All right. This is going to sound weird at first, and then it will get obvious why it’s weird. And then you’ll go off and have fun. That’s what I think, anyway. We’ll find out.
I finished reading a short story last night, and was oddly disturbed. Being the kind of guy I am, earlier today I went to ChatGPT and asked this question: “ChatGPT,” said. “If there was one writer who could write a story from the point of view of a maggot, and make it amazingly uplifting, who do you think it would be?”
The AI made a wonderful answer, identifying Italo Calvino, George Saunders, Toni Morrison(!), Kurt Vonnegut, and Annie Dillard. It also made perfectly reasonable explanations for why it would rank these as the top candidates. Alas, it is another case of ChatGPT being wrong. Hehe. If you know me and the people I hang with, you probably have three candidates in mind—though one, Michael W. Lucas, would be considered a long shot. The second, but still less likely candidate, would be David H. Hendrickson. Both David and Michael are wacky and talented enough to have thought about such a concept and then pull it off. But those two guesses would, alas, be wrong, also.
The answer, obviously, is Robert T. Jeschonek, or as I know and love him, Planet Bob.
The short story is “Diary of a Maggot,” and it is, indeed, short. It is also whacked out. Don’t let the stop you, though. It is also deviously entertaining despite its subject, and quite uplifting. See, I told you. Oddly disturbed, I was.
I picked it up as a Kickstarter stretch goal (I think), and just now got to it. I’ll send you to Amazon, so if you’re a Kindle reader, you can just add it onto the next pile of stuff you’re having them deliver to you. It’s only $.99. If you’re not an Amazon person, well, we all know how to use Google.
I promise, as long as you’re weird enough to examine the question I gave ChatGPT with interest, you’re going to love it.
Thank you for the kind words! I’m honored to be thought of in this context and named in the same sentence with Michael and Bob.