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Jitterbug
The story takes place in the United States where Olson, a drifter, meets Gret, a callgirl of sorts. They go to Orleans and become involved in a plot to overthrow the Arab masters who rule with a combination of electric mind control and special implants. Through scheming with other Arabs who want to change the status quo, they manage to defeat the prince of the city and escape to start over again.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
432 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1984
49 people want to read
About the author
Mike McQuay
37 books19 followersMichael Dennis McQuay was an American science fiction writer. He wrote for several different series. His work in that field includes Mathew Swain, Ramon and Morgan, The Executioner, and SuperBolan. The Book of Justice series he wrote as Jack Arnett. He also wrote the second of the Isaac Asimov's Robot City novels. His non-series novel Memories was nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award for 1987.
McQuay taught creative writing at the University of Central Oklahoma for more than ten years, and died of a heart attack at the age of 45 in 1995.
McQuay taught creative writing at the University of Central Oklahoma for more than ten years, and died of a heart attack at the age of 45 in 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 5, 2021
2.5 STARS
The late Mike McQuay was a professional writer who focused predominately on science-fiction, but also wrote a couple Mack Bolan novels (The Executioner series). He worked steadily from 1980 until his death from a heart attack in 1995. I remember seeing his novels on the paperback racks at the local B. Dalton (that was my Disneyland as a kid), Waldenbooks and various grocery stores throughout the Eighties. I would consider his novelization of John Carpenter's Escape from New York to be his most successful book - which gives you an idea of his career. Mike McQuay was not one of the "Giants" of the literary world. He wrote semi-pulp fiction aimed primarily at adolescent males and men in their twenties and thirties. He was not feted by critics, honored at annual book award ceremonies or made wealthy by movie deals.
Stephen King, in his introduction to The Bachman Books , talks about the three types of paperback novel categories. At the bottom of the pyramid was what King called "just books". Books that never saw a hardback printing and were published to fill shelf space at airports and drugstores. It wasn't a bad way for the middle class novelist to earn a living or at least a supplemental income to his/her day job. This was Mike McQuay. If he was still alive in 2021 he would be self-published and his older books would be available on the various Internet platforms.
Jitterbug is McQuay's most ambitious work. On his acknowledgement page he states that his research stretched for one and a half years before he began writing it. A cross between dystopian and post-apocalyptic it takes place in the city of New Orleans (called Orleans in the story) in the year 2155. Approximately half of the world is uninhabitable due to a mutated Herpes virus called "Jitterbug". The other half is ruled by the House of Saud (the ruling house of Saudi Arabia). Arabia comes to rule the world through control of oil and the virus. In other words the caliphate has returned and this time is spans the globe. The premise is intriguing. I was sixteen when the novel appeared (1984) and I remember ruminating over it at the local Albertsons (regional grocery store chain), but never buying it. Probably because it was set in a future in which the United States is not only a defeated nation, but so crushed that there is no hope of a glorious comeback. I was quite the patriotic teenager in 1984; very jingoistic in many aspects.
A few days ago my wife and I drove out to the city of Nyssa, Oregon on just a day-trip. It is right across the Snake River from Idaho (the river serves as the border between Idaho and Oregon for several miles). Being big fans of thrift stores my wife noticed that the local library had a banner declaring USED BOOKS FOR SALE hanging in the window. We went in and I stared in slack jawed wonder at the huge number of boxes and shelves stuffed with paperbacks and hardbacks dating back to the sixties, seventies and eighties. There were two large boxes containing slightly water damaged paperbacks from the past fifty years and a handwritten sign: FREE. TAKE ALL YOU WANT. That is where I discovered my copy of Jitterbug. By the way if you get a chance try to visit smaller community book-stores in your area. Not having the budget of larger metro libraries they often hold onto books longer and rely on donations to a greater extant. You'll be amazed at some of the books you will find. Especially if they rely on the sale of books to supplement their budget.
Okay enough background. After thirty-seven years I finally read Jitterbug. What did I think of this relic from my youth? It was okay. There were a few problematic issues with the story that stood out within the first few chapters.
