Corporate Almighty Release Blitz #rabtbooktours

 

Political Satire/Fiction

Date Published: October 28th, 2025

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

At the turn of the next century, a corporate oligarchy rules America with an iron fist. Commercial jingles have replaced the Top Forty, babies come from factories, and the race captivating the nation isn’t between political candidates. It’s the cutthroat competition to find the formula for No-Sog Stay-Crisp Cornflakes.

The battle pits cereal titan Todd Swindell, head of Flakes Alive Incorporated, against Chad Scandalman of the Great American Flake Company. When Scandalman hires a diminutive assassin named Twinkle to bump off his rival’s top chemist, it sparks a war of the flakes that makes the bloody feud of York and Lancaster look tame by comparison.

But not everyone in the Cornflake capital of Domino, Indiana, is happy with the status quo. Ziggie Wexler, an unemployed pipefitter and all-around average Joe, knows that something is deeply wrong with his country.

All history prior to 2040 has been banned, but old-timers whisper about the days when people still voted for their leaders. After Ziggie posts fiery polemics against the state to the Clandestine Journal, he becomes a marked man. But in a world built on lies, there’s one truth he’s sure of. Somebody needs to fight back.

 

About the Author

Retired IT professional, James Owens is a trained computer engineer and technical documentation specialist who earned an A.A.S. in computer programming and a B.A. in English from Purdue University.

Immensely curious about human behavior, James spent the 1970s hanging out on the streets to observe people, many of whom became inspirations for his fictional characters. Later, he worked in cube farms at conservative insurance companies, where the idiosyncrasies of corporate personalities sparked his imagination.

James has spent the last decade reading and writing offbeat fiction about bizarre protagonists. Corporate Almighty: 2098, a dystopian tale about the rise of the corporation and the fall of democracy, follows his first two novels, Animal Candy and Pods of Bubbledumb: A Study in Mass Depravity.

Born and raised in an industrial suburb on the south edge of Chicago, James lives with his wife Sue and four cats in Evansville, Indiana.

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Facebook: Jimmy Owens

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Corporate Almighty Reveal #rabtbooktours

 

Political Satire/Fiction

Date Published: October 28th, 2025

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

At the turn of the next century, a corporate oligarchy rules America with an iron fist. Commercial jingles have replaced the Top Forty, babies come from factories, and the race captivating the nation isn’t between political candidates. It’s the cutthroat competition to find the formula for No-Sog Stay-Crisp Cornflakes.

The battle pits cereal titan Todd Swindell, head of Flakes Alive Incorporated, against Chad Scandalman of the Great American Flake Company. When Scandalman hires a diminutive assassin named Twinkle to bump off his rival’s top chemist, it sparks a war of the flakes that makes the bloody feud of York and Lancaster look tame by comparison.

But not everyone in the Cornflake capital of Domino, Indiana, is happy with the status quo. Ziggie Wexler, an unemployed pipefitter and all-around average Joe, knows that something is deeply wrong with his country.

All history prior to 2040 has been banned, but old-timers whisper about the days when people still voted for their leaders. After Ziggie posts fiery polemics against the state to the Clandestine Journal, he becomes a marked man. But in a world built on lies, there’s one truth he’s sure of. Somebody needs to fight back.

 

 

About the Author

Retired IT professional, James Owens is a trained computer engineer and technical documentation specialist who earned an A.A.S. in computer programming and a B.A. in English from Purdue University.

Immensely curious about human behavior, James spent the 1970s hanging out on the streets to observe people, many of whom became inspirations for his fictional characters. Later, he worked in cube farms at conservative insurance companies, where the idiosyncrasies of corporate personalities sparked his imagination.

James has spent the last decade reading and writing offbeat fiction about bizarre protagonists. Corporate Almighty: 2098, a dystopian tale about the rise of the corporation and the fall of democracy, follows his first two novels, Animal Candy and Pods of Bubbledumb: A Study in Mass Depravity.

Born and raised in an industrial suburb on the south edge of Chicago, James lives with his wife Sue and four cats in Evansville, Indiana.

