Over the past year, I’ve been doing something slightly different. I’ve been writing fiction.
Not just fiction, but Pulp Finction.
The idea behind Pulp Finction is simple: Fun. Fact. Finance. Fiction.
Keep track of the full series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HG6DP7C4 and here: https://pulpfinction.com/
I’ve spent most of my life writing and talking about banking, money, technology and the future of finance. The problem is that some of the most important developments in finance can also be some of the hardest to explain. Crypto, stablecoins, artificial intelligence, derivatives, programmable money, digital currencies and the machinery of global markets can quickly disappear into jargon, acronyms and academic analysis.
So, I thought: why not explain them through stories?
That became Pulp Finction, a series of novels that mix financial facts with fictional characters, plots, disasters, romances, crimes and occasionally some fairly bad behaviour. The aim is that you enjoy the story and, somewhere along the way, understand a little more about how money and finance actually work.
The first book, Diary of a Ponzi Scheme, came out this summer. It explores stablecoins, crypto, tokens and digital currencies through a love affair that becomes entangled with scams, greed and a modern-day Ponzi scheme.
Today, the next book arrives: The Bank Who Sold The World.
It asks a rather unusual question: what would happen if an investment banker making millions trading futures and options in fossil fuels fell in love with a climate activist? You can probably imagine that it gets complicated.
These are the first two titles of many in the Pulp Finction series with Birth of a Unicorn is for release just before Christmas.
Birth of a Unicorn moves into another part of the financial world: startups, artificial intelligence and programmable money. It follows the creation of an agentic AI designed to solve one of the biggest questions surrounding autonomous commerce: if machines can transact with machines, who do you trust?
And that word - trust - keeps appearing throughout Pulp Finction.
Trust in banks. Trust in money. Trust in markets. Trust in technology. Trust in governments. Trust in machines. And, most importantly, trust in people.
In fact, trust became such a recurring theme across the books that we decided Pulp Finction needed its own song.
So, we hired Romeo Banks to write one.
Unsurprisingly, he wrote a song called Trust.
We then created a video bringing together highlights from Romeo’s global tour, performing the song at events in New York, London, Dubai and Singapore.
And that brings us to today.
Welcome to the Pulp Finction Universe.
Eight books. Different characters. Different stories. Different corners of money and finance. But one idea running through all of them: making finance understandable by making it entertaining.
Fun. Fact. Finance. Fiction.
I like it.
I hope you do too.
Disclaimer: the Romeo video is AI generated and the song lyrics are below:
TRUST
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Money moves.
People choose.
Every road,
Win or lose.
Hands up.
Stand up.
Light the sky.
We don't stop.
One world.
One voice.
One chance.
One choice.
(Chorus)
TRUST!
Shout it out!
TRUST!
Sing it loud!
Money comes.
Money goes.
Trust is what
The whole world knows.
Hey! Hey!
TRUST!
Stand as one.
TRUST!
We're not done.
Turn it up.
Break the night.
We are stronger
When we unite.
No walls.
No fear.
Your voice
Brings me here.
Heartbeats.
Headlights.
City streets.
Satellite nights.
Can you feel it?
Can you hear it?
One heartbeat.
One rhythm.
Can you feel it?
Can you hear it?
One future.
One vision.
TRUST!
Shout it out!
TRUST!
Sing it loud!
Money fades.
People stay.
Trust will never
Fade away.
Hey! Hey!
TRUST!
TRUST!
TRUST!
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...