"Atlas Shrugged" Parody Released by
Former Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 27, 2011
For more information, contact Ken Krawchuk at (224)-Krawchuk, or Ken (at) AtlasSnubbed.com


ABINGTON, PA -- Ken Krawchuk, the Libertarian candidate for Pennsylvania Governor in 1998 and 2002, announced the release of his first novel, Atlas Snubbed, a pastiche parody sequel to Ayn Rand's epic, Atlas Shrugged. The novel is available in print and several e-book formats via AtlasSnubbed.com.

"The book is a pastiche in every sense of the word," explained Krawchuk. "Not only is it meant to be a tribute to Ayn Rand and written in her style, it also sports a patchwork of 'sampled' phrases and situations excerpted from her novels and other writings. Devoted fans of Rand will recognize how I relish taking the words of one character and placing them plausibly into the mouth of another, usually one who is likely to be a philosophical opposite. No surprise, then, that this novel is also a parody; and not merely a lampooning of Ayn Rand's writings and writing style, but also her Objectivist philosophy. Nevertheless, it is a respectfully serious parody, oxymoronic though the concept may seem."

Weighing in at approximately one third the size of Atlas Shrugged, Atlas Snubbed focuses alternately on the world inside Rand's philosophical enclave of Galt's Gulch and the outside world, and what happens when worlds collide. Like Atlas Shrugged, the parody is set in a fictional 1950s era where Socialism is prevalent. Its genre spans commercial fiction, literary fiction and science fiction.

The parody commences with the precise state of affairs that existed at the conclusion of Atlas Shrugged. The story is a fast-paced, apocalyptic tale of the bloody collapse of Rand's United States, the handful of American cities which survive, and the subsequent altercations between them. Each city embodies a different philosophical archetype, one of which develops a brand new political concept--the separation of Society and State--an approach which overcomes the shortcomings of all the other archetypes, including many of those of modern day America. And of course our hero gets the girl in the end.

"This novel is something that had to be written," continued Krawchuk. "Its genesis came on the heels of my 2002 gubernatorial campaign, spawned and spurred by two key items. Firstly, Ayn Rand is the philosophical matriarch of the Libertarian Party; and secondly, as a high-profile Libertarian candidate I repeatedly found myself in situations where I was forced to defend her philosophy to the public at large. It was a task I ultimately found in part to be impossible, because, to be frank, some of her ideas are simply indefensible. Based on that experience, Atlas Snubbed chronicles as fiction some of the shortcomings of Rand's Objectivist philosophy and presents the story of my solutions to them. And it's a rousing science fiction adventure tale as well."

Ken Krawchuk is a Philadelphia native and long-time political activist who has run for political office eight times, including two record-breaking campaigns for Governor of Pennsylvania. He is an entrepreneur, an Information Technology professional, and holds three US patents related to computer database theory. He is also a professional public speaker, author, and an award-winning Distinguished Toastmaster. He and his wife Roberta have three grown daughters and two grandchildren (so far), and live in Abington Township, a Philadelphia suburb.

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