Man Who Would Be King

They’re not exactly the A-Team.

Benjamin “Jam” Williams has always dreamed of adventure. Unfortunately, he’s not particularly bright, ambitious, or skilled . . . and he’s stuck in a dull suburb where nothing ever happens. His days consist of riding his bike, reading Soldier of Fortune magazine with his best friend, Jim, and working a dead-end job at a convenience store.

Everything changes when Jam receives a phone call from a Somali prince claiming to have millions to give him, before the call abruptly cuts off.

Convinced the money is real, Jam and Jim hatch a wildly ill-conceived plan: quit their jobs, fly to the Horn of Africa, and retrieve the fortune themselves. Armed with nothing but misplaced confidence and a fundamental misunderstanding of the world, they confront a group of Somali pirates and pose as highly trained Navy SEALs with backup supposedly on the way.

It’s a harebrained scheme.

And it may very well get them killed.

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING is an award-winning comedy that skewers American exceptionalism through the eyes of two spectacularly unexceptional men, blending fish-out-of-water farce with sharp cultural satire.

ADDISON J. CHAPPLE is a pseudonym for the writing team of William Roetzheim and Randy Becker. William started his career in the tech industry. After launching multiple software companies, he turned his attention to writing, penning an award-winning trilogy of plays about America’s great poets. Randy is an Emmy-nominated producer who began his career as an actor starring in film, television, and on Broadway, including the Tony Award–winning play Love! Valour! Compassion! He now expresses his creativity through writing and producing.


Vincent Longobardi is a writer of fantasy, science fiction, alternate history, and comedy. He resides in Brooklyn, New York, where he was born and raised. Vincent has an MFA in Creative Writing from St. Francis College in Brooklyn. His love for history and traveling serves as an inspiration for his writing.