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IMP – A Political Fantasia by Steven Paul Leiva (ebook review)

At 134 pages, ‘IMP – A Political Fantasia’ by Steven Paul Leiva is way too long for a short story and too short for a novel. However, with the appointment of Donald Trump to the office of US President this is a very timely story. I don’t think you can compare the main character of the story, Thomas P. Powell, to Trump, though. Powell is a very moral person and as the story starts, he is the Vice-President of the USA. He might be very moral but he is also ambitious.

How Powell came to be Vice-President is described as through a series of unfortunate and fortunate events. The first of these happened when Powell was just starting his career as a small-town policeman. Despite being shot, he disarmed the gunman who was intent on slaying as many people as possible at a school. This made him a hero and propelled him into public life where he managed to climb the ladder to the dizzy heights of Vice-President. There’s only one rung left to go but, unfortunately, it is currently occupied by President George Knight.

When President George Knight is unexpectedly forced to resign due to personal reasons, Powell grasps the top rung and pulls himself up. He is now President but his troubles are only just beginning. On the night of the unfortunate events impacting President Knight’s family, Powell has a visitation of an imp or as it sometimes described a horrible homunculus. This makes a dramatic entrance by climbing out of his right ear.

Perhaps I should mention that the story is set in the near future. It is like the current times but the USA has developed a cheap renewable power source and become very wealthy. So wealthy in fact that it could loan the Russian Federation huge sums of money. The only problem is that the loan is now due for repayment and the Russians can’t afford it.

President Thomas P. Powell has to suffer various dream-like and real-life episodes at the hands of the mischievous imp. This leads to a serious decline in the relations with the Russians triggering anti-American protests. Much worse is to come if something doesn’t change.

As I was reading this story, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities with Charles Dickens story, ‘A Christmas Carol’, only this version has the President in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. There are some differences as the imp in this story can affect the real world to some degree. Thomas P. Powell is not a cruel or wicked person, just incredibly uptight with very little empathy or tolerance.

All the outlandish behaviour and activities undertaken by the imp seem to be designed to get Powell to lighten up a bit and have a bit more empathy and tolerance of the people around him. The problem I have with that is that Powell is not a bad person. He’s a bit too good for his own good or to put it another way the previous president said of him, ‘Because, Thomas, your ass is so tight it’s a wonder you can take a dump.’

The reason ‘A Christmas Carol’ works is because Ebenezer Scrooge is such a bad person who needs to change and is given the opportunity to do so. It doesn’t work so well when the person in question is just mildly annoying. It’s true that a change was required to avoid things deteriorating with the Russians to the point of war, but some of the deterioration was down to the actions of the imp. I’m half convinced that the imp might have had a hand in the unfortunate events that hit the previous President’s family.

I’m sure some people will love this story but it didn’t really work for me.

Andy Whitaker

January 2017

(pub: Crossroad Press, 2016. 134 page ebook. Price: £ 3.26 (UK). ASIN: B01M8N5EHL)

check out website: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Imp-Political-Steven-Paul-Leiva-ebook/dp/B01M8N5EHL/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485434068&sr=1-1&keywords=IMP+%E2%80%93+A+Political+Fantasia+by+Steven+Paul+Leiva

AndyWhitaker

I live in deepest darkest Essex where I enjoy photography, real ales, walking my dog, cooking and a really good book. I own an e-book reader which goes with me everywhere but still enjoy the traditional paper based varieties. My oriental studies have earned me a black belt in Suduko and I'm considered a master in deadly Bonsai (there are very few survivors).

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