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Novelist Eric Barnes Offers a New (and Quite Timely) Tale of Corporate Greed and Decpetion

By Rich Fisher

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-860640.mp3

Tulsa, Oklahoma – On today's show, we hear from Eric Barnes, a Memphis-based newspaper publisher and novelist who'll be appearing at a Book Smart Tulsa reading/talk/signing this evening (Tuesday the 15th) at Philbrook from 7pm till 9pm. Barnes is the author of a debut novel called Shimmer, a recently published, fast-paced thriller that also functions as a morality tale, and that very much draws upon today's culture of widespread corporate greed and deception. As a review of this book in Publishers Weekly has noted, Shimmer "is a cautionary thriller about ambition and corruption in corporate America. Robbie Case, the 35-year-old CEO (and largest shareholder) of Core Communications has managed to grow the business from 30 employees to more than 5,000 in three short years. But his $20 billion company, linking mainframe computers worldwide to the Internet backbone, is built on faulty technology, false promises, and questionable finances. Wary of the day when everything inevitably unravels, Case's slow (but accelerating) downward spiral drives the narrative through a number of timely plots, including Ponzi schemes and toxic assets: 'The people who worked here, the companies we acquired, the stock we sold --- all of it was an unseen disease.' Readers may find it difficult, if not impossible, to empathize with Case, but the corporate intrigue should hook anyone fascinated by the collapse of Wall Street and the crimes of Bernie Madoff." Also on today's show, commentator Connie Cronley is nursing an especially nasty dog bite.