The Dispatcher

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The Dispatcher
The Dispatcher.jpg
AuthorJohn Scalzi
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction novella

The Dispatcher is a 2016 science fiction novella by John Scalzi.[1] It was originally published as an audiobook from Audible, read by Zachary Quinto.[2]

Synopsis[]

In the wake of an unexplained phenomenon worldwide — when people are deliberately killed, they disappear from their site of death and reappear, reset to several hours earlier, in a safe place — the profession of "Dispatcher" evolves. Dispatchers euthanize mortally-injured people before their natural deaths, enabling them to reset. Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher recruited by the police to assist in investigating the disappearance of another Dispatcher.

Reception[]

National Public Radio considered the book "thin" and "a little bit rushed (because, you know, novella)", but praised Scalzi's "fertile and weird imagination" , and noted that "the most interesting ideas come as asides, hints, hypotheticals".[3]

Kirkus Reviews observed that "[t]here are, frustratingly, no answers" provided to the question of why the resurrections began, and noted that, due to its origins as an audiobook, the novella is "dialogue-heavy and descriptive-light", with the "sense of Valdez’s character and voice" that was provided by Quinto's performance, not being present in the text.[4]

Adaptation[]

In 2021, Deadline Hollywood announced that a television adaptation of The Dispatcher was being planned, with Uri Singer as producer.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ Scalzi, John (2017-05-01). The Dispatcher. Subterranean Press. ISBN 978-1-59606-786-8.
  2. ^ John Scalzi's The Dispatcher: Zachary Quinto to narrate, by Isabella Biedenharn; at Entertainment Weekly; published August 30, 2016; retrieved December 22, 2021
  3. ^ 'The Dispatcher' Is A Short Stroll In A Strange Neighborhood, by Jason Sheehan; at National Public Radio; published May 31, 2017; retrieved December 22, 2021
  4. ^ Dispatching the Dead, by Thea James, at Kirkus Reviews; published May 19, 2017; retrieved December 22, 2021
  5. ^ Zachary Quinto-Narrated Audible Original ‘The Dispatcher’ Being Adapted As TV Series With Uri Singer, by Peter White, at Deadline Hollywood; published December 20, 2021; retrieved December 22, 2021

External links[]

The Dispatcher title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

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