No one spoke for a long, tense moment. The book, dog-eared and missing its Saul-Bass-inspired dust jacket, sat on the coffee table, showing the wear and tear of a book that had been passed from person to person, shoved into bags, read on breaks at work. All three –– Dania and Gwen on the couch, […]
“May the Fourth be with you!” cried Dania, exiting her room. She wore the requisite merch: a distressed tee, bearing the original Tom Jung poster design, and an anachronistically modern pair of C-3PO mouse ears.
Eleanor and Gwen looked on from a distance. Unlike Dania, neither considered themselves to be a particularly passionate fan of the Star Wars franchise. Eleanor had watched them when they were released, but lost interest as the series continued to blend into the larger trend of blockbuster action films.
It was when she turned her phone on at intermission that Gwen first saw the text message from Eleanor:
We need to talk about the audiobook you recommended
Gwen was at first excited. It had only been a day or two since she had told Eleanor and Dania to check out the audiobook of Ann Leckie’s Provenance. The book, a spiritual successor to her earlier “Imperial Radch trilogy” set in the same universe, had captured Gwen’s attention after she plowed through the trilogy during the break. Unable to take the time to sit down and focus on the book like she had with the first three, she had bought the audiobook – recorded by British actress Adjoa Andoh.
The Hanslick Girls 