Wild Card
A Satirical Business Adventure
Published on 23. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
316 pages
978-1-0369-1530-8 (ISBN)
Description
Humble computer programmer, Ricky Stern, works for the Electricity Commission in the Eighties, London. On a whim, he decides to fake himself a Commander of the British Empire Award. Surprisingly, this skyrockets his status and he is instantly recruited to GRAPE, a mysterious Government Agency that sells an innovative computer software program based in British Embassies. There, he successfully sells the software to news agencies. But his plans are scuppered by a colleague, who happens to be the son of the Personnel Director at the Electricity Commission.
Forced to leave GRAPE under a cloud, Ricky sets up Ring Inn, to provide TV phone-in services. There, he meets with another shrewd businessman who goes to even greater lengths to undermine his success.
On the verge of bankruptcy, Ricky agrees to sell Ring Inn to an American billionaire. When he eventually falls out with him, he's given a significant payoff. As he leaves the London HQ, his old colleague mysteriously reappears and takes him back to GRAPE, where Ricky is in for a big surprise.
The author Stephen Kirk is a serial entrepreneur and although all of Ricky's adventures are pure fiction, they could bear a close similarity to events in the Author's Life!
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
448 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0369-1530-8 (9781036915308)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Born into a traditional Jewish family in the fifties, East End of London, and expected to go into the family optical business, Stephen developed an eye phobia that freed him to pursue his own path.Following graduation as a computer scientist from Manchester University, he worked as a computer programmer. Consumed by boredom, he resigned and attended a 4-month Transcendental Meditation (TM) Teacher Training course. On that course, he had an unexpected 'calling' to go into business, despite his lack of relevant experience. Instead, he was inspired by his grandfather, an inventor and semi-professional tap dancer! Needless to say, he only taught TM to a handful of folk yet still retains a keen interest in meditation and spirituality. His 'calling' led him to many adventures in the business world: founding five London cable TV companies, several TV and newspaper competitions using premium rate services for the first time, possibly working for British Intelligence by accident and eventually selling his business to a media mogul.He has been writing short stories for decades and finished Wild Card 20 years ago based on his business adventures though fictional, of course. Stephen lives in Richmond, Surrey with his wife Luiza and together they travel the world inspired by Luiza's wanderlust.