Digging Up New Business: The SwiftPad Takeover

by S Lee Barckmann

Overview

Today business is about eyeballs on the screen. Narcissism is the shiny object that always attracts, and today it drives the bottom line. You have to be the star in your own show, and now, with the Internet social media sensation SwiftPad, there are new episodes about you each time you connect! A new girl in the Rose City has a plan to capture the whole world's attention. She hooks up with a local pothead/Lothario to create SwiftPad, a renegade social media app that promises to convert the world's fascination with itself into billions in cash for the crew and their backers. But when a sadistic killer's handiwork is uncovered, new clues to an old crime point to Portland's IT community. He is out there, using his high-tech talent to mock efforts to catch him. More than a Tech-Thriller, Digging Up New Business: The SwiftPad Takeover is also a raffish, satiric account of how we are coping with the sweeping changes of recent decades.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735251424
Publisher:	Barckwords Publishing
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Series:	The Swiftpad Trilogy , #1
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Born and raised in the small Jersey Shore town of Barnegat NJ. Parents, Doris (Jones) and Bill Barckmann, both deceased. Two sisters, Liza and Laura. Moved to North Jersey suburb at 13 (1964). Went to University of Kansas, graduated (1973), degrees in Economics and History. Planned to be a writer, wrote much of the backstory later incorporated into the The SwiftPad Series. Worked in various capacities as laborer, heavy equipment operator, became a Land Surveyor (1977). Worked in a Civil Engineering office, managing business. Wrote articles, grant writer of social service agency, involved in local politics, Progressive election mechanic (Eugene Oregon). Went to China, (1984) as English teacher in Xian Medical college. The following year I moved to Beijing to teach at Foreign Language Institute. Returned to the US (1987), married Mary Traeger, son Zach born (1988). Started a career in IT in a strip-mall Computer store. Worked for various companies and organizations as technical lead in various IT specialties, (networking, software development, computer security, systems management) Retired from IBM (2014). Presently full time author

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE The killer explains his craft, giving us a Body of Work or two to Ponder xv

Kip, an Alternative Energy business failure, goes to JAVAPALOOSA, and takes a Picture 1

Jim wants to grab Wet snow from Mount Hood while explaining what a Union General has to say about Portland 9

Kip Takes GG back to his Room and they Found an Internet Social Media Company 17

Jim meets the Easy Girl, and Learns of A Disturbing Discovery 23

Petrovich and Cop Partner Georgia are roused by the Disturbing Discovery 33

DeFonzaro wants to Bring in GIP, while Swensson can't wait to hit golf balls 37

GG and Kip get Dressed and Petrovich plans to flush out the killer 43

Jim finally meets Kip again after Years of Separation 51

Mark Ruskin, of Santa Monica and GIP, plots Outsourcing of the KEG's IT Team 61

Petrovich seeks Info from Tyler @NSA who notices GIP Seeking Same 69

Jim at SwiftPad HQ Admires Programmers (Sans Panties) 75

Jim, back "Tapping" the KEG, Reacquaints with former Lover, Angie, now his Boss 87

Mark drives Beloved Bimmer up to Portland and begins to Understand his Task 91

Petrovich and Henderson Set Up a Sting and mark Georgia as the Bait 95

Lester, Jim's old colleague, seems to have Little Hope For the KEG's IT Crew 107

Jim's Hippie Mother dreams of a Bohemian, highbrow community in the Oregon woods 113

Jim wakes in a Strange Bed and flashes back to his Secret Affairs with East German spies 119

Petrovich, the Judge and the Bonneville VP Plan to Dig after the Birds Hatch 131

At SwiftPad Board Meeting, Kip pulls Jim into a Scheme to get Funds 137

Jim's Tiff with Angie - A Staff meeting is interrupted by Art - Angie and Mark have a Personal Discussion 143

GG and Kip Watch Charlotte while Macy and Jim get away for a Walk on the Beach 153

At Kip's Homestead, Deep in the Oregon Coast Range, SwiftPad is Introduced to the World.161

SwiftPad is Launched in Portland - At the Bong, lonely Mark finds Solace 181

Angie conspires with Mark to put in New Software at the KEG - Jim and Lester make a Pact 189

Tyler, in Der Große Tiergarten, Exchanges Information with Renate 195

Mark, Clearly Disturbed, gets his marching orders to proceed with Outsourcing the KEG's IT Team 203

Jim Stalls Takeover by GIP - Raleigh leaves SwiftPad 209

he Easy Girl leaves the Bake Shop early with a Gentlemen Caller. 217

Jim learns real reason for Outsourcing the Keg's IT Team, and meets Chubby at the Easy Girl Bakery 223

Petrovich arrives in Portland and proceeds to the Easy Girl Bakery 231

Petrovich, Kip and Jim are Stumped -They Drive to the Airport 237

A Meeting is Missed and a Memo is Written - GG Thinks SwiftPad didn't Live up to its Promise 245

GG at Airport - The First body found - Jim Makes a Decision ..259

Government Lowers Hammer - Mark discusses Takeover @SwiftPad 2711

Petrovich announces they found Killer's Lair -Kip steals Tyler's phone 279

GG's meeting with Mark to Discuss SwiftPad's Future is Interrupted 285

Where some of Our Characters May live Happily Ever After 293

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Review:

Some Oregon techies must deal with a possible serial killer in their ranks in this satirical mystery novel.

Portland, Oregon, 2013. Kipling Rehain, a failed "alternative energy" entrepreneur, aging pothead, and secret Luddite (he only recently learned what IT stands for), attends a programmers' meet and greet at the Mission Theater. There, he meets Cynthia "GG" Oglethorpe, a tech wunderkind with a revolutionary idea for a social media app that will bring people together rather than fragmenting them into partisan tribes: A skeleton belonging to a woman who disappeared 16 years ago is discovered buried in one of the city's utility vaults. It's the same day that Kip's old friend Jim Hunt starts working for the utility company. As a set of old cold cases reopens, SwiftPad's future-and those of its founders-becomes inextricably tied to Portland's past. Barckmann's (Farewell the Dragon, 2017, etc.) prose is stylish and funny, particularly when he describes the changing face of the Rose City: "There seemed to be a disdain in Portland for things he thought were important: style, cars, fragrance, and the statement you made when you stood up and took off your sunglasses. And they had a thing about body odor, or rather didn't. It was especially evident on the MAX train."...the milieu is compelling enough to keep readers captivated. The book reads like a looser version of a Jonathan Lethem novel, riffing on gentrification and the tech industry while exhibiting a genuine love for detective tales and the Portland of old.

An idiosyncratic but enjoyably atmospheric murder mystery.

From the Publisher