Interview on Morning Call and ZERO-SUM GAME novels MORNING CALL – by Alessandro Abate. As mentioned at the beginning of this episode we will listen to the same author as he published two books on the same day. Let’s start with: Edizioni Alessandro Abate “Morning call” by Alessandro Abate, former, top ranked analyst of the City of London and on Wall Street, polyglot, passionate photographer, writer, and more. It is the fifth book by the eclectic Italian-British author. A contemporary thriller in which the financial world, with its facts and misdeeds, is in the background. It is the story of two women: Ikeda, beautiful and adventurous, and Kimberly, more reserved and dedicated to her work: she has just become a financial analyst in the British capital. It all begins one summer on the Cyclades islands, dazzling with lights and colours. Thanks to a stolen photo, an adrenaline-filled story opens, with strong colours and great emotional impact, as are the characters and settings, that play an important role. Let’s listen to Alessandro Abate ALESSANDRO ABATE: two women—Ikeda and Kimberly—who could not be more different, at opposite ends of the emotional scale: the former, without moral rules; the latter, more thoughtful and reserved. Ikeda who dreams of love, but who is often the victim of emotional slips that will lead her to face disturbing situations; Kimberly is a financial analyst instead, protagonist of a story that touches on the sick and dark aspects of our society, in a contemporary political and financial setting. Between the two stories, there is the figure of a photographer, met by Ikeda in the spectacular scenery of the Cyclades, who with a stolen shot offers her the chance to change her life. The setting then moves to London and Paris, perfect theaters for a financial thriller and a love story. ALESSANDRA RAUTI: Alessandro, you defined MORNING CALL as a contemporary novel. Why is it? ALESSANDRO ABATE: because Ikeda and Kimberly’s stories are set into a snapshot of today's world, with all its social problems, exasperated by the influence of politics and media. The effect is often negative on individuals who are most sensitive to manipulation. And this, unfortunately, causes dramatic consequences most of the time. ALESSANDRA RAUTI: By the way, what is a MORNING CALL? ALESSANDRO ABATE: The MORNING CALL is the most important moment of a financial analyst’s work. It is when the analyst conveys his recommendations to investors before the market opens, with a consequent impact on the price of a stock. ALESSANDRA RAUTI: according to the “Manual of the perfect analyst” that you briefly cite, there is a rule: it is better to be completely wrong on a CALL, than to be partially right. But is it only valid in finance or also in life? ALESSANDRO ABATE: in both cases. Adding your voice to a crowded choir is like disappearing into anonymity. In the financial case, the validity of the analysis and the strength of one’s convictions, determine the success of an analyst: when he or she is confident, he or she manages to move the markets on his or her own, even against investment logic. The same happens in life: when an individual’s ideas make sense and are expressed in an understandable and convincing way to others, we talk about charisma. When this ability to convince others is stronger than any logic, we speak of a charmer or manipulator. An aspect that I have taken care of quite a bit in this book. ALESSANDRA RAUTI: you have pitched scripts from your previous novels to film producers and agents. This book of yours reminds me of a recent Netflix movie: FAIR PLAY, a financial thriller. Are there any similarities? ALESSANDRO ABATE: Thank you for the question, and I will try to be as clear as possible. FAIR PLAY is an interpersonal drama in a linear plot that studies the career’s progression in the financial world and the effect that such competition has on the interpersonal lives of the protagonists—the final message, then, is the revenge of the woman against the man who humiliated her, who then ends up being annihilated in turn by the woman herself. MORNING CALL is different, however, because it is a financial thriller set in an everyday reality. The plot then is multifaceted: a love story and a thriller with the intensity of a drama, through an in-depth introspective analysis of the protagonists. Behind the scenes, the dark side of our society, between racism and homophobia, which adds suspense and further intrigue. The final message talks about a profound existential drama that often leads to personal annihilation, a life path that many of us face but which we are not all able to overcome. ALESSANDRA RAUTI: Alessandro Abate, one last curiosity: given your great imagination, how much truth is there in this book? ALESSANDRO ABATE: there is a lot. What is true in it, are the emotional reactions, the tension, the relationships with the characters in the financial and non-financial environment. Sometimes, the fear of making bad choices both at work and in life, based on direct and indirect experiences. Obviously, the exasperation of such situations and characters is instead entrusted entirely to my imagination. I had absolutely