I am Leonard and other stories by Jason R. Richter 2024 NEUF

The last cubicle worker on earth is not alone...

Jonas Leonard may well be the only 9-5 employee left in the now fully automated society that turned every man, woman, and child into overly chipper, pierced, and dreadlocked creators determined to make him an artsy member of society.

By day 2024 he authorizes art grants in a cubicle with only the artificially intelligent mainframe computer, W.A.L.T., to keep him company. But all the while, the painters, the sculptors, the performance artists watch his every move in the coffee shops and on the streets, waiting for him to say something inappropriate about their art...