Chris Stoehr

Author of Optimized (near-future speculative). Exploring AI, free will, and what we refuse to optimize. Follower of Christ. Husband, father, grandfather.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

The paperback of Optimized is here.

After the proof copies, the fixes, and the waiting, it's real. A book you can hold, shelve, or hand to a friend.

They optimized everything. Including the human mind.

https://t.co/OmrOFJldgS
#IndieAuthor

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

Picture a neural implant that releases a drug in your brain to soothe you whenever life hurts, and quietly suggests what to do next.

Now picture everyone around you having one.

That's the world of Optimized.

#DystopianFiction

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@TheFatimaCenter Aquinas is a great guide here. A machine can process and predict, but it can't love, choose the good, or answer for its choices. The bigger danger isn't AI becoming human. It's us starting to see ourselves as machines.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@DolapoHikm56625 Thanks for the interest! Since the book is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, I can't share the ebook outside Amazon. The Kindle app is free on any phone or tablet, and the free sample is a good way to see if it's for you.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

The hardest part of writing Optimized wasn't adding words. It was cutting them.

With help from beta readers, I spent about three months taking the first draft from roughly 200,000 words to just over 100,000.

A longer book was what I thought I wanted, but the pacing in the final product ended up much better. .

#AmWriting

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@JSCC2020Lee Cutting is the hardest thing in the whole process!

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@DolapoHikm56625 Always love getting feedback. If you have Kindle Unlimited please check it out. You can also read a short sample on the app to decide if it’s worth your time. Thanks for asking!

https://t.co/04xsl9Ygzv

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

Kindle Unlimited readers: Optimized is included with your membership.

"They optimized everything. Including the human mind."

Otherwise it's $4.99 on Kindle: https://t.co/04xsl9YOp3

#KindleUnlimited

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@basilpuglisi That's the question that matters most. A human with the final call who just rubber-stamps what the system suggests isn't oversight, it's decoration. The arbiter needs real authority to say no, and the habit of actually using it.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@stephenRB4 Here to stay, I think. When the real world starts to feel like speculative fiction, people reach for stories that help them make sense of it. AI alone has turned a lot of 'what if' questions from hypothetical into urgent.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@TinaBakerBooks @serpentstail Love seeing this. Sci-fi has been doing serious literary work for decades, so it's good to see the Booker finally say so. And winning at 81 is real encouragement for every writer out there new or experienced.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

An efficient society doesn't need to ban your choices. It only needs to make every other option feel unreasonable.

That quiet kind of control is what I wanted to write about in Optimized.

#SpeculativeFiction

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

Some stories deserve a spine on the shelf. The Optimized paperback is here ($15): a slow-burn near-future thriller about AI, implants, and what's left of free will. A good gift for the reader who likes to think. https://t.co/OmrOFJldgS #DystopianFiction

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@mariana197tzar Thanks!

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

The paperback of Optimized is here.

After the proof copies, the fixes, and the waiting, it's real. A book you can hold, shelve, or hand to a friend.

They optimized everything. Including the human mind.

https://t.co/OmrOFJldgS
#IndieAuthor

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

Been thinking about this for years. It started as a thought exercise on what it would mean if a powerful AI system tried to convince the world that God wasn’t real. That evolved into a story about humans along with the AI trying to wipe out individual consciousness. Kind of wild how a story evolves over time.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

At about 200,000 words I realized I'd written two books: literary fiction up front, a techno-thriller behind it. So I cut most of the first half and rewrote it as a slow-burn thriller. Painful, and the best call I made on Optimized. #AmWriting

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@CHRISDBRAND It’s so funny to see people do this. I’ve been known to accidentally like my own X post - and I always immediately remove the like because I’m scared to death someone will think I’m doing that kind of thing…😂

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

Would you accept a perfectly optimized life if someone else got to define "optimized"? I'm curious where readers draw the line between helpful technology and quiet control. #AIethics

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

Well done @CashApp

[Cash App @CashApp]

@BrianAtlas We do not condone violence of any kind, and we are no longer sponsors of this podcast.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

I spend hours a week driving, and I keep coming back to this: AI isn't going away. If good people don't harness this technology, only the bad ones will. Engage with it, set the guardrails, and keep conscience in the loop.

[Chris Stoehr @CStoehr76]

@InventingRealit This needs said more often. The scam that abound around authors thrives on desperation. Real readers and honest craft beat any paid follow or review scheme.