Several People are Typing

Cover for the novel Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke.  Shows a stick man in a stick chair slumped over a stick table, with a stylized sunset in the background.

Meet Gerald.  He works in PR.  He lives in NY.  He has a pretty average pre-pandemic life. 

One day, he doesn’t show up to the office.  His co-workers think he’s working from home.  He’s not there either.

He’s become a disembodied consciousness trapped in Slack.

He asks Slackbot for help. But what does Slackbot know about removing people stuck in its coding?  Not much (at first). 

Follow poor Gerald as he tries to navigate such pressing issues as:

  • Who can take care of my body while I’m stuck in Slack?
  • How do I maintain an effective work/life balance if I’m no longer have a presence in physical reality??
  • What’s the best way to confront the AI trying to steal my life?
  • Is this a good time to fall in love?
  • Just what is a dusty stick, anyway?

Told as a series of slack messages (the audio version uses a full-cast), Several People are Typing is a satiric?  Horror?  Sci-fi? novel about the modern workplace and the technologies that surround it.  And also the story of dog food advertising.  And office hookups.  And online shopping.  And what happens when ordinary people are put into an extraordinary situation?  (Mostly ignore it and hope it goes away).

Slack's dusty stick icon
Slack's thumbs up icon (white skin)

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