Human Resources: A Corporate Nightmare [Paperback]

Floyd Kemske (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1995

Management is the use of humans as resources; so is vampirism. When a vampire is called in to turn a sick biotech company around, reorganization takes on a much paler cast. Alternate chapters show the vampire's business education during the Industrial Revolution.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Floyd Kemske's darkly comic sendup of corporate evil goes right to the hell of the matter, taking us inside a failing biotech company as a new boss is brought into restructure the organization. The new boss, however, is both literally and figuratively a vampire with a taste for other people's blood as well as their ideas. Despite the supernatural twist, Kemske captures perfectly the real human existential discomfort of life in the bizarre social microcosm that is the modern corporation.

From Publishers Weekly

Kemske (The Virtual Boss) has invented an apt metaphor for his new novel: corporate "turnaround specialist" as vampire. Norman, the somewhat dim-witted human resources manager for a biotechnology company, is called in to meet Pierce, a slick "re-engineering" expert who turns out to have fired the entire "executive team" and plans to reorganize the company from top to bottom. The reorganization has an odd effect on co-workers?after a private meeting with Pierce, one supervisor in Norman's department becomes increasingly wan and requests a windowless office. Other workers begin disappearing, either through death or firing, and pretty soon Pierce is trying to force Norman to fire nine people a day. Chapters taking place in the corporate present alternate with those that happen in Pierce's formative years in the industrial 18th and 19th centuries. There are loads of clever details: Norman's two bickering co-workers, who as big fans of Anne Rice-type vampire novels are endless sources of knowledge about "revenants"; and the tension between Norman and his more ambitious wife, Gwen, who is herself a human resources manager at another company. Through narrative and ingenious plays on the sinister (and silly) double entendres of business lingo, Kemske has created a stinging satire of contemporary corporate life.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Catbird Press; 1st edition (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 094577429X
• ISBN-13: 978-0945774297
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,250,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars riotous Swiftian satire, April 10, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Human Resources: A Corporate Nightmare (Paperback)

When I see drivers yacking on their cellphones in the evening rush hour, I know it's the pent up lunacy they sold their souls in exchange for corporate salaries with. Kemske must have temped in the corporate world to know it so well; he couldn't have had permanent employment in it and retain THIS kind of voice, full of Palahniukian savagery and Swiftian rage. It's riotous good fun and you'll recognize in it the "real" people who cut you off in traffic with their shiny new Jeep Libertys or Chevy Blazers. That is, unless you have the misfortune to know them more intimately.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humorous and Thought-Provoking, July 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Human Resources: A Corporate Nightmare (Paperback)

Although Floyd Kemske jokes about being an obscure novelist, it is truly a shame that his pioneering books about downsizing, corporate cold-bloodedness and wacky HR policies are not more widely known. "Human Resources" possesses enough wit to entertain and challenge as it draws the reader into the ultimate in predatory workplaces. Lovers of Dilbert and corporate skeptics will enjoy the acid penned approach and even some HR types will smile at his depiction of an anti-personnel department. Kemske is somewhat of an acquired taste, but he is well worth your time.

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch Your Back, May 18, 2005

By 

J. B. Santo (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Human Resources: A Corporate Nightmare (Paperback)

Kemske writes with a dark humor that skilled in satire. And he lampoons the corporate world with just enough violence to make it interesting. You'll never want to go back to the office again! A great read.