I first came across Darrell Bain's writing in 1999, and found him to be the funniest person who has ever put keyboard to electrons. You can read a sample of his humor in my newsletter, at http://geocities.datacellar.net/mudsmith.geo/bobbing3b.html#darrell, a little story with the typical Darrell title The Lost Viagra Pill.
So, I was surprised when I started to read The Pet Plague. It was not humor, but science fiction.
Surprised I may have been, but not disappointed. This story could have been designed especially for my tastes. It is set in the all too horrifically believable future when Earth is overrun by genetically modified animals. Although there are some remnant 'feral humans', civilization is limited to heavily defended Enclaves.
I enjoyed the adventures of Jamie, the very likeable hero. All he wants to do is to carry on his genetic engineering research, developing nutritious plant varieties, and to spend time with the lovely Jeannie. But fate, in the form of a dog called Conan, gets in the way. Conan is a messenger from a 'Great Being', who turns out to be a dying representative of a distant alien species.
There is violence and tension as the desperately ruthless inhabitants of Moon Colony race our heroes for the prize of knowledge. Jamie ends up being the only person who can use the knowledge passed on by the alien, and so becomes a pawn in a deadly game of winner-take-all.
Naturally, you couldn't have a humor-free book written by Darrell Bain. There are plenty of laughs in this story. The principal comic character is a talking cat, but the hero's encounters with two attractive young women had me laughing too.
If you want to be entertained, amused and yet forced to think about the implications of our insane culture, you couldn't do better than to enjoy The Pet Plague.
Darrell is the author of more than a dozen books in many genres, running the gamut from humor to mystery and science fiction to non-fiction and a few humorous works which are sort of fictional non-fiction, if that makes any sense. He has even written for children. His most recent works are The Sex Gates (in collaboration with Jeanine Berry), The Pet Plague and Life On Santa Claus Lane.
Darrell served 13 years in the military and his two stints in Vietnam formed the basis for his first published novel, Medics Wild. Darrell has been writing off and on all his life but really got serious about it only after the advent of computers. He purchased his first one in 1989 and has been writing furiously ever since.
While Darrell was working as a lab manager at a hospital in Texas, he met his wife Betty. He trapped her under a mistletoe sprig and they were married a year later. Darrell and Betty now own and operate a Christmas tree farm in East Texas which has become the subject and backdrop for some of his humorous stories and books.
You can visit with Darrell at his web site, www.santa-claus-lane.com Darrell welcomes correspondence from his readers at dbain@lcc.net and invites you to subscribe to his newsletter, LAUGHING ALL THE WAY simply by e-mailing him at dbain@lcc.net with the word SUBSCRIBE. The newsletter always contains at least one wacky, funny story.
Double Dragon e-books have supplied a PayPal facility so you can buy this book directly from here:
