Software Overlords

Interconnected by Force is a Feature not a Bug

BY the way, before I get to what caused the above illustrated situation, The blog has a new name! I have branded it to go with my YouTube Channel, TikTok and other media efforts. Welcome to the new and improved LAVOICE IN YOUR HEAD!

On with the Blog.

The interconnectivity of all things is starting to piss me off.

I have an Outlook account that I set up primarily because I needed a separate email account for my business account on PayPal. Don’t use it much, but I did need to check it for updates about an Anthology I was invited into, so since I had some time this morning I tried to check it.

That launched a whole slew of weird crap and hoops to dance through that made an already not great morning into a nightmare of bullcrap that I really didn’t need.

To start with, it welcomed me to the NEW Outlook, and didn’t take me to my mail. No, it demanded access to my Gmail account with ALL KINDS OF SCARY PERMISSIONS to even get to the start screen. I debated deleting the program and starting over, but I really needed to check the inbox, so I went with it.

That decision triggered the avalanche of verifications, during which time I discovered that the camera app on my phone was “improved” when I wasn’t looking so that it now no longer scans QR codes, which was apparently the only way to get to the next stage of verifications.

So I downloaded a new QR code scanner that then tried to charge me money for some bonus or other that I hadn’t even asked for, but the app decided I apparently couldn’t live without.
NOT TODAY SATAN!

I deleted that app and found a workaround, then opened the Outlook app.

And sure enough, there was my Gmail Inbox…and the Outlook inbox was completely gone. Like nowheresville. Absent without Leave. Like the Lady, it VANISHED.

I WAS INCENSED.

It took another twenty minutes and a fair amount of cussing and resisting the urge to hurl the laptop across the office before I was able to at last view my Outlook.com account’s inbox. It was multiple verifications, and proving I wasn’t a robot (which I always find insulting, SOFTWARE asking me if I’M the robot, indeed!), it was—it was a lot.

All that to find out that the gentleman who invited me to the Antho is not in his home country of the UK, but in Miami working for the FIFA world cup. So, I won’t know anything until he gets back to the UK and checks. I can only imagine what sort of fresh Microsloth driven hells await me when I go to check the email account after he gets back home.

So, that’s something to look forward to, I guess.

Something else to look forward to is the release of SARCOM book one, Silent Stars, Rising Shadows. I don’t have a publication date, but since I am 80 thousand words into book three, it shouldn’t be too much longer. You guys are gonna love this Trilogy! Alien invasions, shady corporations stealing alien tech and reverse engineering it to dole back out a dribble at a time to humanity, innocent civilians under attack, and at the center of it all, Lieutenant Jack Crowley, and his crew of SARCOM rescue professionals trying to save lives in the middle of a shooting war between humans and our first real contact with an alien race.

Another thing to look forward to, at least if you’re going to be in Louisville, KY this weekend, and you can get into the Imaginarium convention. I will be there along with several of my cohorts from the Southern Tattooed Associated Writers (STAW), unless they changed the name of it again…that happens sometimes, I should probably go check the chat. Anyway we are announcing a huge project there in a special panel. I’ll drop the details here in my AAR when I get back.

Book News:

If you haven’t yet be sure to check out Peter Stanley’s new thriller release, Asset Denied, available now at Amazon!

If you prefer to listen to your books, I’ll be doing the audiobook version for Defiant House Entertainment soon!

Anthromech is still going strong, and you should totally grab a copy. Each story is designed to launch a new series. Get in on the ground floor!

My story Soul Survivor can be found here, and it kicks off the Meat Grinders universe!

And of course, Tales of the E4 Mafia, Volume 2 is out there, sneaking around and getting things done in the shadiest manner possible. Catch them in the act by buying a copy!

The second installment of my Gearhead Guerillaz of CharlieHawk stories is in this one!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go trade software trauma for mechanical issues as I attempt to mow my entirely too tall back yard.

Thanks for stopping by and I will see you next time.

-Michael