Natasha Soudek

• Biography

  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.

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• Praise for Books

  “Robots through the Ages is pure science fiction gold. Classic and new stories filled with weird science, adventure, wild twists, and awesome fun! Silverberg and Schmidt have a winner here!” —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author

  “Fun and quirky tales and ruminations about a genius, a hero, and a role model for the ages!” —David Brin, author of The Postman and The Ancient Ones

  “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

  “In Second Chance Angel, a pair of badly damaged combat veterans team up to find the kidnapped woman who is crucial to both of them. One vet was an enlisted grunt. The other was an officer’s artificial intelligence. Vivid action and intelligent backgrounds as the team unravels a criminal conspiracy that goes well above their pay grades.” —Dave Drake, author of Hammer’s Slammers

  “Robert Silverberg and Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s anthology is an indispensable collection of stories about Robots through the Ages. The reader receives a terrific overview of the history of robot tales from such stories as Jack Williamson’s ‘With Folded Hands,’ which grows more chilling and prophetic by the day; Robert Silverberg’s masterful Nebula-Award winning tale of robots and ‘Good News from the Vatican’; and Connie Willis’s amusing mystery that presents an intriguing ‘Dilemma’ to Isaac Asimov and a coterie of robots. At the same time, this book offers the joy of discovering never-before-published gems by writers like Seanan McGuire and Ken Scholes. This is a delightful and informative book for anyone interested in robotics, AI, or science fiction.” —Sheila Williams, Hugo-winning editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

  “A richly imagined collection from a stellar group of writers. Do not miss it!” —Jason M. Hough, New York Times bestselling author of The Darwin Elevator and Instinct

  “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

  “Space opera, sentient AIs, and a mystery to solve. What more can you ask for?” —S. K. Dunstall, author of Linesman

  “Robots through the Ages ponders questions that arise in the face of evolving innovation, including how technology has changed over time.”  —NPR’s Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson

  “A moving fantastical collection…stacked with feats of imagination.” —Publishers Weekly

  “A war veteran and a disembodied artificial intelligence form a partnership to solve a string of horrible crimes. The human/AI detective theme hasn’t been done this well since Isaac Asimov’s Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw novels, The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn—with the advantage that the AI science in Second Chance Angel is that of the modern era, not Asimov’s time.” —Eric Flint, author of 1632

  “You might know the reveal, but how it all comes together is fascinating.”  —The RetroRockets Podcast

  “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

  “With this fun, noir-tinged thriller, the first in the Last Stop Station series, Barber and Ezell weave together intrigue, action, and romance, all with a hard-boiled sensibility…The authors expertly contrast claustrophobic interiors and the vastness of space, creating a world that feels both alien and lived-in. Readers will be hooked.” —Publishers Weekly

  “Sci-fi nerds and robotics geeks will find joy in this collection. The anthology includes a wide variety of robot tales. Silverberg and Schmidt do a great job of showing trends and attitudes toward the subject through history. They have selected stories about the fear of new technology as well as incorporating robots and AI into our daily lives.” —San Francisco Book Review

  “Less laugh-out-loud fun but just as snackable are the short stories in Julianna Baggott’s I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here With You. They reward more than one reading.” —New Scientist

  “Julianna Baggott has written a timely and compelling collection of short stories covering a variety of speculative fiction themes, many of which are reminiscent of episodes of the dystopian science-fiction show Black Mirror. A bevy of talented narrators deliver the stories…The laudable narrators, with their varied performances, keep the listener engrossed in highly original and thought-provoking stories.” —AudioFile

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• 

  • Robots through the Ages

  • Edited by Robert Silverberg and Bryan Thomas Schmidt

    Introduction by Robert Silverberg

    Read by Leonard Nimoy, Stefan Rudnicki, Jesse Vilinsky, Bronson Pinchot, Jim Meskimen, Peter Ganim, James Anderson Foster, Neil Hellegers, John Pirhalla, Steven Jay Cohen, Matt Godfrey, Noah Michael Levine, Dan Bittner, Scott Aiello, Tim Campbell, and Natasha Soudek

  • Release Date: 7/25/23

  • Formats: Hardcover, Trade Print ARC, Trade Paperback

  A remarkable collection, Robots through the Ages includes stories from some of the best writers of science fiction, both old and new.

  This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad—in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus “with minds and wisdoms”—humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce’s tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are—and who creates them—can be drastically different.

  This book collects a broad selection of short stories from celebrated authors such as Philip K. Dick, Seanan McGuire, Roger Zelazny, Connie Willis, and many more. Robots through the Ages not only celebrates the history of robots and the genre of science fiction, but the dauntless nature of human ingenuity.