First of all it's obvious that the novel was written in the early Eighties when OPEC and the Arabic speaking portion of the world seemed monolithic. Before the decade was over OPEC and the Arabic speaking portion of the planet would begin to show cracks that challenged that idea. In many ways Desert Storm and 9/11 were of a greater scope than Mr. McQuay imagined; though he probably would have considered Osama Bin Laden (part of a powerful Saudi Arabian family) to be a great fictional villain - if he hadn't been for real.
In his future timeline Mr. McQuay has the rest of the world backdown after Australia and Indonesia is destroyed by the Jitterbug virus in 2005. Despite the threat to use nuclear weapons Arabia refuses to backdown because the Arabs know that it's an empty threat. By 2010 all the world's nuclear weapons are dismantled and the world is controlled by the Light of the World (LOW) corporation. All scientific research is stopped (in order to prevent change) and the only true nation that remains is the Kingdom of Arabia. The rest consists of corporate controlled cities and vast areas of uncontrolled and destitute populations. However there are accidental releases of the virus ,throughout the following decades, and by the time of the novel only a couple billion people are left. When the book begin a drifter known only as Olsen accidentally kills a junior executive and takes his place in the hierarchy in the city of Orleans. His impersonation coincides with a visit by the King's brother , a rampaging army of infected (known as "jits") outside the walls and a ruthless higher executive plotting to seize control of the city. In no time at all we find ourselves in "men's adventure novel" territory.
This part of the novel doesn't work either. The virus is very contagious and deadly, but it is stopped by physical walls. Some of it's victims can live for several months before dying, but evidently there is a point where the spread of the disease slows and then stops. There is also trade and commerce despite the fact that Africa - to include Islamic North Africa, Australia, most of Asia, Russia, Greenland, Canada and South America are now quarantined. I know that throughout history, even in the midst of terrible pandemics (Covid-19 as a recent example), there is still a broken back economy and some semblance of government. However a disease that has killed off billions, is still active and yet a global empire continues to operate and even thrive? For that matter somehow the Arabian peninsula is never touched. Personally I found this to be a little too much. It appears that Mr. McQuay wanted to have both his cake and eat it to.
The depiction of Arabs is rather problematic in 2021. Perhaps in 1984 the stereotypes and clichés were easier to believe. I remember believing more than a few myself. Much of what I thought of the Arab world was shaped by T.E. Lawrence, cheap novels and Hollywood. However the past forty years has seen my country (United States) literally submerged in the Arab world and greater Islam in general. I've come to realize that just because a population shares a common language, 0r at least a common religion does not mean the population is monolithic. As a fifty-three year old man I found myself shaking my head at more than a few of the descriptions.
Women are another group that are secondary at best. Yes the Arab world seems to be a patriarch, but in the book they are reduced to sexual objects. They scheme and provide sex whenever men want it. I understand the world that was created by Mr. McQuay is once controlled by men, but it feels creaky now. However at sixteen I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought so it goes to show that change is a constant. It's my understanding that even in Saudi Arabia things are changing for women; albeit very very slowly and with pain.
Mr. McQuay ultimately wrote action/adventure novels. For whatever reason he preferred Science Fiction, but he wasn't an actual scientist. So the tech is simply used for dressing. SF was a useful trope that allowed him to write over the top stories and not collide with the "real world" in the process. While an interesting premise Jitterbug is ultimately a pulp fiction novel written for (mostly) young American males in the early eighties. As I read it I kept thinking that it should show up on a bookshelf in an episode of "Stranger Things". In the hands of a more complex writer it might have been a fascinating book. Mr. McQuay wrote basically a comic-book adventure. It's not terrible, but it could have been more. I have to give it 2.5 stars.
AFTERWORD
I should mention that despite my sniping I could see this book making for a fun series on any of the streaming channels (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO). Action, intrigue, sex, plague infested mutants, post-apocalyptic meets 1984 - what isn't to like? Of course there would have to be some changes made to reflect modern sensibilities, but it would be perfect for the format. Oh well.
The late Mike McQuay was a professional writer who focused predominately on science-fiction, but also wrote a couple Mack Bolan novels (The Executioner series). He worked steadily from 1980 until his death from a heart attack in 1995. I remember seeing his novels on the paperback racks at the local B. Dalton (that was my Disneyland as a kid), Waldenbooks and various grocery stores throughout the Eighties. I would consider his novelization of John Carpenter's Escape from New York to be his most successful book - which gives you an idea of his career. Mike McQuay was not one of the "Giants" of the literary world. He wrote semi-pulp fiction aimed primarily at adolescent males and men in their twenties and thirties. He was not feted by critics, honored at annual book award ceremonies or made wealthy by movie deals.
