed riverboat captain who plies the waters of Hell.Once you listen to Rip-Off! you’ll agree: If Shakespeare or Dickens were alive today, they’d be ripping off the authors in this great collection.The stories included in Rip-Off! are:• "Fireborn" by Robert Charles Wilson• "The Evening Line" by Mike Resnick• "No Decent Patrimony" by Elizabeth Bear• "The Big Whale" by Allen M. Steele• "Begone" by Daryl Gregory• "The Red Menace" by Lavie Tidhar• "Muse of Fire" by John Scalzi• "Writer’s Block" by Nancy Kress• "Highland Reel" by Jack Campbell• "Karin Coxswain or Death as She Is Truly Lived" by Paul Di Filippo• "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal• "Every Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the Air" by Tad Williams• "Declaration" by James Patrick KellyAs a bonus, the authors introduce their stories, explaining what they ripped-off—and why.Rip-Off! was produced in partnership with SFWA—Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Gardner Dozois served as project editor.