Contact Links

Website

Facebook: Jimmy Owens

The Amber Menhir Release Blitz and Giveaway #rabtbooktours

 

The Shadows of the Monolith: Book One

 

Fantasy, Grimdark Fantasy, Horror, Satire, Politics

Date Published: October 3, 2023

Publisher: Spinner Loom Press

 

“A GRIPPING DARK FANTASY THAT IMMERSES YOU IN A WORLD OF DEADLY POWER POLITIC AND CORRUPTION.”  Richard Moriarty – The Sun

 

With each new dawn, the celestial body known only as ‘Calamity’ draws closer – and with it the end of the world. Humanity’s only hope from oblivion rests in the menhirs, towering bastions of scholarship and imagination which cast long shadows across the lands. The scholars within the menhirs devote themselves selflessly to the discovery of new magic that will help avert the impending apocalypse … or so the masses have been made to understand.

  In a society divided between those with occult potential and lay citizens, Tara Langcraw is recruited into the Amber Menhir with great interest. The long-awaited heiress of a bloodline bearing the rarest of the six magical disciplines, time manipulation, she is expected to flourish within this noble citadel of learning, as are her friends and fellow recruits, Roland Ward and Peony Bianchi.

They soon find, however, that those who fail to meet expectations, or who dare to challenge the prevailing order, put more than their marks on the line. For the menhir squirms with rivalries, and those who stand against the status quo may not stand for very long.

JONATHAN N. PRUITT

The Amber Menhir, book one of The Shadows of the Monolith series, marks the debut of high fantasy author Jonathan N. Pruitt. A lifelong educator who has taught around the world, Pruitt enjoys spinning spellbinding tales of dark magic and political intrigue. When not toiling away on writing projects, Pruitt can be found traversing about the great outdoors. For more information, visit www.TheShadowsoftheMonolith.com.

 

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Animal Farm Discussion

1.     What did the different characters and animal species remind you of? What symbolism did you pull from them?

The animals are representatives of the different social classes. The pigs are the ruling class. The other animals variably try to please the ruling class. The best they can hope for is to not be harmed. The ruling class will always view them with disdain.

2.     Did this story draw any parallels with you for historical events or modern events?

The story was about the Russian revolution and the Soviet Union. The proletariat were no better off under the rule of the Soviet leaders than they had been under the rule of the aristocracy. Under Stalin’s rule, many people starved to death.

3.     What are your thoughts about the changes in the commandments and the animals' reactions to it?

The commandments were changed to keep the other animals obedient to the ruling class (the pigs.) The sheep were followers who never questioned the pigs. The other animals questioned, but most were not willing to risk their well-being to attempt to oust the pigs.

4.     In the end, the animals couldn't differentiate between the humans and the pigs: what can we infer from how things have changed since Animal Farm was created?

Those in power can never be trusted to do the right thing consistently without a system of checks and balances to keep them from abusing their power. Citizens must be allowed to criticize the government. To have a government that is above reproach is a gateway for totalitarianism.

5.     What did you like about Animal Farm? What did you dislike?

I thought that it was a well-written story and a wonderfully scathing satire of the formation of the USSR. I have no complaints about the book.

The questions are from the Insecure Writers Support Group Book Club.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/21761043-discussion---animal-farm

 

REVIEW

Animal Farm is a brilliantly written satire of the formation of the Soviet Union. Through his use of talking animals, George Orwell shows that communism is an ideology that looks good in theory but does not benefit the majority in practice.

When the Communist party overthrew the Russian aristocracy, the common person wound up trading one set of tyrants for another. The Russian nobility (the humans) were ignorant of just how badly the lower classes were suffering and how dissatisfied the people were, and they paid the ultimate price for their ignorance.

Initially, the animals were glad to have the humans gone. However, they soon became aware that they were no better off under Napoleon (the pig) and his sycophants than they had been under the rule of the humans.

Through the use of allegory, Orwell cautions readers against blindly following any ideology, no matter how seductive that ideology is on the surface.

Review link on Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3656093147