Dungeon Crawler Carl

 Audible Original Fiction by Matt Dinniman

https://www.audible.com

What if aliens took over our planet and killed most of the people, and then pitted the survivors against one another in a real-life role-playing video game, broadcast all over the galaxy for their entertainment?

Then you get Dungeon Crawler Carl, a crazily entertaining story of a human and his cat trapped in an underground world and trying to survive.

This was an exciting story that kept me guessing, and it had some very funny parts too!

I also listened to from Audible Originals: Don't Let Me Go

The Eden Pruitt Series

The Fabrication of Eden Pruitt, The Aberration of Eden Pruitt, The Revelation of Eden Pruitt, and The Retribution of Eden Pruitt
Fiction by K.E. Ganshert

https://www.amazon.com https://www.amazon.com 

https://www.amazon.com https://www.amazon.com

This is a fast-paced thriller of a series with a lot of plot twists. Book one introduces us to Eden Pruitt, who has about to turn eighteen as has just moved from California to Iowa to start her senior year. But on her first day at her new school a bunch of weird things happen, culminating in the disappearance of her parents and her discovery that she has (sort-of) super powers. Plus she's met a hot boy named Cassian, who could be a helpful friend or a dangerous enemy...

I don't want to give away too much because things change throughout the books, and almost everything after the first few chapters of book one would be a spoiler. This is a good series from an author I had never heard of.

Roadkill

 Audible Original Fiction by Dennis E. Taylor

https://www.audible.com

At the beginning of this story, Jack Kernigan has just hit something with his dad's delivery truck. The problem is, he doesn't know what the heck it was that he hit. Actually, the bigger problem is the damage to the truck; his dad is already extra disappointed in Jack because he'd been expelled from MIT before his freshman year was even over.

But now he's got to spend the summer in his small hometown in Ohio, where at least he has his best friends Patrick and Nat to keep him company. And maybe the three of them can solve the mystery of what on earth (or not-earth?) Jack has run over with his truck...

This was a fun and funny story to listen to.

I also read by this author: For We Are Many

I also listened to from Audible Originals: Where We Belong

The Kaiju Preservation Society

 Audible Original Fiction by John Scalzi

https://www.audible.com

In early 2020 Jamie Gray is abruptly fired from his job just before the pandemic shutdown and is forced to do food delivery since no one else is hiring. Then he gets a chance to work for a mysterious organization called KPS, the eponymous "Kaiju Preservation Society." But what is a Kaiju, and how are they being preserved? The answers are surprising!

This was a fun story and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I also listened to recently by this author: The Interdependency Trilogy

I also listened to recently from Audible Originals: The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

The Interdependency Trilogy

The Collapsing Empire, The Consuming Fire, and The Last Emperox 
Audible Original Fiction by John Scalzi

https://www.audible.com https://www.audible.com https://www.audible.com

Thousands of years in the future, humans live all over space, not just on Earth. In the star system of this story, they live in The Interdependency and have completely lost touch with Earth altogether. The Interdependency is a network of planets and space stations joined by The Flow, which is the only method of connection between planets that are light-years apart. (Think wormholes in Star Trek. Like that.)

Okay, I understand that long sci-fi backstory is a lot, but just go with it. Because this is an amazingly good trilogy. I loved the characters so much! And the narration is also top-notch.

Definitely listen to these in order.

I also listened to recently from Audible Original Fiction: Constituent Service

I also read by this author: Starter Villain

Constituent Service

 Audible Original Fiction by John Scalzi

https://www.audible.com

This was a hysterically funny little story about an office full of aliens.

I also read recently by this author: When the Moon Hits Your Eye

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: The Authorities

Corpies

 Fiction by Drew Hayes

https://www.audible.com

I'd call this a parallel novel in the "Super-Powered" book series. (see below for the last one of those)

In this book, Owen Daniels (whose sons Herschel and Roy are main characters in the Super-Powered novels) decides to come out of his self-imposed exile and rejoin the world of superheroes. But after so long out of the game, the only team who is willing to take him is a group of Corpies, supers who offer services for corporate hire.

As I would expect from this author, this was a really good story.

I also read recently by this author: Super Powereds Year Four

The Book of Flora

 Fiction by Meg Elison

https://www.audible.com

This is the last book in the "Road to Nowhere" Series (see below). It was a good conclusion to the series, in that it wrapped everything up pretty well while producing some surprises at the end. Still, it was kind of sad to me; I liked the characters of Flora and Etta a lot and really wanted them to end up happier.

I suppose it's hard to have a happy ending in a post-apocalyptic world...

I also read by this author in this series: The Book of the Unnamed Midwife and The Book of Etta

The Book of Etta

 Fiction by Meg Elison

https://www.audible.com

This book is the sequel to The Book of the Unnamed Midwife. It continues the story of the post-apocalyptic world where the population had been almost wiped out about a hundred years before by a plague that still threatens the human race, especially the women.

The city of Nowhere, the place where the Unnamed Midwife had taken refuge, is surviving, but there are at least ten men for every woman still. Women who have borne a living child are revered, but many still die in childbed fever. Raiders from Nowhere go out to find Old World goods, and to rescue women and girls from slave traders around the country, and Etta is one of those raiders.

This was an exciting continuation of the tale begun in the first book. The story does get darker and more brutal though. There is one more book in the series that I plan to listen to next.

