Corporate Gunslinger: A Novel
By (Author) Doug Engstrom
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Harper Voyager
2nd September 2020
United States
General
Fiction
Dystopian and utopian fiction
Horror, ghost stories and supernatural fiction
Adventure / action fiction
813.6
320
Width 135mm, Height 203mm, Spine 18mm
236g
Doug Engstrom imagines a future all too terrifyingand all too possiblein this eerie, dystopic speculative fiction debut about corporate greed, debt slavery, and gun violence that is as intense and dark as Stephen Kings The Long Walk.
Like many Americans in the middle of the 21st century, aspiring actress Kira Clark is in debt. She financed her drama education with loans secured by a lifetime services contract. If she defaults, her creditors will control every aspect of her life. Behind on her payments and facing foreclosure, Kira reluctantly accepts a large signing bonus to become a corporate gunfighter for TKC Insurance. After a year of training, she will take her place on the dueling fields that have become the final, lethal stop in the American legal system.Putting her MFA in acting to work, Kira takes on the persona of a cold, intimidating gunslinger known as Deaths Angel. But just as she becomes the most feared gunfighter in TKCs stable, shes severely wounded during a duel on live video, shattering her aura of invincibility. A series of devastating setbacks follow, forcing Kira to face the truth about her life and what shes become.
When the opportunity to fight another professional for a huge purse arises, Kira sees it as a chance to buy a new life . . . or die trying.
Structured around a chilling duel, Corporate Gunslinger is a modern satire that forces us to confront the growing inequalities in our society and our penchant for guns and bloodshed, as well as offering a visceral look at where we may be headingfar sooner than we know.
"An intense and engaging satire of contemporary American life that reads like a Richard Morgan version ofThe Hunger Games, telling the story of indentured young trainees being groomed for violent tournament spectacleand exploring the compromises we all make to survive in the arena of 'real life." Christopher Brown, Campbell and World Fantasy Award-nominated author ofTropic of KansasandRule of Capture "Engstroms promising debut offers a stark, dystopian vision." Publishers Weekly "A relentless commentary on the human cost of debt culture, Corporate Gunslinger is the kind of honest, page-turning dystopia we need now more than ever." Darin Bradley, author of Noise "Corporate Gunslinger takes all the niggling fears of being young and in debt in capitalist America and turns them into a brilliant, bloody nightmare of a science fictional thriller. Rachael K. Jones, World Fantasy Award Nominee "This one is a brilliant, Twilight Zone-style speculation about a future ruled by corporate greed. Its brutal and violent, and its smart and deep, too." RevolutionSF "A tense, fast-paced futuristic thriller that was almost impossible to put down." Books, Bones, & Buffy "Doug Engstrom has written a book about a world which enthralled, characters that spoke to me and a plot that gave me all the feels." The Engrossed Reader
Doug Engstrom has been a farmer's son, a US Air Force officer, a technical writer, a computer support specialist, and a business analyst, as well as being a writer of speculative fiction. He lives near Des Moines, Iowa with his wife, Catherine Engstrom.