How to skin a cat

Robert Blain

Jan 2018 · Robert Blain

About this ebook

Journalist Craig Fox arrives in Hong Kong to take up a position as a magazine editor for Pronto Media, and soon finds out that all is not as it seems on the surface. Rather than being serious publications, the magazines are being run purely for advertising profit in a masterly sleight of hand by the proprietor, Mark Chiefly. He sells the advertising on the premise that the printed circulation is far higher than it really is. His mantra is that advertising makes money and editorial costs money. And he allocates his resources accordingly, which means that his staff are either dishonest or demoralised – or both. By day they work – grudgingly. By night, they embark on a spree of drink, sex and drugs that culminates in an episode on a boat where one of their female companions on board overdoses on ecstasy.

The tenure of Fox changes with the arrival of two new members of staff at Pronto. Farnsie De Villiers, an accomplished and plain-speaking South African journalist, who reveals to Fox what a sham his place of employment is and instills a mutinous streak in his colleagues.

The other is the gorgeous and smart Melissa, with whom the protagonist falls in love. But due to feelings of vulnerability at his lowly place in the scheme of things at Pronto, he is unable to woo her. This is the driver for his pursuit of power. From here the protagonist descends into a moral abyss, as he uses any means possible to get what he wants …

About the author

Robert Blain was born in Glasgow, Scotland and immigrated to Australia with his family, aged three. He grew up and was educated in Melbourne and has divided his adult life between Hong Kong and Melbourne, where he has worked for various international and trade magazines as an editor. He has written, and continues to write, works of fiction and plans to become a full-time novelist in the near future.