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Thomas Neviaser
Author
You Dear Sweet Man

Adult; Mystery/Thriller; (Market)

The subway ad is simple enough, even elegant: a beautiful woman, sitting atop a desk in a sparsely decorated office, staring directly at Bobby Fastow, a blue collar worker, leading a monotonous yet physically exhausting life. The ad is mesmerizing and seems to leap off the poster. BurgerBlast, a fast-food restaurant famous for quick reliable service is announcing a new name and a new direction. Now Fit 'N Fast, Inc., his favorite restaurant, will be serving healthy menu items plus its artery choking combos. Charlie Hamilton, CEO and founder of BurgerBlast, Inc., after watching his revenues drop at an alarming rate, has decided upon the radical change: new name and new menu. He needs a great ad campaign, but ultimately what is created is The Perfect Ad. He gets help from Preston and Freddie, two computer geeks whose sum is greater than their parts: Freddie, an animator, living at home, and Preston, a holography expert, who still needs his father’s help. Together they design an absolutely ingenious ad, a action "feast for the eyes" that moves only when vibrations affect it. Charlie and his eclectic board members hire Samantha Evans, an adult film star with an education and ambitions, both outsized and petty, as their model. She doesn’t plan to spend the rest of her life on her back, pleasuring a parade of faceless men, but, to get where she’s going, she’ll need patience and humility, two traits she utterly lacks. What she does have is an abundance of bitterness that needs revenge before it will let loose its choke-hold. She does this with a special power. Though she’s still learning how to use it, Samantha has the ability and the sensuality to reach people telepathically, especially men. Such a entrancing power could be used for good, but it is put to work serving her bitterness and pleasure. Her pet phrase, “You dear, sweet man,” has hypnotic powers over men who she can then easily manipulate, but these powers have limited effects. Burgerblast's major competition has plans to intercept information about their campaign and use the boys' attorney as its source; however, Freddie and Preston eventually realize their trust has been compromised and proceed to develop their own plan to turn the tables, thwarting the sabotage and destroying the attorney's reputation. Meantime, Bobby has seen the model wink at him and move within her subway ad confines, and ultimately she speaks inside his brain. She physically pokes his shoulder to get his attention, and he anxiously responds with his thoughts, questioning her presence and his sanity. He names her Megan, and they develop a weird but magnetic relationship which becomes reality when she emerges to join Bobby “in his world.” Megan's ulterior motives are not understood by the less intelligent of the two. Bobby's life becomes alive with excitement. Her reactions to his worries and daily thoughts endear her to him, and when he questions her reason for being with him, he is soothed by the words, “You dear, sweet man.” In the end, Bobby falls for Megan's ploy to follow her into the ad believing he is only leaving his world and family for a short period of time. Once there, he finds Samantha, a vengeful villain, Megan's ultra-ego. Her completed revenge is an unexpected end to Bobby’s wishful adventure. The unkind world of advertising can often lift up one's dreams and hopes but crush another’s ambitions and desires.
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