I also read by this author: Find Layla

When the Moon Hits Your Eye

Audible Original Fiction by John Scalzi

https://www.audible.com

What if the moon turned into cheese? LITERALLY?!

There's the premise of this strange book, which is funny and very odd. The story jumps around to different characters and how the moon-change affects them personally. At first I was slightly annoyed by how the characters kept switching out --just when I'd gotten interested in a character, he/she would be unceremoniously dropped and a new one would be introduced-- but after a while I got used to it. I decided to treat the book like a series of connected short stories.

The ending was a surprise!

I also read by this author: Head On

I also listened to from Audible Originals: Hitch Hikers

The Boy on the Bridge

 Fiction M.R. Carey

https://www.audible.com

This book is the prequel to The Girl With All the Gifts, an excellent zombie apocalypse novel.

(I'll bet you didn't know "excellent" and "zombie apocalypse" could go together like that!)

This also was a very absorbing story with great characters.

I also read recently by this author: Echo of Worlds

Echo of Worlds

 Fiction by M.R. Carey

https://www.audible.com

This book is the sequel to Infinity Gate, which I listened to recently. This book made a fascinating conclusion to that exciting story, which I cannot describe without spoilers.

I definitely recommend it!

Infinity Gate

 Fiction by M.R. Carey

https://www.audible.com

Once again, M.R. Carey envisions the End of the World, but this time there may be a way out...

In this story, scientist Hadiz Tambuwal is one of many working furiously in Lagos, Nigeria, to figure out a way to avert the impending doom of planet Earth. She discovers something, and it's something big, but unfortunately she is mostly too late to do anything to save her world. Still, the possibilities opened up by her discovery reveal that there are other worlds, possibly an infinite amount of them. 

This was a really good story with great narration. It's the beginning of a series.

I also read by this author: The Rampart Trilogy

Hitch Hikers

 Audible Original Fiction by Ben Winters.

https://www.audible.com

At the beginning of this story, a young woman called Annie is sitting in her fiancé's kitchen when an apparently homeless old lady shows up and disrupts her life in a very unexpected way.

This was an interesting and exciting story. I recommend it!

I also read recently by this author: Big Time

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: For We are Many

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

 Fiction by Meg Elison

https://www.audible.com

After a terrible plague wipes out almost the whole human population, killing 95% of men and 99% of women, the Unnamed Midwife of this story has lost everyone and everything she knows, including her profession. 

This was an engrossing story with a unique voice. I've read other post-apocalyptic stories, and even several with the "virus-kills-almost-all-women" idea, but this one may be the best.

Big Time

 Fiction by Ben Winters

https://www.audible.com

At the beginning of this exciting story, twenty-something-year-old Allie is kidnapped and being taken to an unknown location by a mysterious woman who refuses to speak to her. Meanwhile, Grace Burney, a middle-aged FDA bureaucrat who takes care of both her elderly mother and her teenaged child on her own, is called in to work after hours to decipher a problem for her boss. These two women's stories will intersect in an extraordinary way.

This was a really good thriller. I loved it!!

I also read by this author: The Last Policeman

That’s Not Right

 Fiction by Scott Meyer

https://www.audible.com

Youtube-style videographer Amber has always been a fan of late-night talk radio host Jack Owens. So when she gets a chance to take Jack's show "That's Not Right" to internet video, she's all for it. It's a great idea, she thinks. But it turns out Jack Owens doesn't agree.

This was a funny little set of stories that tied together well. I enjoyed it.

I also listened to by this author: Spell or High Water

For We Are Many

 Audible Original Fiction by Dennis Taylor

https://www.audible.com

This book is the sequel to We Are Legion (We Are Bob), which I listened to a little while ago. It chronicles the further adventures of The Bobs, an ever-increasing group of AI clones who run spaceships in the future. (It’s a bizarre premise, but just go with it.)

It’s definitely different, and the story is pretty interesting.

I also read by this author: We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

I also read from Audible Originals:  Scum of the Earth

Scum of the Earth

 Audible Original Fiction by Alexander Kane

https://www.audible.com

If alien oppressors took over the Earth and forced all humans to slavery (or death), would you work for them? Or would you try to fight against them?

This is an interesting philosophical question; but for our fictional hero Ezra Barker, it's a real choice when the Merg invade the planet. And he chooses the safe route: he collaborates with the Merg and works at a nice office job instead of being killed or sent to the work camps. But deep inside, Ezra wishes he had joined the Resistance instead.

This was a really exciting adventure story with great characters. It had funny moments but wasn't necessarily as humorous as the other books I've listened to by this author. It's an imaginative and engrossing story!

I also read by this author: Dragon Heist

I also listened to from Audible Originals: The Forever Part 2

The Forever Part 2

Audible Original Fiction by Craig Robertson 

https://www.audible.com

This is the sequel to The Forever, Part 1, unsurprisingly. It was a fun continuation of the first audiobooks, which was actually two novels just as this one is.

In this part of the story, immortal android space pilot John Ryan tries his hardest to save humanity from extinction. This is particularly difficult because Earth has already been destroyed and the remaining population of humans is travelling through space to a new home world.

As long as you're willing to go along with the premise behind these stories, they are great fun.

I also listened to recently by Audible Originals: Head On