Happy Wednesday, friends! I’m here to remind you that there’s a new episode of It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton, waiting for you wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s story is called If We Make It Through This Alive, by A.T. Greenblatt, originally published in Slate.
Here’s my intro as written. (The final that you’ll hear is a little different; this is too long, so I edited it on the fly in my head for the episode):
I must confess that dystopian fiction currently doesn’t have the impossible distance from the present for me that it once did. A story about three women navigating crumbling roads and misogyny in equal measure on a dangerous and frequently deadly road race could have come from this morning’s paper; we just happened to pluck it from Slate.
Get ready to meet three women who have come together with everything at stake, to literally drive toward a shared goal, without losing sight of their individual goals — or themselves — along the way.
This is If We Make It Through This Alive.
I’ve been working on an audiobook for six days, that we will finish tomorrow. This book is so much fun, and I have walked out of the booth on two different days, feeling like I did good work1 that day, like I made some cool art. I am exhausted at the end of each day, and I wake up tired, but I love this so much I can’t wait to get back into the booth to go back to work. What a blessing that is!
- I’m not sure if this comes across in text, but I know that my fellow actors know what I mean. It’s when we exit a scene and reaffirm to ourselves: “This is why we do it.” There are scenes that we get through because it’s our job, and there are also scenes that offer us the privilege of doing Good Work, of making Good Art in that moment. Scalzi gives me a lot of those gifts, and this author has given me a couple of wonderful surprises to unwrap. ↩︎
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Such a good story!! Gave me some real good “Ready Player One” vibes 😀
Thanks Wil!!
The late Harry Chapin has an interview where he talks about his grandfather, and the idea of being Good Tired, where you chased your dreams and sleep the sleep of the just.
I’m glad that you’re Good Tired.
https://youtu.be/pyTeEOzK-Qk?si=lOovAfLVCpkQIaWT
I’m just so proud of and happy for you! You deserve the best always. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts with us. And as they used to say in the 70s (IYKYK), “Keep on keepin’ on!’
I just finished listening to the episode this morning on my way to work. I immediately went to share the episode and story to the #books channel in my main Discord server. Your narration was wonderful; I always enjoy listening to your work (said in the least creepy way possible). Make today great!
I gave you a little stealth advertising by including the email with this episode in a screenshot on my company’s blog.
https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/introducing-mailmaven-a-better-mac-email-app/
I too am not enjoying dystopian fiction as much as I used to, but this one gave me hope at the end. I really liked it.
Have been checking Kings scores lately due to you – so passionate. Sorry about your prediction. Next year!
Great reading of a great story. The story is a well-crafted snapshot of the lives of those three women and the strength they had despite challenges, self-doubt, and fear. Sabrina’s life really resonated with me.Though it was born from necessity, I take great pride in my skills in fixing and improving the things I own. I appreciate the lesson from her gran: Sometimes you have to go backward to go forward.