I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You, and Other Stories Audiobook, by Julianna Baggott Play Audiobook Sample

I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You, and Other Stories Audiobook

I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You, and Other Stories Audiobook, by Julianna Baggott Play Audiobook Sample
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Read By: Andi Arndt, Cassandra Campbell, Emily Woo Zeller, Erin Bennett, January LaVoy, Rachel Jacobs, Tavia Gilbert, Xe Sands, various narrators, Lisa Flanagan, Natasha Soudek, Emily Lawrence, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Kelli Tager, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Em Grosland Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Listen Time: at 1.0x Speed 6.17 hours at 1.5x Speed 4.63 hours at 2.0x Speed Release Date: March 2023 Format: Unabridged Audiobook ISBN: 9798200872503

Quick Stats About this Audiobook

Total Audiobook Chapters:

15

Longest Chapter Length:

53:03 minutes

Shortest Chapter Length:

10:35 minutes

Average Chapter Length:

36:33 minutes

Audiobooks by this Author:

6

Other Audiobooks Written by Julianna Baggott: > View All...

Publisher Description

Bestselling author Julianna Baggott delivers her mind-bending debut short-story collection, featuring an array of genres populated by deeply human characters, and with film rights to the stories already having been sold to Netflix, Paramount, Amblin, Lionsgate, and others!

In the title story, set five minutes in the future where you not only have a credit score but also a dating score, a woman who’s been banished from all dating apps attends a weekly help group with others who have been “banned for life,” and finds herself falling in love. In “Backwards,” a twist on Benjamin Button, a woman reconnects with her estranged father as he de-ages ten years each day they spend together. In “Welcome to Oxhead,” all the parents in a gated community “shut off” when the power goes out. In “Portals,” a small town deals with hope and loss when dozens of portals suddenly open. In “How They Got In,” a grieving family starts to see a murdered girl in all of their old home videos.

This fantastical collection from a unique voice contains a myriad of stories of the weird and wonderful. Julianna Baggott is a talented and clever guide, and I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You will take the reader on a journey unlike anything they’ve experienced.

Download and start listening now!

“Reading this story collection is like stepping in front of a fun house mirror. At first, you see yourself, your world, and the characters as ordinary. But with one side step, your body slowly distorts into something unexpected, wicked, even silly. But vibrating underneath, somehow, Julianna Baggott’s words ground us with the familiar truths that allow us to see the ordinary as something truly extraordinary.”

— Jessica Biel, actress and producer 

Quotes

  • “Casually fantastical, beautifully surreal, and packing an unexpected emotional punch, the stories in I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You are clever and subversive and proof that, in the right hands, big ideas can come in small, perfect packages.”

    — Jonathan Tropper, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where I Leave You
  • “A moving fantastical collection…stacked with feats of imagination.”

    — Publishers Weekly
  • “This book is a treasure chest filled with wild and wondrous tales. A gorgeous and brilliant collection!”

    — Alexander Weinstein, author of Children of the New World

I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You, and Other Stories Listener Reviews

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About Julianna Baggott

Julianna Baggott, critically acclaimed and bestselling author, has published more than twenty books under her own name as well as pen names, including two New York Times Notable Books of the Year: Pure, an ALA Alex Award winner, and Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders. Over one hundred foreign editions of her books have been published overseas. Her work is currently in development with Disney+, MGM, Paramount, and Netflix. She’s written for O, The Oprah Magazine; NPR; and the Washington Post

About the Narrators

Andi Arndt is a professional voice actor, the winner of a 2017 Audie Award for Best Romance, and winner of two Earphones Awards.

Cassandra Campbell has won multiple Audie Awards, Earphones Awards, and the prestigious Odyssey Award for narration. She was been named a “Best Voice” by AudioFile magazine and in 2018 was inducted in Audible’s inaugural Narrator Hall of Fame.

