This story, though it is aspires to be a humorous parody of Casino Royale, is an all too serious fictionalization of the Andijan massacre, which occurred in eastern Uzbekistan in 2005. It is the first story in a trilogy about how the fictional James Schuyler Hamilton Shively the Third, a neo-conservative Republican patrician, has his conservative values undermined by more or less real historical events.
This story is sarcastically dedicated to Herman Cain (may he rest in peace), who during his bid for bid for leadership of the Republican Party in 2016 talked about “Uzbeki-beki stan”, as if mockery of Uzbekistan somehow justifies looking the other way to the horrors Islam Karimov was perpetrating.
Craig Murray UK ambassador to Uzbekistan was fired for being a whistle-blower about this. Here is one horrific article about torture in Uzbekistan
The story is actually dedicated to my ex-friend John Duffy, who coined the term ‘Shively’ to describe smarmy, fake-flattering, dissembling people. Probably loud dressers. The Shively in my story is a bit more than that, but would not exist if I didn’t find the idea of ‘Shivelyness’ intriguing.