‘Several People Are Typing’ by Calvin Kasulke is the ‘GMA’ September Book Club pick: Read an excerpt

Those who use Slack or any other communications platform at work will relate to our "GMA" Book Club pick for September, "Several People Are Typing" by Calvin Kasulke.

Kasulke’s debut novel is a fast-paced read written entirely in Slack channel messages, emojis and gifs, and is perfect for fans of "Office Space" and "Then We Came to the End."

But even if you’re unfamiliar with Slack, Kasulke assures you’ll still enjoy the book.

"Even though the book is written entirely in Slack chats, you don’t need to ever have used Slack or to even really know what Slack is to read this book," he told "GMA." "If you’ve ever sent a text message or DM or been in a group chat, you’re totally gonna get this."

"It’s a pretty quick read," Kasulke said about his book. "Partially because it’s written in chat form. But I’ve also been fortunate enough to hear from some readers who said they needed to read it in a single day, or some people in a single sitting because they really just wanted to know what happened and they got caught up and wanted to get to the end."

The story follows Gerald, a mid-level employee of a New York-based public relations firm. When his consciousness is uploaded into Slack and finds himself trapped in his company’s workspace, he plunges into the surprisingly expansive landscape where he finds an unlikely ally in Slackbot, Slack’s AI’s assistant, who helps him navigate his new digital reality.

Gerald also learns about his PR team’s real-world problems and how they’re in danger of snowballing out of control.

"It’s not what you expect," Kasulke said about his book. "I don’t know what comes to mind when you hear that a novel is written entirely in chat form and I’ve also heard from some readers who didn’t know if they were going to like it and didn’t know what to expect, and they wound up having a really wonderful time, and I hope you do too."

Get started with an excerpt below, or listen to the audio excerpt here: