Alexa’s a Spy and Other Things to Be Ticked off About

If there were an award for bad timing, I’d nominate me for it. After three years of work, my third book of humorous essays was set to come out—in the middle of a global pandemic. And that’s not even the worst of it. It had a shockingly unsuitable title for this moment in history: Alexa’s a Spy and Other Things to Worry About, Humorous Essays on the Hazards of Our Time.

I had the proof copy in my hands when there appeared on the scene a “hazard of our time” I hadn’t thought to include. In a book claiming to make light of the hazards of our time, a global pandemic might be conspicuous by its absence. How did I not see that coming?

At first, the title didn’t even strike me as inappropriate. I’d been living with it for a long time. And before COVID-19, people laughed when I said it. But after COVID-19, several people actually said, “Ewww” when they heard the title. Clearly, it was not quite right for this moment in history. In an uncharacteristic effort to be reasonable, I changed the title slightly, had the cover redesigned and kicked it out the door. So here it is a tongue-in-cheek tirade about some of the the hassles—and hazards—of our time. No mention of zoom meeting hackers and toilet paper shortages because I didn’t see those coming when I was writing the book. I now see that as a giant failure of imagination on my part.