The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara, by Christopher Kastensmidt

I left off reading for listening to pick up this Nebula nominee, The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara.  Audio is not normally my thing, but I'll do it for a good story and StarShipSofa is a fun podcast site.  It's a funny sort of story, because it reminds me of my kids' playtimes--the whole thing is about getting ready to have an adventure.  Gerard van Oost finds an ideal companion for his Brazilian adventure plan, but has to get him out of slavery.  He deals with obstacles human and semi-divine just to get his wish to risk death.  It was nice and relaxing to listen to--I could give it a higher rating if it went somewhere, but it is a novelette, after all.  No doubt Mr. Kastensmidt has a world in mind here, so we'll see what else he does with this.  3 stars.