  • Robots through the Ages

  • Edited by Robert Silverberg and Bryan Thomas Schmidt

    Introduction by Robert Silverberg

    Read by Leonard Nimoy, Stefan Rudnicki, Jesse Vilinsky, Bronson Pinchot, Jim Meskimen, Peter Ganim, James Anderson Foster, Neil Hellegers, John Pirhalla, Steven Jay Cohen, Matt Godfrey, Noah Michael Levine, Dan Bittner, Scott Aiello, Tim Campbell, and Natasha Soudek

  • Release Date: 7/25/23

  • Formats: Hardcover, Trade Print ARC, Trade Paperback

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• 

  • The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie

  • Edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Henry Herz

    Stories and poems by Scott Sigler, Jonathan Maberry, Alethea Kontis, Jane Yolen, Seanan McGuire, Lissa Price, Bryan Thomas Schmidt and G. P. Charles, Henry Herz, Christine Taylor-Butler, Mylo Carbia, Jo Whittemore, Susanne L. Lambdin, Sarah Beth Durst, Steve Pantazis, Stacia Deutsch, Dee Leone, and Emily McCosh

    Read by Tim Campbell, Natalie Naudus, Nancy Peterson, Zura Johnson, Emily Ellet, Cindy Kay, Lisa Flanagan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Emily Lawrence, Stina Nielsen, Shiromi Arserio, Stephanie Németh-Parker, Alex Picard, Kelli Tager, Anna Caputo, Natalie Duke, Amy Landon, and Natasha Soudek

  • Release Date: 4/11/23

  • Formats: Hardcover, Large Print Hardcover, Trade Print ARC, Trade Paperback

  Luckily for humanity, scientist Marie Curie applied her brilliant mind and indomitable spirit to expanding the frontiers of science, but what if she had instead drifted toward the darkness?

  At the cusp of between child- and adulthood, at the crossroads between science and superstition, a teen Marie Curie faces the factual and the fantastic in this fabulous collection of stories that inspire, delight, and ask the question: What if she had used her talents for diabolical purposes?

  The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie includes twenty short stories and poems by award-winning writers including New York Times bestselling authors Seanan McGuire, Scott Sigler, Jane Yolen, Alethea Kontis, Stacia Deutsch, and Jonathan Maberry, among others.

  • The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie

  • Edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Henry Herz

    Stories and poems by Scott Sigler, Jonathan Maberry, Alethea Kontis, Jane Yolen, Seanan McGuire, Lissa Price, Bryan Thomas Schmidt and G. P. Charles, Henry Herz, Christine Taylor-Butler, Mylo Carbia, Jo Whittemore, Susanne L. Lambdin, Sarah Beth Durst, Steve Pantazis, Stacia Deutsch, Dee Leone, and Emily McCosh

    Read by Tim Campbell, Natalie Naudus, Nancy Peterson, Zura Johnson, Emily Ellet, Cindy Kay, Lisa Flanagan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Emily Lawrence, Stina Nielsen, Shiromi Arserio, Stephanie Németh-Parker, Alex Picard, Kelli Tager, Anna Caputo, Natalie Duke, Amy Landon, and Natasha Soudek

  • Release Date: 4/11/23

  • Formats: Hardcover, Large Print Hardcover, Trade Print ARC, Trade Paperback

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• 

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

  • By Julianna Baggott

    Read by Andi Arndt, Erin Bennett, Emily Lawrence, Tavia Gilbert, Kimberly M. Wetherell, January LaVoy, Em Grosland, Natasha Soudek, Lisa Flanagan, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Rachel Jacobs, Kelli Tager, Xe Sands, Emily Woo Zeller, and Cassandra Campbell

  • Release Date: 3/28/23

  • Formats: Hardcover, Large Print Hardcover, Trade Print ARC, Trade Paperback, Signed Hardcover

  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.

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

  • By Julianna Baggott

    Read by Andi Arndt, Erin Bennett, Emily Lawrence, Tavia Gilbert, Kimberly M. Wetherell, January LaVoy, Em Grosland, Natasha Soudek, Lisa Flanagan, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Rachel Jacobs, Kelli Tager, Xe Sands, Emily Woo Zeller, and Cassandra Campbell

  • Release Date: 3/28/23

  • Formats: Hardcover, Large Print Hardcover, Trade Print ARC, Trade Paperback, Signed Hardcover

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• 

  • Second Chance Angel

  • By Griffin Barber and Kacey Ezell

    Read by Jennifer Jill Araya, David Drummond, and Natasha Soudek

  • Release Date: 9/08/20

  • Formats: Trade Paperback, Hardcover, Trade Print ARC

  After a devastating galactic war, disgraced veteran Ralston Muck ekes out a living as a bouncer at Last Stop Station’s premier nightclub, A Curtain of Stars. Night after night he listens to the club’s star performer, Siren, sing her memories and ease some of his aching loss. But when Siren goes missing, Muck finds himself drawn into a world of dirty cops, drug lords, and conspiracies that trace back to the war itself.

  The only person he can trust isn’t even human. Angel, Siren’s personal AI, was ripped from the singer’s mind the night Siren disappeared. With no idea what has happened to her human host, and pursued by a killer virus, Angel flees to Muck for answers.

  Together they struggle to comprehend the conspiracy that entangles both their lives. Can Muck and the angel on his shoulder recover Siren before it’s too late? Or will he lose everything that matters to him one more time?

  • Second Chance Angel

  • By Griffin Barber and Kacey Ezell

    Read by Jennifer Jill Araya, David Drummond, and Natasha Soudek

  • Release Date: 9/08/20

  • Formats: Trade Paperback, Hardcover, Trade Print ARC

  Learn More

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

Coming Soon