Corporate Porn [Hardcover]

David S. Grant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2005

Project Manager Trevor explains a new computer system, EVOLUTION, to his Vice Presidents, who are more interested in how their ties match than the direction of the company. The problem? Trevor is double crossed by ISOFT, the supplier of the software, and when the key "interface" isn't available, Trevor is fired. Trevor's downfall continues as he walks in on his girlfriend cheating on him with his "Best of Porn" music CD playing in the background. Confused and drunk, Trevor inadvertently hires a hit man over the Internet to take care of Jim, the VP of Sales for ISOFT. Trevor sobers up, lands an Executive Producer job in the adult movie industry, and quickly realizes his mistake. However, the possible hit man, who is only known as "Scorned CEO," doesn't accept cancellations. Ethan (Trevor's cross-dressing friend) traces The Scorned CEO to South Beach, where Trevor goes in an attempt to stop any incident, along the way receiving early lessons in the adult movie industry. It all leads to a showdown between Trevor, The Scorned CEO, and a script for the ultimate adult movie.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Corporate Porn, NYC author David Grant's third novel, is an alcohol- and sandwhich-fueled romp through the darker side of corporate America and the lighter side of the adult film industry. Grant's voice displays a brilliant wit interspersed with moments of vicious social commentary as he leads us from the hopeless cubicles of the business world to the Speedo-laden sands of South Beach, along the way introducing us to a cast of disenchanted young men and women (and somewhere in between) who find redemption in an unlikely place--the burgeoning adult film industry of Omaha, Nebraska. Filled with memorable characters and dialogue that cuts to the heart of the first decade of the new century, Corporate Porn is a must-read for anyone who's ever struggled under a project deadline or thought about running away to Paris to shoot cowboy porn.

Paul Hughes
editor, Silverthought Press

About the Author

David S. Grant was born in West Allis, WI. David's first novel, Bleach, was published in April 2004. David has also published several short fiction pieces with various literary journals and websites including The Writing Journal, Silverthought, The Reader's Retreat, The Falling Star Magazine, The Sink, and Lifted Magazine. He now lives and works in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Silverthought Press (December 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977411028
• ISBN-13: 978-0977411023
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,173,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A funnier, more easygoing Bret Easton Ellis, May 8, 2006

By 

Mark R. Brand (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Corporate Porn (Hardcover)

David S. Grant's Corporate Porn represents a bright new entrant to the unnamed genre of fiction from writers like Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk. This genre could be thought of differentially as black humor, satire, deadpan character study, and a dash of existentialism. Though no one has yet to put a name on it, Grant is throwing his lot in with the vibe of some of the very best 21st century American fiction.

It does bear some mention that Grant's work, as with the aforementioned and more popular authors, is highly male-centric. This is not important of itself, but in the context of an academic (and increasingly, intellectual) community that is skewed toward women, it is significant. Not to climb a rusty and dull old soapbox, but I cannot imagine a worse intellectual climate than one controlled exclusively by women. Or, if you prefer, any single gender.

That being said, Corporate Porn is very successful at tapping into the same skeptical, sarcastic, and bitterly funny undertone of other stories of its type. The main character, Trevor, melds so completely with the reader that it might as well be the flustered voice of reason inside us all that, having been ignored for so long, has finally begun to crack under the pressure of insane "real life".

Grant uses old-hat narrative tricks like recurrent phrases and deadpan dialogue delivery to maximum effect. The fact that he did not invent this narrative style does nothing to detract from how effective it is. The narrative is highly visual, even tactile. There is something appropriate about a story that feels like you're slamming your head against a cheap pressboard doorjamb (in a good way, of course, since that's what Trevor's doing). Despite the title, there is fairly little in the book about actual pornography, and only a moderate amount of corporate banter. Nonetheless, the environment of the story is one very much alive with human interaction portrayed with a heavy and refreshing dose of sometimes-hilarious realism. My favorite scenes involved Trevor riding a public bus, an activity which, in a big city, is very much the way in reality that Grant described it.

What really sticks out is the absurdity of Trevor's life in the context of his friends. A sentiment that, no doubt, those of us born after 1975 can relate to the same way our parents related to... oh, hell, flower power or something. There is not a great way to describe how generational this book feels, but it does. I would be interested in getting the reaction from an older audience to this book, because so much of it feels like a Gen X inside joke. I think it is a little unbecoming to gush too much over a work like this, since that's obviously the very thing that the author despises, so I'll keep my qualitative comments to this: I couldn't put it down.