While taking my Weekday Morning Coffee Stroll with Evan today, I had an idea for a novel called Greasy Lake after the Springsteen song. Our protagonist would be a simple Everyman, not too smart, not too well-read, had his share of issues earlier in life like, say, drugs, alcohol, women, but has lots of family connections which see him through these troubled times. A smart as a whip oil industry executive figures out that between changes in laws, voting trends, media coverage, and post-modern advertising techniques, he and a few cronies can use Our Boy as a frontman to take over the US government. His thinking says this will be so low key that no one will notice, or even if anyone does they won’t be able to get any attention paid to “such a ridiculous idea.” At least not until it’s too late. Think Christopher Buckley for tone.
Oh wait, they’d shelve this one in the non-fiction section, wouldn’t they?
They’re running bits of it in the NY Times already: The Angry People
BillSaysThis 