Apocalypse Chow: A Remix of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

By: David Julian Wightman

Narrated by: David Loan

Apocalypse Chow is a parody retelling of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, served with generous portions of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.

Chef Walter E Kurtz, Canada’s “Greatest Chef”, is at the helm of Chow, an extreme destination dining restaurant in the wilds of northern Ontario.

Kurtz is brilliant and talented in every way...but he’s gone rogue and possibly insane.

Veteran restaurant manager and hired gun Charlie Marlow is deployed by the Brothers, the illustrious owners of Chow, to venture into the hinterlands and confront their erstwhile genius.

Marlow is instructed to fire Chef Kurtz with extreme prejudice. But can he follow through with his mission, or will “the hunger” consume them both?

In the ultimate showdown of authority versus anarchy, who will triumph?

Apocalypse Chow is a parody of our modern food and consumer culture, neatly packaged into a highly consumable literary product. The book is also a celebration of the underutilized wild foods found locally in Ontario and across North America.

Whether or not the listener is wholly familiar with the source material, Apocalypse Chow is a satisfying adventure into the “heart of an impenetrable restaurant.”

"Verdict: Clever and entertaining, Apocalypse Chow uses the structure of Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' and visuals from the Coppola film 'Apocalypse Now' to satirize the restaurant industry... Wightman’s ability to integrate verbal, visual, aural, and other sensory information, and his strength in transforming a war story into a kitchen wars story, make this a fresh, invigorating read." (Eva Schegulla for Indie Reader)

©2018 David Julian Wightman (P)2018 David Julian Wightman