no problems being “realistic” without needing to exaggerate the characterization of the photographer. A character that I could define as a supporting actor in the novel, in the atmosphere that can be felt throughout the description of the places which effectively reflects how I live this photographic passion of mine every time I have the opportunity. ZERO-SUM GAME – by Alessandro Abate ALESSANDRA RAUTI: And now another novel from Edizioni Alessandro Abate: “ZERO SUM GAME” by Alessandro Abate, that we have just listened. Our Italian-British author, former top financial manager of the City of London and on Wall Street, has succeeded in the singular feat of publishing two books at the same time. This “sixth narrative effort” is a thriller that ends a week before the American presidential elections. We are in Boston where Professor Blaski has developed a revolutionary start-up, for ecological purposes. Used incorrectly, however, it could unleash devastating effects in many other fields. To shuffle the cards, the arrival of Zak, an aspiring writer struggling with PTSD and other existential problems, joins the team that work on the start-up. We face a breathtaking plot with forays into geopolitics, technology, and finance. Let’s listen to the author… ALESSANDRO ABATE: This time I will start with the title. Why ZERO-SUM GAME? The answer is simple. Everything, from the infinitesimally small to the infinitely large, is a zero-sum game: for every party that wins, there is another that must necessarily lose. Otherwise, we would have parallel universes and no longer a single reality. Now, however, we need to see which side loses and which side wins. Factoring in that ZERO-SUM GAME is a contemporary novel the answer is linked to our reality. Speaking of contemporaneity, the novel is structured around two central topics: climate change - the biggest problem humanity is facing - and the political events that from 2020 onwards have given a historical connotation to our era: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s ambition on Taiwan, the Hamas massacre in Israel and global anti-Semitism, and then Donald Trump, former president of the United States, first criminally convicted by a Jury of his peers and then re-elected president: real and surreal at the same time. Lastly, the ever-increasing tension between democracy and totalitarianism makes us wonder: is everything that happens around us the result of chance or, instead, the effect of a planned randomness? The combination between a technology capable of solving the climate problem on the one hand, and the currently precarious geopolitical balance on the other, are the essential ingredients of the conspiracy in which the plot of the novel unfolds. Just think of the effect of such technology on totalitarian regimes that depend on oil, such as Russia and Iran, or on countries such as China, at the forefront of batteries and EV’s production, an industry that is defined as “ecological” but which requires metals whose production cycle is highly polluting and toxic to function properly. All this was too interesting a basis of information, which could not go wasted in the context of a contemporary novel whose story ends a week before the American presidential elections. ALESSANDRA RAUTI: A question about the book cover: universe and atom. How do they relate to the plot? ALESSANDRO ABATE: The inspiration for this novel comes from the awareness of the risk of climate change, and from the admiration I have for the ancient Greece’s philosophy, the interest in geopolitical analysis, and the curiosity for physics, thanks to a book by Carl Sagan—Cosmos—which I have had since I was a kid. Everything is reflected in the cover, which represents a further leap into the future, towards quantum physics, well beyond Artificial Intelligence, now part of our daily lives. A world yet to be discovered, and probably the new trend of investments in the technology of the future. Without overdoing it, I tried to touch on this aspect too, and I hope I succeeded, arousing more interest than boredom. ALESSANDRA RAUTI: ZERO-SUM GAME is set among technology, geopolitics, and economic consequences. You are a financial analyst: how much truth is there in the descriptions? ALESSANDRO ABATE: when I talk about financial topics or tech start-ups, I do so also on the back of my professional background. On some occasions, expressions or terms used may seem difficult to understand, but I have tried to convey the atmosphere of the professional environments in which I worked, without filter, as well as for the description of the places: be it New York, Boston, London, or Moscow. I hope to have offered a different and perhaps interesting point of view to the reader in the approach to the topic I wanted to deal with and in the structuring of the plot of this novel. ALESSANDRA RAUTI: one last curiosity: in MORNING CALL there is a hint of romance. Do we find it here? ALESSANDRO ABATE: Absolutely. There is always and there will always be romance in my literary works. Fundamentally I am a bit of a dreamer. This is why I write and, therefore, the romantic aspect—whether joy or pain—is something I could never give up. ​