Bugs by Theodore Roszak

Bugs Reviews

• 
  Alan

  Near-future is hard, as I've been saying repeatedly of late, and this first fictional foray by celebrated 1960s curmudgeon
  Theodore Roszak gets its prognostications almost entirely incorrect. The novel came out in 1981, just before the full advent of the personal computer and well before the ongoing onslaught that is the World Wide Web—and Roszak's image of a giant central computer, literalized as "the Brain," with its subsidiary tentacles spread nationwide, is a vision of oppressive technology that was outdated almost as soon as it was published.
  
  I suspect this novel of having a significant amount of didactic intent. His earlier nonfiction work (as well as his later—and much superior—fiction, such as
  Flicker) also takes a jaundiced view of technology in general, and
  Bugs, with its view of a world in which all electronic computation is crippled, might possibly even be wish-fulfillment.
  
  Unfortunately, here Roszak's patented Viewing With Alarm fails to convince. For while the loss of privacy that comes from centralizing and sharing data is very real, the "intelligence" of such machines is not nearly so inimical or far-reaching as Roszak portrays, and the ills to come from them are not nearly as literal or severe.
  
  But that's okay, really, because it quickly becomes apparent that Roszak, whatever his intentions, is not going for realism here. The Bugs of the title aren't just metaphor—nor are they real in the sense of
  Grace Hopper's famous moth. Even though they're causing real, mysterious rashes on the operators of and visitors to the Brain, the Bugs aren't truly insects... and in explaining what they are, Roszak crosses over from science fiction into genre horror, complete with improbable love interest, lingering descriptions of grue, and cardboard characterizations.
  
  In the end,
  Bugs becomes just another rather pedestrian and forgettable horror novel—so forgettable, in fact, that it was only upon perusing my own book catalog that I realized I already owned this one—I'd purchased and read a copy of the mass-market paperback several years ago, and completely failed to remember that fact when picking up and starting this hardback copy. Make of that what you will...
• 
  Wayne

  First, I gave this book a half star. That's being generous. This is in the top three worst books I have ever read. I don't know who the bigger bollox is, the author for writing this rubbish, or me for forcing myself to finish this drivel. It was hard to keep going on this one.
  
  In the books defense, I saw the cover, read the synopsis and thought I was in for a campy, kitschy romp about an invasion of computer bugs. I was WRONG. Dead WRONG. This goes on and on with little action. "Computers are bad!" "Computers are bad!" We get it already. computers are bad, your writing a horror/thriller novel, scare me, thrill me!!!! Nope, we get endless talk about mans destruction. Pagan rights. Government balderdash. I was hoping that a book worm would climb out of my book and put me out of my misery and eat my brain. Theodore Roszak was a Professor of history and it shows. This was not his niche. Far from it. Endless dissertations on worthless subject matter for a book like this.
  
  In summation, this book sucks. I wish I could go back to the stone age and forget how to read so I wouldn't of wasted my time with this.
• 
  Francisco De Borja

  No encontré la portada de la versión que leí en México, publicada por la extinta Editorial BEST SELLER EDIVISION, por lo que me dí la libertad de postear la portada de mi copia. Este libro fue publicado en mi País con el nombre de "PLAGA" en 1983. En ese entonces créanlo o no los libros se anunciaban en la TV por el canal Cinco y Dos de Televisa!!!
  El Logline: "Una novela de terror en la era de la computación electrónica".
  Recuerdo que me gustó esta novela. La trama gira entorno a la aparición de una especie de "plaga de insectos" que ataca a las personas dueñas de computadoras personales. Debemos recordar que la novela se público originalmente en 1981 y en ese momento no era muy común que las personas poseyeran computadores personales debido a su precio. Sin embargo se veía venir que cada vez sería mas común tanto para el hogar como para el trabajo.
  No le doy cinco estrellas por que si bien la trama parece hasta cierto punto de ciencia ficción, el autor se vale de aspectos de terror paranormal para "explicar" el origen de la "plaga" y si bien la trama así como la creación de personajes me parece bien lograda, con un storytelling trepidante y ágil. El valerse de este recurso si bien aporta a las dicotomías presentes en la historia- tecnología vs lo paranormal; La humanidad vs. una especie de conciencia planetaria (tipo "Gaia") que intenta defenderse de la verdadera plaga -nosotros-; el investigador tipo Sherlock vs. un niño que inconscientemente desata la plaga- me pareció en su momento una forma fácil de "salirse por la tangente" como diríamos en mi país.
  Aún así la recomiendo, si pueden conseguirla -quizás como libro electrónico-.
• 
  Steve Carter

  The story’s beginning is beautifully imagined. It is the misunderstanding of a young girl who is afraid of bugs that sets the whole thing in motion toward global disaster.
  
  Bugs is a novel about the computer age by Theodore Roszak and published in 1981 which is nearly 40 years ago. As we all know, computer technology has exploded since then. Naturally the reader must make allowances, but I had no trouble at all fitting the story and events into something that relates to the current computerized world we live in and the scene in general.
  
  The novels of Roszak could be seen as a kind of a spin-off of his main work as an academic in the field of ecopsychology. This could also be the opposite, the academic stuff might have been the day job of a novelist. At any rate this novel’s main overriding theme, and genesis, is an inquiry into the use of high-tech tools by humans and what can go on, which is mostly go wrong, because these tools have an inherent mathematical view of reality that is opposed to the overriding traditional reality of earth and all contained in it which is mysterious and ultimately unknowable or containable.
  
  
  This is the basic theme of two of his other novels. They deal with different technologies and the basic questions of the human, mostly male, desire for knowledge to be used for power and domination over the rest of the natural world which humans are only a part of. So the novel and his work is relevant to now because the story, the battle, is still going on. The issues he is on about can be directly linked to the primary issues of our time such as industrially manufactured climate change, and the culture of patriarchy.
  
