I can't say this is going to be written anytime soon, but it is definitely on my mind and I might write the individual stories in my free time to attempt to be published at various magazines. Hell, I might start with my own university's literary magazine first. Have you ever read Oliver Kitteridge or Winesburg, Ohio? It's coming from a similar root as those two, basically being a short story cycle with a few unrelated shorts. The fundamental frame is that of a successful middle-aged author (shifts noticeably in seat) named Constantine (or just "Stan") and his gynoid companion named Pandora: Spoiler This seat is uncomfortable. So basically the aforementioned author is a self-insert, with all the horrors that brings with it. Which makes it feel awkward when I have to push what's basically myself into various unusual, perhaps regrettable situations. The year is 2038, at least at the start. I figured it would take place over the course of four years. Stan and Pandora live in a fairly unassuming small house in a somewhat secluded part of a growing-but-still-small town. A few of the other characters are the neighbors. The house is also a character. And that's basically it at the moment, but there is a load of themes and concepts I'm juggling. I say it's science fiction because it is, but I suppose many people would instead call it "literary fiction" because, in their minds, if there are no gunfights or epic plots to take down a dystopian organization or overt statements on the dehumanizing nature of technology, it's not sci-fi. This by itself is confusing Hollywood-style action sci-fi fusion for straightforward science fiction. So I decided to create a new genre term to get around this problem. The terminology I've been using is "slice of tomorrow." However, my plan is to double down on the genre label of "science fiction" regardless because I don't see Babylon Today as being anything other than a sci-fi story. If anything, the idea of sci-fi slice of life has been exciting me for a while because I realize that it's probably the best way to really communicate various sci-fi concepts to the masses. Mainly those that are going to impact us at some point in the very near future.
Here's a sight I bet you never expected to see in 2018: an artificially intelligent humanoid robot using a laptop.
