Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

The Coffee Shop Scene

By -

With all the talk about AI lately, including its widely-reported promise of eliminating 300 million jobs (which, oddly, is touted as great news), I was reminded of a scene in my book Solid State. Here it is, for your reading pleasure, and if you enjoy it, perhaps consider getting the entire novel!

Tobias Huang walked up to the counter and grabbed both of the drinks he had ordered. Even though it was late in the day, Philz was packed with customers, mostly Stanford students and a few local startup types who just wanted a change of scenery from their nearby offices.

“Here’s your chai”, Tobias said as he put the drink on the table. Before he sat down, Tobias glanced around and noticed every patron there had their face buried in one kind of screen or another. Even though Ethan Wesley was running for one of California’s Senate seats, not a single person at the coffee shop seemed to notice he was there. It was clear that Tobias had his work cut out for him. His candidate was quite plainly anonymous.

(more…)

Franz ACX Kafka

By -

Months ago, I laboriously (VERY laboriously) did the voice work for my novel, Solid State. I’ve never been so weary of my own voice in my entire life, but it was an act of love (and, by God, I did it for TNRevolution, since he said he wanted to read the book but only if he could listen to it). Thus, I worked a very long time on putting it together, including the not-at-all easy submission process with Audible.com, also known as ACX.

Once the digital files had at long last been approved (which took months!) I thought I’d just wait for the final OK so it could start getting distributed. However, I got this email from out of the blue (as always, click on any image for a bigger, more readable version).

(more…)