Product Description
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...
A devastating satire, Making A Killing exposes myth after myth and peels away mask upon mask until the true face of corporate nature conservation is finally laid bare. The true face revealed, is not a pretty sight…
William M Johnson's critically-acclaimed satire, Making a Killing, is being republished by Iridescent Publishing 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 life time 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] 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
‘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
‘A witty exposé of the double standards of nature conservation… This tale of man’s destruction of the Earth is bound to cause controversy. But it will certainly make you laugh too.’ — The Geographical
‘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… I couldn’t put it down.’ — Wildlife Times
‘A devastating black comedy…’ — Wildlife Guardian
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...
A devastating satire, Making A Killing exposes myth after myth and peels away mask upon mask until the true face of corporate nature conservation is finally laid bare. The true face revealed, is not a pretty sight…
William M Johnson's critically-acclaimed satire, Making a Killing, is being republished by Iridescent Publishing 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 life time 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] 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
‘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
‘A witty exposé of the double standards of nature conservation… This tale of man’s destruction of the Earth is bound to cause controversy. But it will certainly make you laugh too.’ — The Geographical
‘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… I couldn’t put it down.’ — Wildlife Times
‘A devastating black comedy…’ — Wildlife Guardian
Synopsis
A satire about the sinister machinations of corporate conservation, where vote-catching politicians pose as knights in green armour, multinational corporations preen their green plumage whilst literally making killings, and conservation organisations fight one another over charitable donations. By the author of THE ROSE-TINTED MENAGERIE.
