Christopher Alex Hooton is a fiction and non-fiction literary author. His most recent work is the short story "A Brief History of Algorithmic Life: Introduction," published as the closing piece in the Amazon best-selling anthology Working Futures - 14 Speculative Stories About The Future Of Work and which earned Quarter Finalist recognition in the ScreenCraft 2019 Cinematic Short Story Competition. His books include Observance, a science fiction thriller, and How to Backpack with Your Parents, a travel memoir.  He is currently editing his second novel Peregrine East and writing his third novel Of Titans and Nobles.
Working Futures
14 Speculative Stories About The Future Of Work

​Story 14 - A Brief History of Algorithmic Life: Introduction
​
Artificial intelligence. Virtual reality. Genetic engineering. These and other technologies are changing the way we live—and the way we work. What will our jobs be like in a future marked by such radical change? In Working Futures, science fiction authors share possible answers to that question. From surveillance auditors to AI chaperones to high-tech trash collectors, the workers found in these speculative stories provide a glimpse of what our future might look like— perhaps sooner than we think. With stories by Keyan Bowes, Katharine Dow, Timothy Geigner, Liam Hogan, Christopher Alex Hooton, Andrew Dana Hudson, Randy Lubin, Mike Masnick, Ross Pruden, N. R. M. Roshak, Holly Schofield, and James Yu.

Read more about the book and stories here: techdirt

​Quarter Finalist, 2019 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition
Observance
A science fiction thriller
​
Since hu​man civilization nearly destroyed itself 84 years ago, The Curriculum has eliminated all violence by sending citizens on a series of trips back in time to condition out violent thoughts and tendencies. But the peace has just been broken by the first act of violence in the new civilization, a murder confessed to by a young genius. Now the fragile society must prepare for its first great challenge as it attempts to deal with a criminal at the edge of insanity and brilliance.  
 
Observance is a science fiction thriller and mystery that follows Dr. Richmond Marshall, a lawyer and businessman, as he is unexpectedly recruited to defend the criminal at his trial. Teamed with a rising legal scholar named Charlotte Luca, the pair struggles with how to defend a man who has confessed to a crime completely unheard of in their society. As they delve into the crime and the mind of the murderer, they begin to suspect that something far bigger is at play, something that could shatter the very foundations of the delicate peace that humanity has built.


​“If you explore a world without violence, what would that look like?”
                                     (Interview with Hollywood on the Potomac)

*Official Selection, The Golden List 2020 (*adapted screenplay version)
​How to Backpack with Your Parents
A travel memoir  

At the age of twenty-five, Chris prepared to leave his entry-level job for law school and adulthood. An avid traveler, he planned one last great adventure to the edges of the Andes and Amazon as a farewell trip to his youth. Then the unexpected happened - his sixty-year-old Midwestern parents asked if they could tag along.

How to Backpack with Your Parents is an incredible true story about how we come to appreciate the lessons of life and grow as individuals. It is a tale about the unbreakable bond between parents and their children and how we learn to love our family in new ways over time.
Peregrine East
Peregrine East is a modern fairy tale that follows the journey of a young man coming to grip with his impending death as he runs away from his home, family, and friends in search of distraction and remedy.  But this is not a story about tragedy or living well; it is a story about immortality and how we understand our own places in history.  It is a man’s life condensed to a matter of weeks; a life that is battered, loved, exploited, befriended, and repeated until our protagonist finally understands who he is.  It is a story about truth, dreams, and everything in between. 

​Coming Soon!