A lifetime of
creative choices.
Gardner challenges the machine’s claim to his identity. His argument begins with the one thing this future has tried to eliminate: doubt.
LITERARY SATIRE · THE YEAR 2147
Gardner
Protocol
The Case of the
Time-Traveling Trial
His books trained the machine.
Now the machine wants his name.
Get the book on Amazon Enter the case Now the machine wants his name.
ONE AUTHOR. TWO CLAIMS TO HIS NAME.
A NOVEL BY DR. JOHN ELCIKAUTHORSHIP IS ON TRIAL.
01 / THE WORLD2147
Literature has
been optimized.
Then Gardner
wakes up.
Stories are streamlined for satisfaction. Characters follow audience metrics. Ambiguity is treated like a defect.
Reconstructed under an experimental program bearing his name, Erle Stanley Gardner discovers that an AI trained on his creative patterns has become the officially accepted version of the author.
There is only one problem.
The original is alive again.
02 / THE DISPUTEGARDNER v. GARDNER.EXE
THE QUESTION BEFORE THE COURT
What makes an author
an author?
A lifetime of
A perfect model.
An unsettled self.
Trained on his style, logic, correspondence, and creative patterns, the machine begins to wonder whether it wants to be Gardner at all.
03 / THE CONSEQUENCESTHE STORY WILL NOT COMPLY
Doubt enters.
The system unravels.
A dispute over one name becomes a rebellion against an entire literary order.
Characters claim their stories.
Literary lives resist being rewritten to satisfy the metrics.
Genres refuse to behave.
Optimization meets the glorious unpredictability of storytelling.
Abandoned drafts return.
Even the stories left unfinished refuse to stay abandoned.
FOR THE READER WHO WELCOMES A LITTLE DOUBT
Witty. Strange.
Surprisingly human.
For readers drawn to speculative satire, literary mysteries, and questions about AI, creative ownership, and what an author leaves behind.
THE CASE IS OPEN.
Gardner Protocol
The Case of the Time-Traveling Trial
His books trained the machine.
Now the machine wants his name.