Stephen King, in his introduction to The Bachman Books , talks about the three types of paperback novel categories. At the bottom of the pyramid was what King called "just books". Books that never saw a hardback printing and were published to fill shelf space at airports and drugstores. It wasn't a bad way for the middle class novelist to earn a living or at least a supplemental income to his/her day job. This was Mike McQuay. If he was still alive in 2021 he would be self-published and his older books would be available on the various Internet platforms.
Jitterbug is McQuay's most ambitious work. On his acknowledgement page he states that his research stretched for one and a half years before he began writing it. A cross between dystopian and post-apocalyptic it takes place in the city of New Orleans (called Orleans in the story) in the year 2155. Approximately half of the world is uninhabitable due to a mutated Herpes virus called "Jitterbug". The other half is ruled by the House of Saud (the ruling house of Saudi Arabia). Arabia comes to rule the world through control of oil and the virus. In other words the caliphate has returned and this time is spans the globe. The premise is intriguing. I was sixteen when the novel appeared (1984) and I remember ruminating over it at the local Albertsons (regional grocery store chain), but never buying it. Probably because it was set in a future in which the United States is not only a defeated nation, but so crushed that there is no hope of a glorious comeback. I was quite the patriotic teenager in 1984; very jingoistic in many aspects.
A few days ago my wife and I drove out to the city of Nyssa, Oregon on just a day-trip. It is right across the Snake River from Idaho (the river serves as the border between Idaho and Oregon for several miles). Being big fans of thrift stores my wife noticed that the local library had a banner declaring USED BOOKS FOR SALE hanging in the window. We went in and I stared in slack jawed wonder at the huge number of boxes and shelves stuffed with paperbacks and hardbacks dating back to the sixties, seventies and eighties. There were two large boxes containing slightly water damaged paperbacks from the past fifty years and a handwritten sign: FREE. TAKE ALL YOU WANT. That is where I discovered my copy of Jitterbug. By the way if you get a chance try to visit smaller community book-stores in your area. Not having the budget of larger metro libraries they often hold onto books longer and rely on donations to a greater extant. You'll be amazed at some of the books you will find. Especially if they rely on the sale of books to supplement their budget.
Okay enough background. After thirty-seven years I finally read Jitterbug. What did I think of this relic from my youth? It was okay. There were a few problematic issues with the story that stood out within the first few chapters.
First of all it's obvious that the novel was written in the early Eighties when OPEC and the Arabic speaking portion of the world seemed monolithic. Before the decade was over OPEC and the Arabic speaking portion of the planet would begin to show cracks that challenged that idea. In many ways Desert Storm and 9/11 were of a greater scope than Mr. McQuay imagined; though he probably would have considered Osama Bin Laden (part of a powerful Saudi Arabian family) to be a great fictional villain - if he hadn't been for real.
In his future timeline Mr. McQuay has the rest of the world backdown after Australia and Indonesia is destroyed by the Jitterbug virus in 2005. Despite the threat to use nuclear weapons Arabia refuses to backdown because the Arabs know that it's an empty threat. By 2010 all the world's nuclear weapons are dismantled and the world is controlled by the Light of the World (LOW) corporation. All scientific research is stopped (in order to prevent change) and the only true nation that remains is the Kingdom of Arabia. The rest consists of corporate controlled cities and vast areas of uncontrolled and destitute populations. However there are accidental releases of the virus ,throughout the following decades, and by the time of the novel only a couple billion people are left. When the book begin a drifter known only as Olsen accidentally kills a junior executive and takes his place in the hierarchy in the city of Orleans. His impersonation coincides with a visit by the King's brother , a rampaging army of infected (known as "jits") outside the walls and a ruthless higher executive plotting to seize control of the city. In no time at all we find ourselves in "men's adventure novel" territory.
