Intrusive Thoughts of a Dawdling Mind: Stories & Essays (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798278953128)

The Intrusive Thoughts of a Dawdling Mind are a universal sign of a brain that is fundamentally alive.

This collection of short stories and essays drifts between speculative satire and uncomfortable nonfiction. Aliens monitor humanity like a failing reality show. Eco-cults plot mass extinction through bureaucratic meetings. Essays linger on politeness, technology, work, aging, optimism, and the strange comfort of laughing at things that probably shouldn't be funny.

The fiction and essays talk to each other, circling the same stubborn questions from different angles: why modern life feels so strange, why technology promises clarity but mostly delivers confusion, and why humor is often the most honest response left.

The pieces range from near-future satire to grounded reflections on everyday life. Some imagine systems that have gone slightly wrong. Others stay close to the present, paying attention to things we tend to rush past. Taken together, the collection resists the urge to explain the world away.

Sometimes bleak. Often ridiculous. Occasionally sincere. This book isn't interested in fixing the world, only in noticing how strange it's become.