Super-Taster

After discovering that years of shocking his tongue with nine-volt batteries doing quality assurance on the line has turned him into a “super-taster,” newly unemployed Johnny Lee sets out to put his taste buds to use in a sommelier competition.

This is was a hoot to write. It satirizes the “wine country lifestyle,” gentrification and class. I set the narrative in Lumaville and drew on my experience as a wine writer and even cameo as your favorite narrator (see the character concept drawing below, far right). Throughout, other characters from the Lumaverse appear like “Gil” who appears in Still in the Dome at FMRL and whose Roomba recently went rogue. This is also where the cheap wine brand, Audacious Red, first appears (and disappears by the gallon in Quantum Deadline.)