Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture (Duke University Press, 1995) is available for $13.95 from Duke University Press, (919) 688-5134; from Amazon; and from BookFinder, among others.

Bit by digital bit, we are being "Borged," as devotees of Star Trek: The Next Generation would have it—transformed into cyborgian hybrids of technology and biology through our ever more frequent interaction with machines, or with one another through technological interfaces.

In Flame Wars, we encounter New Age mutant ninja hackers; technopagans for whom the computer is a magical engine; Pat Cadigan's "synners," virtual reality synthesizers whose brain sockets enable them to plug their minds directly into computer networks; devotees of on-line swinging, or "compu-sex"; the teleoperated weaponry and amok robots of the mechanical performance art group, Survival Research Laboratories; Lady El, an African- American cleaning woman reincarnated as an all-powerful cyborg; and more.

"This book is crucial reading; it will change how you view the future."
—Wired

"Like it or not, we are becoming a culture more and more entwined in new electronic media. To be a well-informed and culturally aware person means you need to start thinking about how our society relates to these media. Flame Wars is a great place to start."
—The Whole Earth Review

"Not for intellectual weenies, Flame Wars is sure to provide some fire for the next flame war you get into on alt.cyberpunk."
—Wave

"Most cybercrit is pure hype. Flame Wars is different. Flame Wars is better. Flame Wars is like jacking into the heart of microprocessor darkness itself, like on-line surfing the Net Edge of the postmodern tidal wave...Let the flame wars burn."
—The Bay Guardian