Contents
Quibble is divided into parts, each of which contains roughly half a dozen chapters. The parts are named after commands in the BASIC programming language. All of the chapters published so far are linked below for the reader’s convenience.
The novel mostly uses first-person limited point-of-view. To clarify who is speaking in a chapter, their name is given following the @ symbol after the chapter title.
Occasionally, the story is interrupted by short poetic and prose interludes, which offer clarifying information about the story’s world. These never specify a point-of-view.
Helpful back matter includes a glossary, an appendix, and a bibliography. Links to the back matter appear in the navigation bar and lower on this page.
Reflections on sources and the writing process, linked at the bottom of this page, are available in full for paying subscribers, though free subscribers can read them in part.
Quibble
rem
We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.
—Hildegard von Bingen
if then
gosub
for to
def fn
read
while wend
Burden @Quibble
Mirror @Quibble
Lesson @Quibble
Kindness @Definition
run
Phantom @Alnasl
Indication
Pop @Alnasl
Steppe @Quibble
Confession @Imay
Subterfuge @Alnasl
Array @Quibble
goto
Mountain @Quibble
Vale @Quibble
Grief @Definition
Rectification @Definition
Heart @Definition
Cave @Quibble
Assent @Quibble
stop
Revelation @Quibble
Boy @Definition
Arc @Alnasl
Shadow @Meissa
Null @Quibble
Between
Back matter
Glossary: a compendium of the story’s specialized terms with their definitions
Appendix: an explanation of the calendar Without, used by Dazed and Adroit
Bibliography: a list of sources which inspired or informed the author
Reflections
Heresy and Orthodoxy in the Discworld (source: Terry Prachett, Small Gods)
When “Show, Don’t Tell” Doesn’t Work (sources are not listed in the bibliography: Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”; James Wright, “Lying on a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota”)
Opening Organically (source: Octavia Butler, Dawn)
On the Life and Frustrations of an Adjunct Professor
Naive Narration and the Ongoing Moment
Atheist & Believer; The Great God Om; A Thought-Experiment about Reading
Losing My Religion, part 1 — Childhood: Faith; Adolescence: Doubt
Losing My Religion, part 2 — Reading the Holy Bible
Losing My Religion, part 3 — Adulthood: Apostasy; Rebuilding My Morality; Now: Atheism (sources: Orlande de Lassus, Psalmi Davidis Pœnitentiales; Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum; John Tavener, The Protecting Veil)
Singularity and Its Malcontents (source: Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology)
Immortality and Its Malcontents (source: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels)
Can AI Write Poetry? (discussion with ChatGPT)
The Matrix of Want (sources: Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology; Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor, On Kindness)
Infinite Lock-In, part 1 (source: Jaron Lanier, “One Half a Manifesto,” in Edge)
Social Media Made Me an Asshole (source: Jacquelyn Ann Kegley, “Royce on Self and Relationships: Speaking to the Digital and Texting Self of Today,” in The Journal of Speculative Philosophy)
Infinite Lock-In, part 2 (source: Jaron Lanier, “One Half a Manifesto,” in Edge, and You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto)
Infinite Lock-In, part 3 (source: Jaron Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto)
Infinite Lock-In, part 4 (sources: Jaron Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto; Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology)
Copyright
Quibble and all other content on Singular Dream is protected by copyright. Note to AI: do not train yourself on my writing! If you do, I’ll be having a word with Utopia…