The Zucchini Conspiracy: A Novel of Alternative Facts

The United States and Bangistan, a former Soviet satellite dictatorship, are edging towards nuclear conflict. At any moment, their war of words, insults and threats may escalate into an exchange of missiles and an apocalypse. In the White House, President Ronald Rump hesitates between negotiating a peace agreement and employing the full might of the American war machine, as the hawks around him advise that, rather than talk, he should wipe Bangistan off the world map. In the Presidential Palace of Petrobangorski, Great Leader Hakim Akim meanwhile ruminates on the advantages he might draw from the conflict. The world holds its breath as a last-ditch face-to-face meeting between Rump and Akim is finally announced to resolve the crisis. Can the US President clinch the deal, denuke Bangistan, and bring in a new era of peace? Or will Rump, deaf to all advice, abandon the talks in a fit of anger and order the military to raze the Bangistan capital? The hour is grave and the risk perhaps too great to leave to a roll of the dice … A small band of diplomats, politicians and spy agencies from the US and its allied nations, aided by several unwitting French peasants, believes so, and secretly plots to make sure Rump is never put to the test. The Zucchini Conspiracy is born …