Title: The War Bug

Author: Biff Mitchell

Author Web Site: www.biffmitchell.com

Publisher: Double Dragon Publishing (www.double-dragon-ebooks.com)

Also at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...261978-5342301

Publishing Date: March 2004

Genre: CyberSatire

ISBN: 1-59080-262-4

Pages: 286

Price: 5.99



From Blue Iris Journal



So. What do cheese soup, sentient virtual reality beings, and a
seven-hundred pound sado-masochist have to do with each other? Pick up The
War Bug and unlock the mysteries. Part sci-fi, part action adventure, and
plenty of dark humor is what Biff Mitchell weaves together, along with his
eclectic and electric cast in his latest offering.

Abner Hayes is Virtual Code Geneticist, where he works online studying DNA
codes of plants and animals and then simulating them offline. However, his
offline world is a drag. He's alone, he lives in a hovel, and his parents
have already been "included", which Abner fears will also someday happen to
him. Especially if his secret about his online life is to ever leak out.
Because online, he has a beautiful wife and daughter. They are not avatars
from the real world like he is, nor are they flat coded programs. His wife
Claire and daughter Cassie are the only two online entities to have made the
leap from programs to sentient, thinking and feeling, beings. However, their
time is limited because the 'net is under siege and ready to collapse. Abner
has created a bubble protection for his family, but they've been abducted by
some sinister forces who've figured out his secret and want to unlock it for
themselves. The only way to save his family is to team up with the deadly,
ultimate destruction virus, known as The War Bug, to find and rescue his
family before the entire world crumbles to oblivion.

Thrills and chills abound as the clock ticks down and the race is on for
Abner to save his family. This is a rich and complex world, but Mitchell
makes it wholly comprehensible without ever losing momentum. In his
signature style, the satire and laughs are woven throughout, along with a
plethora of zinging one-liners and unique descriptions. The characters are
rich and varied, fully-fleshed and wholly intriguing. The good guys have
edges, the bad guys have allure. And even amid the brewing chaos in this
strange landscape, the story flies so high and resonates because it's so
very human.

It's rare that a novel can so thoroughly capture the mind, heart, and
imagination. Biff Mitchell is a blessed breed of writer who mixes the real,
surreal, and potentially real by fusing philosophy, science, human emotions,
humor, and terror. And The War Bug is this writer at the top of his game.



Susan DiPlacido, Author of 24/7 and Trattoria