Features
- Cover Type: Mass Market Paperback with 608 pages
- Published by: Spectra April 1, 1998
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0553578081
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0553578089
-
Book Dimensions:
6.9 x 4.3 x 1 inches
- Weighs: 11.2 ounces
From Library Journal
In 1999 Michael Arcangelo, a computer-virus hunter, is called in by an old friend to debug a computer designed to learn chess and defeat human grandmasters. He finds a "worm" that exhibits all the signs of intelligence and sentience and that invades the Internet. Interweaving mythology, virtual reality, role-playing games, chess strategy, and artificial intelligence with a theory of a Group Overmind Daemon susceptible to religious symbolism, first-timer Fabi pits a group of computer programmers and hackers against a formidable opponent who may fulfill end-of-the-world prophesies as the millennium approaches. Although the narrative flow is often broken by explanations of technical terminology and concepts, this work is imaginative and solidly conceived. Recommended for sf collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
Last Sunday I read a surprisingly entertaining book by Mark Fabi titled WYRM. Possible the best way to describe it would be as a cyber-thriller, but it has far more elements than that. With the expected artificial intelligence, Internet and technology references, there is also a strong smattering of fantasy role-playing, Lewis Carroll, Monty Python and a plethora of modern cultural references. WRYM is the story of Michael Arcangelo, a computer-virus hunter. While checking into a possible virus at a chess tournament, Michael is first exposed to a virus of unheard of proportions. An Internet-wide virus is out there and it may have developed intelligence. It may also have bought into the idea that the Millennium will bring about the end of the world. Michael assembles a crack team of programmers, cyber-theorists and technicians to try and stop the virus Wrym from causing a global disaster. Through role-playing and some other techniques they draw nearer to the heart of the problem until a final all-out war involving the global hacker community ensues while Michael tries to make the final move toward victory. I only had two minor problems with this book. One, Fabi does not know where the term bug came from. Secondly, I wonder at the wisdom of including a character referred to as Al in a story that uses the term AI as heavily as this one does. Other than that, this is one of the best books I have read in a long time. The book lures the reader in quite subtly. I didn't really realize it until two-hundred pages had gone by. The next thing I knew, I was four-hundred pages further along and the book was ending. This book makes so many references and in-jokes that it could almost be considered a SILVERLOCK for the computer generation. But even if you do not recognize every Python reference, recognize every famous programer or catch all of the other cultural and scientific references, you will still be able to enjoy this book.
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