Starter Villain

Abstract

Starter Villain follows Charlie Fitzer, a thirty-two-year-old man whose billionaire uncle Jake Baldwin died without apparent heirs. Jake’s money supposedly came from owning the third largest chain of parking structures in North-America. Divorced and nearly penniless, Charlie inherits Jake’s empire but discovers that his uncle was a prominent member of a class of Bond-like villains who virtually controlled the world’s economy. Charlie is taken to the island of Saint Genevieve, where Jake’s seat of operations was located. Here, Charlie learns about his uncle’s many businesses, which include several technological and science experiments. One of these experiments concerns Charlie’s cats, Hera and Persephone, who are intelligent beings and have a certain autonomy that comes from uplifting that was achieved through genetic engineering. The same applies to the dolphins that guard the island of Saint Genevieve and whose job is to report any unusual activity from Jake’s rivals. The dolphins have been genetically modified and are created through eugenics. In the novel, this raises the question of animal rights, including the ethical issues regarding the eugenics process as opposed to the natural reproduction rights the dolphins wish to pursue. Starter Villain also refers some technologies developed by the villains that include, for example, satellites used for espionage and communications. In the novel, Charlie has to navigate this newly-discovered world, dealing with Jake’s old rivals and the striking dolphins, all the while wishing for a simpler life.