  
  With Bugs, noted on the cover as his first novel, the approach is something that feels like a sci-fi thriller, something that would be a cool adaptation to film. If this was the impulse, it was successful, it’s an exciting suspenseful breezy read, that is serious at its core with cautions of real and previously unknown dangers.
  
  His later novel, The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein, is a more serious and to me the better, deeper, novel. These two works also shame a polar conflict dynamic between Male-Science-Technology-Dominionism-Power and Female-Naturist-Wiccan-Magical-Unity, in direct opposition in both novels. The origin of the conflict being an aggressiveness from the “Male” side, a reach too far to a wrong type knowledge while walking away from a long standing human more feminine culture and ignoring its more subtle but deeper in nature, more fundamentally nourishing, old technology rituals and riches.
  In the Frankenstein book it was Victor’s need to create and dominate life while denying unity with Elizabeth and Nature, and the chance to be trained as another type of magician.
  
  Bugs is set in a national computer center, The Brain, with the male functionary director losing control of the now deadly technology, seeking assistance from a cult of artists and academics that is reviving ancient Wiccan spells and dancing naked in the moonlight.
  
  I am happy to have discovered this fine mind wandering the stacks in a Long Island last year. His work has had a lasting effect on me and my view of myself, as the world and in the world. The male/female, nature vs machine, material, being of most use to me currently.
  
  
  I borrowed Bugs from the Brooklyn Public Library. I was in the main branch. It wasn’t on the accessible fiction shelves but they had it for me out of storage ten minutes after I asked for it. Not many others reading these odd old books that I enjoy so much.
  
• 
  Snood

  If I was judging this book solely on its last hundred pages or so, it would be an easy 4/5, but the book just takes SO LONG to get to any excitement.
  
  In a story about killer bugs, I was really hoping to see more action scenes. Instead, it spends time with how the government has to respond to the collapsing computer systems, the protagonist’s struggle with the existence of the supernatural, and a pseudo-romance plotline. None of these are bad, but they make for dry reading.
  
  What this story desperately needs is a quicker pace in its first two acts or some additional moments of excitement. The final act is great, but the journey to it is a long and often dull one.
  
  I particularly enjoy that the protagonist doesn’t “get the girl” at the end in the traditional sense. Most love interests hurl themselves into the hero’s arms as part of the happy ending, but this offers a still positive but more realistic conclusion.
• 
  ERIK SALINAS

  Entretenida.
  Comprendo que se publicó a principios de los 80's y que la tecnología a dado pasos de gigante con lo que se soñaba en ese entonces.
  Los insectos podrían muy bien compararse con las redes sociales que mas de alguna a sido causa de daños físicos e incluso la muerte.
  Esta novela esta bien a secas, entretiene pero siento que los personajes les falto decisión, fuerza, carácter; el autor hace una descripción aceptable pero en sus acciones se les veía titubeantes. La trama es compleja y simple a la vez, lo que me gustó fue que no tuvieran forma concreta las sabandijas, podrían ser, como ya he mencionado, esas redes sociales, no precisamente algo material, más bien insustancial y no por ello menos peligroso.
• 
  Billy

  I had expected hard scifi from the cover, but techno-thriller mixed with mysticism horror is fine. Altogether, the book was a good read and would have had a 4 star review if not for being bogged down by Roszak's personal anti-computer and libertarian bullshit. The obvious proselytizing wasn't enough to make the book unreadable, but it did annoyingly distract from the story for the last third or so of the book.
• 
  Arin

  I liked the clash between naturalist wiccans and the materialistic main character. The details were satisfying, the characters were different and interesting. Overall, a fun book.
• 
  Francisco De Borja

  No encontré la portada de la versión que leí en México, publicada por la extinta Editorial BEST SELLER EDIVISION. Este libro fue publicado en mi País con el nombre de "PLAGA" en 1983. En ese entonces créanlo o no los libros se anunciaban en la TV por el canal Cinco y Dos de Televisa!!!
  El Logline: "Una novela de terror en la era de la computación electrónica".
  Recuerdo que me gustó esta novela. La trama gira entorno a la aparición de una especie de "plaga de insectos" que ataca a las personas dueñas de computadoras personales. Debemos recordar que la novela se público originalmente en 1981 y en ese momento no era muy común que las personas poseyeran computadores personales debido a su precio. Sin embargo se veía venir que cada vez sería mas común tanto para el hogar como para el trabajo.
  No le doy cinco estrellas por que si bien la trama parece hasta cierto punto de ciencia ficción, el autor se vale de aspectos de terror paranormal para "explicar" el origen de la "plaga" y si bien la trama así como la creación de personajes me parece bien lograda, con un storytelling trepidante y ágil. El valerse de este recurso si bien aporta a las dicotomías presentes en la historia- tecnología vs lo paranormal; La humanidad vs. una especie de conciencia planetaria (tipo "Gaia") que intenta defenderse de la verdadera plaga -nosotros-; el investigador tipo Sherlock vs. un niño que inconscientemente desata la plaga- me pareció en su momento una forma fácil de "salirse por la tangente" como diríamos en mi país.
  Aún así la recomiendo, si pueden conseguirla -quizás como libro electrónico-.
  
• 
  William Crosby

  National Center for Data Control is referred to as "The Brain", a computer data bank which knows "everything" and becomes interconnected around the world causing havoc.
  
  Delves into issues of artificial intelligence with a philosophical analysis (intelligence vs. love. vs. spirit). Then adds a horror/psychic phenomenon element when a little girl with psychic powers thought that the word "bugs" when referred to a computer's functioning was real and so they did become real and bugs started infecting people and things.