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MAKING A KILLING

by William M Johnson

Republished on Amazon Kindle to mark the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit.

An End of the World Black Comedy, ‘the deepest shade of noir…’ — BBC Wildlife

‘[A] highly original, often unexpectedly witty but frightening tale of man’s destruction of the Earth and his seeming indifference to the fate of all creatures but his own. William M Johnson courageously pulls no punches. No one is spared. There are no innocents, either here or abroad… This sharp, brilliantly observed book deserves a wide audience.’ — Virginia McKenna

Available on Amazon from June 2012

William M Johnson’s critically-acclaimed satire, Making a Killing, is being republished by Iridescent as an Amazon Kindle ebook to mark this year’s 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit, when dignitaries, scientists, nature managers, conservationists, business leaders, celebrities, and the world’s press will once again converge upon glamorous Rio de Janeiro for the UN’s “Rio+20” Earth Summit — billed as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ to save the planet.

With elephant-hunting royalty again in the news, nature managers insisting that endangered species must be made to pay for their own conservation, sea levels on the rise and deserts on the march, the frenetic political escapism, corporate wheeling and dealing, and media frenzy that Making a Killing flayed back in 1996, are if anything even more acute today — and just as deserving of this satire’s poison-tipped pen.

A conservation insider with 30 years’ experience with some of the top names in international nature protection, William M Johnson’s other published works include the non-fiction The Rose-Tinted Menagerie, an Observer Book of the Year, soon to be re-released by Iridescent.

Excerpts of Making a Killing are available for free download on www.iridescent-publishing.com.

The Earth Summit in steamy San Pimente…

When Dr Ernest Walters and his research team are murdered in the Aguarico Parrot Preserve, news of the deaths has massive repercussions on the Earth Summit, held in the troubled Caribbean paradise of San Pimente.

Here, the world’s dignitaries and power-brokers are gathering to save the planet, which has been given just five years to live. With every nation out for itself, the delegates gleefully embrace sustainable exploitation — the fashionable euphemism for business as usual. While the ozone holes gape and the greenhouse hots up, the hunting and shooting continues. But the Aguarico murders expose rattling skeletons in VIP closets internationally, and they threaten to bring the Summit edifice crashing to its foundations. It is time for the animals themselves to confront the weakening human species and march on San Pimente…

Critical acclaim for Making a Killing

‘A mind-blowing and witty exposé… A no-holds barred, no mercy account of the conservation mercenaries’ (Have Bad News — Will Travel — First Class) successful efforts to get a rich living from a dying planet… A ‘must’ for the guilty and the innocent so that lessons can be learned before it is too late.’ — Ian MacPhail, a founder of World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

★

‘[A] black comedy the deepest shade of noir… William Johnson has written a novel that invites comparison with Tom Sharpe or Ben Elton… rollicking along from demos to Earth Summits, throwing in popes and presidents and royals, introducing various speaking animals into the castlist and ending on a suitably apocalyptic note, illustrative of the Gaia hypothesis… A heady and entertaining mix…a brave attempt at the Great Green Novel.’ — David Nicholson-Lord, BBC Wildlife Magazine

★

‘An author with an instinctive feel for his subject…prepared to carefully and quietly dissect the high-profile world of nature pseudo-conservation until all that remains is something devastatingly unnatural…’ — The Comedy Review

★

‘A Royal Family, the Roman Catholic church, conservation organisations, the United Nations — they all come in for brutal yet hilarious treatment in William Johnson’s new book, Making a Killing… Johnson’s acerbic, dark sense of humour cuts through the veils of smoke and secrecy that surround the environmental movement and its acolytes. Based on a wealth of experience the reader will sense that this book is far from a work of total fiction. The characters are too finely drawn, the situations too believable, the diagnosis too plausible, the danger too real. It’s a scenario that could — perhaps will happen. And it’s a warning to us all. I couldn’t put it down.’ — Wildlife Times

★

‘A devastating black comedy…’ — Wildlife Guardian

Publishing info

Title: Making a Killing
Author: William M Johnson
Format: Amazon Kindle mobi
ISBN: 978-3-9524015-0-7
ASIN: B0088CGHRM
Available: on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
Publication date: June 2012
Publisher: Iridescent Publishing
Contact us: 
Web: www.iridescent-publishing.com