This part of the novel doesn't work either. The virus is very contagious and deadly, but it is stopped by physical walls. Some of it's victims can live for several months before dying, but evidently there is a point where the spread of the disease slows and then stops. There is also trade and commerce despite the fact that Africa - to include Islamic North Africa, Australia, most of Asia, Russia, Greenland, Canada and South America are now quarantined. I know that throughout history, even in the midst of terrible pandemics (Covid-19 as a recent example), there is still a broken back economy and some semblance of government. However a disease that has killed off billions, is still active and yet a global empire continues to operate and even thrive? For that matter somehow the Arabian peninsula is never touched. Personally I found this to be a little too much. It appears that Mr. McQuay wanted to have both his cake and eat it to.
The depiction of Arabs is rather problematic in 2021. Perhaps in 1984 the stereotypes and clichés were easier to believe. I remember believing more than a few myself. Much of what I thought of the Arab world was shaped by T.E. Lawrence, cheap novels and Hollywood. However the past forty years has seen my country (United States) literally submerged in the Arab world and greater Islam in general. I've come to realize that just because a population shares a common language, 0r at least a common religion does not mean the population is monolithic. As a fifty-three year old man I found myself shaking my head at more than a few of the descriptions.
Women are another group that are secondary at best. Yes the Arab world seems to be a patriarch, but in the book they are reduced to sexual objects. They scheme and provide sex whenever men want it. I understand the world that was created by Mr. McQuay is once controlled by men, but it feels creaky now. However at sixteen I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought so it goes to show that change is a constant. It's my understanding that even in Saudi Arabia things are changing for women; albeit very very slowly and with pain.
Mr. McQuay ultimately wrote action/adventure novels. For whatever reason he preferred Science Fiction, but he wasn't an actual scientist. So the tech is simply used for dressing. SF was a useful trope that allowed him to write over the top stories and not collide with the "real world" in the process. While an interesting premise Jitterbug is ultimately a pulp fiction novel written for (mostly) young American males in the early eighties. As I read it I kept thinking that it should show up on a bookshelf in an episode of "Stranger Things". In the hands of a more complex writer it might have been a fascinating book. Mr. McQuay wrote basically a comic-book adventure. It's not terrible, but it could have been more. I have to give it 2.5 stars.
AFTERWORD
I should mention that despite my sniping I could see this book making for a fun series on any of the streaming channels (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO). Action, intrigue, sex, plague infested mutants, post-apocalyptic meets 1984 - what isn't to like? Of course there would have to be some changes made to reflect modern sensibilities, but it would be perfect for the format. Oh well.
September 10, 2017
I picked this up for two reasons. One, it was $2 and sounded interesting and two, it's from the author of Escape From New York, which I didn't even know was a book. Easily among my favorites that I've read this year. I'm eager to read more of McQuay's work--so eager, in fact, I rushed out to Half-Price Books and bought another of his novels. As for Jitterbug, it's a thrilling, unique dystopian story with a great cast of characters. I wasn't sure what I was in for, but by the end I loved it. Highly recommended reading.
July 19, 2017
Problematic dystopian sci-fi from the author of Escape from New York. Highly outdated depictions of women and Arabs. Interesting concept, but not a good read against the backdrop of modern society. A historical curiosity at best.
September 7, 2022
I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone but it does have a few “so bad that it’s good?” moments
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October 23, 2025PAPERBACK
February 3, 2017
I LOVED this book and have never ever forgotten it. Now with the world climate as it is this book sort of takes on a predictive quality for the future. Amazon is almost giving it away if you pay the shipping and if you like sci fi post apocalyptic themed books then this is a MUST READ for you. See if you too don't find it sort of predictive after reading this one. I'm pretty sure that you also will never be able to get this one out of your head either.
June 8, 2013
I've been on a real Mike McQuay kick the last year or two and was happy to find this (and a few other hard to find golden era SF titles) on a rainy night at Powell's in Portland.
Jitterbug is more ambitious and less campy than some of his other works (Mathew Swain). It was a good read but so far I liked his series works better.
Jitterbug is more ambitious and less campy than some of his other works (Mathew Swain). It was a good read but so far I liked his series works better.
October 22, 2014
America has fallen and in 2155 an Arab dictator rules. He uses a plague called Jitterbug to control the population. A cabal of executives battle over the remaining power. A man and a woman from the Southwestern desert challenge the corrupt rule of those in power.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews