ANIMALS IN THE CLOUDS
A Novel by Richard Croft

Squeezed by modest incomes and spare cubicles, corporate underlings often dream of going into business for themselves. Animals in the Clouds (literary fiction; 140,000 words) is a dark, yet comic illustration of how, for one man, that dream turned into a nightmare.

Charlie Lustenberger--a paper products salesman in mid-life crisis--believes his moment of transformation has arrived when retired banking tycoon Bunk Vanderputten offers to help him start a tech company (The Mother Board). Charlie hires a diverse workforce whose colorful stories propel a narrative as American as it is bizarre. With success, Charlie grows callus, but is humbled when his pet project ends up in the hands of an industry rival--and one with strong ties to Bunk. Worse still, Bunk--now a widower--seems intent on seducing Charlie's wife. Consumed by paranoia, Charlie pegs his shipping clerk a mole, his wife an adulteress, and Bunk to be the mastermind behind it all. Laced with dark humor, Animals explores the moral wilderness of corporate America, while examining the shifting class values of a flawed, yet sympathetic everyman. His business destroyed and marriage in ruins, Charlie's redemption lies in choosing poverty over moral bankruptcy.

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SAMPLE CHAPTERS

Check out the sample chapters below.

  Cleaned Out A maid cleans out the offices of The Mother Board. She'd seen Charlie's fall coming a long way off, and her thoughts tell why.

  For the Caterpillars A brief preamble.

  Charlie's Angel Charlie meets his friend at Angel's Diner, and the two discuss Charlie's desire to start a business.

  An Absolute and Excellent Desk Having won Bunk's support, Charlie starts spending.

   Fay and the Perfect First Day Eager to jumpstart his business, Charlie decides to hire the first applicant he interviews. This applicant's name is Fay, and Charlie is playing with fire.

   The Fugitive Pioneer Stella runs from her past to embrace an uncertain future.

  Simon's Vacation from Reason Simon meets Stella.