Wyrm

Wyrm is a 1998 novel by Mark Fabi.

Michael Arcangelo is a programmer who specializes in combating viruses and worms. When hired by a team that programmed a revolutionary chess-playing AI to investigate problems with their computer, he discovers evidence of a sentient computer worm. This program, Wyrm, has already stealthily disseminated itself across the Internet. It falls to Mike and a motley collection of fellow hackers to stop Wyrm before it brings about Armageddon.


 * A.I. Is a Crapshoot
 * Accidental Aiming Skills: Done a couple times by Ragnar.
 * Artificial Intelligence: Wyrm
 * As the Good Book Says...: Each chapter is headed with a quote from the Book of Revelation.
 * Book Ends:
 * Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: The gamers are annoyed that Dworkin used idiosyncratic names like "sword-dancer" and "shadow-stalker" instead of "Fighter" and "Rogue", making it hard for them to tell what class they're even playing as.
 * Chess Motifs: Used in the Armageddon battle against Wyrm.
 * Computer Virus: Computer viruses and worms feature heavily in the story, the most significant being Wyrm.
 * Cyberspace
 * Deep-Immersion Gaming
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * A God Am I: Wyrm.
 * Gossip Evolution: Mike spends days tracking down the source of a rumor about Richard Dworkin only to discover he himself started it.
 * Hell: A virtual version made by Wyrm.
 * Instant AI, Just Add Water
 * Mechanical Evolution: Discussed, and the differences from biological evolution are noted.
 * Millennium Bug
 * Mind Probe: Wyrm to.
 * Mind Rape: Wyrm, by the same means as the Mind Probe.
 * Norse Mythology: There are a number of references to elements of Norse Mythology, including Jormungandr, Nidhoggr, and Thor and Loki in the Land of the Giants
 * Omnicidal Maniac: Wyrm.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons of every conceivable type appear in the story.
 * Ouroboros
 * Recursive Acronym: TRAP. It stands for TRAP Recursive Acronym Program.
 * Schrödinger's Cat
 * Shout-Out: Lots, particularly to Monty Python and Lewis Carroll.
 * Unusual User Interface: The NIL.