The bell on the door rings when Francine enters Apocalypse Books. Eve looks up from the computer on the counter, yawns, and greets her.
"That's new. When'd you put the bell on the door?" Francine asks, walking up to the counter while holding some pamphlets.
"The other day. Business has been slow, and, as a result, I've been nodding off at the counter when I've been alone in the store for too long. The other day a customer had to wake me up to check out. That was a bit embarrassing, so I put the bell on so even if I nod off, I should wake up when the bell rings," Eve says, then points at the computer monitor, "Say, have you seen this yet?"
Francine looks at what appears to just be a textheavy webpage, "No, what is it?"
"It's a novel writing robot."
"A novel writing robot?"
"Well, I guess it's just more of an artificial intelligence than a robot. What happens is that it's loaded with some basic stock literary plots like a quest or a romance or a coming of age story, and then you as a reader tell it what kind of book you want to read. So if you like vampires who only eat bears or you want to read more about an orphan boy who becomes a wizard, then you tell it that. Or if you want your orphan boy wizard to become a vampire and find a lost Leonardo Da Vinci painting, then you tell it that. Or you want a story like Wuthering Heights except everyone's gay, then you tell it that. Whatever you tell it, it plunks those elements into one of the stock plots, and a few minutes later you have a novel."
"Wow! That thing can write a book even faster than Joyce Carol Oates!" Francine says.
"Yes, poor authors. I'm afraid they're out of a job once this catches on. Readers can order up their most crass wish-fulfillment fantasies. No one's going to bother with a book that stinks of art or might tell them something they don't want to hear. It's cheap too since the robot doesn't demand royalties, and if you send the novel to a print on demand machine, then you can actually get a printed copy. That should effectively kill off my livelihood too," she looks around at the otherwise empty store, "What's left of it anyway."
"Yeah, but how can these novels be any good if they're basically written by a computer?"
"Have you read any mass market paperbacks lately? Romance novels? Adventure books? Those books are so formulaic that they might as well be written by a computer. In fact, the computer might have more personality than some of those authors," Eve turns away from the computer, "But I'm sure you didn't stop in to hear me moan about the publishing industry. What's up?"
"Oh," Francine says, setting the pamphlets she is carrying down on the counter, "Well, I got these pamphlets the other day, and I was wondering if you had any more of them."
"Well, if I don't, we'll tell the computer to write one for you," Eve laughs, picking one of the pamphlets up.
Blog Love Omega Glee is a novel by Wred Fright about two bloggers who fall in love while the world falls apart, which is being serialized on his blog. To start reading from the beginning or read another installment, please visit Blog Love Omega Glee Central on WredFright.Com. If you like what you've read, or you've read all of Blog Love Omega Glee and want more Fright, then please read his first novel, which is available in print and as an ebook.
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