In my novel ‘The Gideon Compter’ I have my hero. Berkeley Bill Bolagard, captured by a malevolent computer designed by his rival for Monica’s affections, Thomas Gideon, a Catholic, who realizes there are billions of snippets of guilt we humans are evading. If only they could be strung together and stored in the Vault of Shame, our souls would be captured in a labyrinth of despair from which we would never escape. To make sure his labyrinth was air-tight, he needed to capture the greatest Artful Dodger of them all, his nemesis, Berkeley Bill, the last Hippie on earth.

“Don’t lay your guilt-trip on me!”

Thomas has a Pope of two in his family genealogy, and is the un-sung King of the Shame-based planet. Tom is the only one who does not need an alibi because he is the designer of the labyrinth he drops lost souls into. He is…