Flifferschmeep

Maurice Rizzo is a toll-booth operator from Hoboken. He is not a president, a philosopher, a billionaire, a military strategist or a man accustomed to determining the fate of civilization. 

Unfortunately, he has been given one wish.

The Genie’s offer comes with a deadline: Maurice has thirty days to decide. That should leave plenty of time to think. Instead, the moment the existence of the wish becomes public, Maurice discovers that practically everyone on Earth has already decided what he ought to do with it.

Governments see a matter of national security. Religious leaders see questions of faith and morality. The media sees the story of the century. Criminals see opportunity. Lawyers see — well, quite a lot.

As Maurice is advised, analyzed, protected, pursued, argued over and repeatedly placed in situations he would very much prefer not to be in, one question remains: what should a person wish for when the entire world is waiting for the answer?

flifferschmeep is a satirical contemporary fantasy about wishes, power, institutions, good intentions, bad intentions and the remarkable ability of human beings to make an impossible situation even more complicated.

It is also, in the end, the story of one man who has to decide for himself what matters, who his friends are, and whether the world’s interests outweigh his own.