Written and read by Vanna Bonta

Price from: $34.27

‘Flight’ is subtitled a ‘Quantum Fiction’ novel, of which the idea of there being an alternative universe has always intrigued me. “Geek!” I hear you mutter, but I loved Quantum Leap when it was running on TV, and the film, Sliding Doors with Gwenyth Paltrow; so when I stumbled across Vanna Bonta's 'Flight' profile on MySpace, I was intrigued.

Vanna Bonta is both a writer and a voice-over actor, and she narrates her novel brilliantly. Her characters are distinctive, thus brings alive the little asides and underlying humour that is Sandra, Mendle’s neurotic ex-girlfriend for example.

I’ll admit the beginning of the novel set me on edge a little; Bonta's language is very flamboyant and scientific. But, once you get used to the scientific jargon and beautiful imagery you realise that a lot of it is in fact food for thought. I became absorbed in the narrative and beautiful descriptions.

Aira Flight is a being that travels the stars. To begin with, she’s not made of any physical form as we know it, rather a light being of emotive thought. She’s travelling through space and time and we realise she’s searching for Jorian, the one she, ‘thought reaches’ to, her lover, the one she has a pure affinity with. Jorian is missing, absent from the stars. Absent from her.

She’s very close to her mini dragon, Onx, and both are tricked into the Z-Zone where they’re made to ‘forget’ who they are, what they are and what they know of the universe – they’re changed into organic beings and sent to earth!

We soon realise that we are hearing the words pounded out on the computer keyboard of award winning author, Mendle J. Orion. The tap tapping sound effects give the listener a solid transition between Mendle’s prose and what’s happening in his ‘real’ life. This is needed, as a lot of his novel has 'earthly' parallels and coincidences. There’s also a nice transition between chapters, with the ticking of a clock. I’m going to re-listen to Aira’s song I’m still not sure if I’m keen on it. I think I’d have preferred it if it were a poem she’d written.

Mendle is writing the story of Aira, his ‘Dream Lover’ (there was a little too much repetition of this song, I thought), a fictitious woman he’s longed for, who understands him. The thing with quantum entanglements is that the mysterious woman he’s writing about turns up, soaking wet, in his hotel bathroom during a science fiction convention. She has amnesia, and cannot immediately remember who she is, where she is or how she got there.

Aira is intriguing, and on meeting Mendle’s ex-girlfriend, Sandra, we realise how different she is. She highlights the vagaries of human interaction; the normally unobserved wrestling of ego. She is sometimes nauseatingly naïve, being ‘born’ into this world totally ignorant. But this Is in fact endearing, and we learn from her discoveries.

I was hooked on this story, the tale is ingenious. Although, i felt that by the end there were a couple of instances where the story could have ended before it actually did. The narrative became a little tired.

I’ll update this blog entry once I have info on a UK retailer for the audio. At the moment, you can buy from:

Audible.com, $34.27