Emily Woo Zeller is an artist, actor, dancer, choreographer, and voice artist who has won Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration in 2018. She began her voice-over career by voicing animation in Asia. AudioFile magazine named her one of the Best Voices of 2013 for her work in Gulp. Other awards include the 2009 Tristen Award for Best Actress as Sally Bowles in Cabaret and the 2006 Roselyn E. Schneider Prize for Creative Achievement.

Erin Bennett is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a stage actress who played Carlie Roberts in the BBC radio drama Torchwood: Submission. She can be heard on several video games. Regional theater appearances include the Intiman, Pasadena Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, A Noise Within, Laguna Playhouse, and the Getty Villa. She trained at Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

January LaVoy, winner of numerous awards for narration, was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine in 2019. She is an American actress best known for her character Noelle Ortiz on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. In addition to working extensively in narration and television, including roles on Law & Order and All My Children, she has worked on and off Broadway as well as in regional theater.

Karissa Vacker is a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator and actress. After graduating with a BFA in acting from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, she performed in regional theaters across the country before moving to Los Angeles. She has guest starred in network television shows and films and continues to work on screen and stage. Her audiobook credits include romance, young adult fiction, and mystery thrillers.

Tavia Gilbert is an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry. Named the 2018 Voice of Choice by Booklist magazine, she is also winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has earned numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. Audible.com has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir. In addition to voice acting, she is an accomplished producer, singer, and theater actor. She is also a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral.

Xe Sands has more than a decade of experience bringing stories to life through narration, performance, and visual art, including recordings of the Nightwalkers series from Jaquelyn Frank. She has received several honors, including AudioFile Earphones Awards and a coveted Audie Award, and she was named Favorite Debut Romance Narrator of 2011 in the Romance Audiobooks poll.

Neil Hellegers grew up in New Jersey and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a BA in theater arts and a minor in psychology before getting an MFA in acting from the Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. He moved to New York City in 2003 and, since then, has made a career of theatrical performance, percussion, theater education, and audiobook narration. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.

Lisa Flanagan is a classically trained soprano, comedian, voice-over artist, and Earphones Award–winning narrator.

Natasha Soudek was raised in the South, speaks native German, lived in Berlin and Vienna, and finally settled in the Lower East Side of New York City. After honing her stage presence by studying acting and playing hundreds of live music shows (singing and playing bass), she moved to LA to record with Channel/DreamWorks and act on TV. Her voice is as distinct and memorable as the range of characters she’s played on-screen.

Emily Lawrence, an actor and writer, is passionate about bringing stories to life. Her greatest strength as a performer is her ability to bring herself to the role, creating a wide range of emotionally resonant performances that leap off the page, stage, or screen. Her favorite characters are complicated, conflicted, and still searching for their inner truths. She has narrated more than 425 audiobooks, many of which were USA Today or New York Times bestsellers, and has also worked in film, television, and theater. Born and raised in New York, she moved to Los Angeles shortly after receiving her BFA in drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She also lived in London while studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.  Her greatest loves are acting and reading, so narrating audiobooks is a dream come true. Her other passions include traveling, LARPing, aerial circus, and chocolate.

Kimberly M. Wetherell is a classically trained actor, award-winning filmmaker, international opera director, published essayist, and talented audiobook narrator.

Kelli Tager is a Los Angeles–based, award-winning narrator. She earned a BA in theater arts from UCLA, studying in England for her junior year. She returned to the UK for a master’s in Shakespeare. After graduation, she continued to act in theater, film, and television until she discovered voice-over. She now does voice acting exclusively in commercials, animation, and audiobooks.

Cassandra Campbell has won multiple Audie Awards, Earphones Awards, and the prestigious Odyssey Award for narration. She was been named a “Best Voice” by AudioFile magazine and in 2018 was inducted in Audible’s inaugural Narrator Hall of Fame.

Chris Henry Coffey is a film and television actor known for his role in David Schwimmer’s film, Trust. He has also had roles on Broadway, including the play Bronx Bombers. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, he divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.