Audition
by Pip Adam

Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted October 24, 2026

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Winner of the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, Audition is the fourth novel by New Zealander Pip Adam. It is a short novel, and I will try to keep my comments short too. The story begins in media res, and is a bit confusing, as well as being dream-like throughout. Three people, Alba, Drew, and Stanley, are on what they believe to be a spaceship, which they call Audition. We later learn its original name; the University of Whispers. I'm sure I know what that refers to but won't elaborate. At this point it seems that either the people are growing in size, or the ship is shrinking. Each of them is in a separate part of the ship, movement prohibited by being cramped by walls, floors, ceiling. But they are so close to the walls that even when they whisper, the vibrations from their speech is carried to the others. Another puzzling thing is they all agree there had originally been 15 other crew members, but they have no idea what happened to them.

The second chapter goes back in time a bit, to when they were in a compound constructed inside a sports stadium. They are training for the space mission, which had been quickly organized to deal with people who have exhibited rapid growth. They are now giants compared to their instructors. There are 18 ships on launch pads nearby, and if each was to carry 18 people, that would mean a total of 324. I can't help but think those numbers are significant, but I'm stumped. At one point Alba mentions three different things, all acronyms, which a search tells me are part of the Myers-Briggs personality types. Their memories have somehow been blocked as to when their growth began, but those return in the third chapter as they approach an alien planet. Alba had previously known Drew and Stanley under different circumstances, but I won't reveal details about that either. They are now the aliens on a weird planet. They are met by humanoids who assure the Earthers they are on the small side for their species, thus they were chosen for the encounter so as not to frighten them with even larger giants. As I said above, it is very dream-like throughout, except for the sequence where we learn Alba and Drew's past history, then a bit later when Alba met Stanley.

It is the type of story where it is easy to believe it is only in the mind of one of the characters, and if that is the case I think it has to be Alba. She is the most volatile of the group, emotionally crippled, prone to violence. There is something else I won't reveal, which the author mentions in the afterword, that strengthens that opinion for me. If that is the case then this is not science fiction, merely the strange thoughts within a troubled mind, but that would make it speculative fiction concerning psychology. Perhaps they weren't actually getting bigger either, that idea being another metaphor for what was actually happening. "But what would I know? I'm so stupid." That is an in-joke you won't understand unless you read the book. I liked it, but it is hard to say if I recommend it.

 

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