"With colorful characters so ludicrous they could only be real, McCord's satire of profit, politics, and capital punishment should be required reading." -- Clarion Review What will readers encounter when exploring the wicked and witty satirical universe of Michael McCord's The Execution Channel: A Political Fable? First, they will travel to the not-so-distant future and discover the emerging new country of Real America and the Galtian Imperatives, a faith-based economic religion which promises that extreme austerity and tax cut policies will ensure "prosperity for all" though the exact details of the magic remain elusive. Next, readers will see that John Galt, the fictional hero of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, has become the founding father icon of Real America and the Real American Party, the new political force sweeping the land. Local militias do their patriotic duty and lead the privatization craze throughout Real America while employing a creative protection racket plan to fit every business budget. Finally, readers will behold the majesty of The Execution Channel - a televintet network that promotes a focus-group tested variety of live executions in football stadium settings. As foretold by the Galtian Imperatives, The Execution Channel has been hailed as a model of modern economic policy that seamlessly merges massive private sector profits and public sector bankruptcy. Set in 2018 in an increasingly non-United States of America, The Execution Channel: A Political Fable is fantastical in its imaginative scope of American political rhetoric and public policy run amok. McCord, an award-winning journalist and writer who lives in New Hampshire, offers fictional reportage with a provocative twist and more than a few punch lines. "The initial spark for this satirical romp came from a 2011 Republican presidential primary debate when some of the audience cheered at the notion that if people without health insurance died, there was nothing anyone could do," McCord said. "I then made the leap to a perfectly sensible investment scheme of publicly televised executions in which guilt or innocence matter less than profit margins. From there, the theme menu grew to include the cult of Ayn Rand, political ambition, incoherence as a political virtue, greed redefined, secession, free market economics with no restraint, the primacy of sperm, backyard rocket launchers, psychic readings, reality TV mortgage foreclosures and monuments to austerity. The book aspires, as Lewis Carroll's White Queen so eloquently put it, to believe six impossible things at once, if not before breakfast then certainly by supper." Readers also will encounter an intriguing, colorful cast of characters that embrace a higher calling of extreme self-interest: * Gov. Lawrence C. "Demon Seed" Bowie of the Real American Republic of Texas is in a political fix because his 'War on the Poor' tax plan isn't working. * Texas militia leader Col. Rufus T. Fairbush wants to replace Bowie by the bullet or ballot while running on a platform to eliminate the idea of government. * Conservative televinet producer Jason Bravtart seeks redemption following the scandalous cancellation of The Real Homeless of Malibu Beach. * Billionaire speculator James "Big Stake" Frimmer II wants another big financial score to spread his political influence. * In the SoCal Liberty Territory of California, Penelope the Psychic is forced to be a confidential informant for Mr. Jones, the most feared security operator in Real America. The Execution Channel: A Political Fable is a subversive satire for our times and will leave readers wondering: Just how REAL is Real America? Learn more about The Execution Channel: A Political Fable and Michael McCord at www.the-execution-channel.com.