CYBER PLAGUE
BOOK 4 OF THE STARPASSAGE SERIES
by Clark Burbidge
Mike Hernandez and the Coleman twins return, but just when
the friends think they have the Star of Passage, it’s riddles, and
Orion’s Belt figured out, they discover a new relic.
All of Tim and Martie’s rules are tossed aside when Tocho, a
member of the Native American Shoshoni tribe which roamed
the Rocky Mountains, knocks on Callie and Courtney’s Astoria,
Oregon door with the mysterious Star of Hope. The new relic
has the shocking ability to transport the teens forward in time,
where cartels and gangs are a rising threat and technology has
advanced so far that computer viruses affect humans. As
Mike, Callie, Courtney, and Tocho struggle to remain free of the
virus, they also have to dodge the shadowy Trackers, those
wicked souls who are doomed to haunt history and desire the
relics to free themselves from their eternal prison.
The teens find themselves racing to save a possible future, but
can they change it for the better? Award-winning storyteller
Clark R. Burbidge’s latest addition to the StarPassage series,
StarPassage: Cyber Plague, will inspire you to pave the way for
a brighter tomorrow.
About the Author:
Clark Burbidge was born and raised in the high mountain valleys of the Rockies. He
earned an MBA from the University of Southern California and a BS from the University
of Utah. Clark and his wife, Leah, live near Salt Lake City, Utah, where they enjoy their
blended family of ten children and nine grandchildren.
Clark’s award-winning works include the StarPassage series, Giants in the Land
trilogy, the acclaimed Christmas book, A Piece of Silver: A Story of Christ and a
nonfiction work, Living in the Family Blender: 10 Principles of a Successful Blended
Family.
Q&A with the Author
1. What is your education/career
background?
I received my undergraduate education from the
University of Utah, where I competed in two varsity sports, swimming and water
polo, and earned my letters. I graduated with a BS in Finance. I received an
MBA from the University of Southern California, where I continued living for
thirteen years and began my career in banking and finance before moving back to
Utah. I spent twenty-five years with graduated responsibilities in banking,
corporate banking, and investment banking, then spent the final ten years of my
career as the Chief Financial Officer for three different companies.
2. When did you first realize
you wanted to be a writer? Or what first inspired you to write?
I have always been a storyteller. In the
financial world, it is critical to be able to succinctly deliver your message
in a compelling way. I have always made up stories for my kids. The fun part is
always starting with a basic format and filling out the story in real time, as
I tell it. I never know where it will go. I was between jobs in 2010 when I
decided to try to pull together my first book and see who might be interested.
It is an interesting story but has led me to this day.
3. Do you have any interesting
writing habits or superstitions?
I suppose I have one that is not shared by too
many others: I do not write from a previously prepared outline. I like to climb
into the story with the characters and walk at their side. I may turn a corner
and discover a giant facing us. Is he friend or foe? How does he advance the
story? Will I need to go back and do some extensive revisions to write the
character in? Yes, of course. I do not experience writer’s block because I am
having an experience just like I hope my readers have when they climb aboard.
The best part of reading is when you discover that you are no longer reading,
you are having an experience with the characters. That is my major goal in all
my books.
4. Is there a message/theme in
your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Each StarPassage book approaches a basic theme
from a very different direction. We can feel overwhelmed, hopeless and helpless
in the world today. It doesn’t matter if you have seemingly impossible family
situations, injuries that changed your life or feel like you are completely out
of place. I have never seen monsters and villains in life or in literature as threats
to destroy us or the characters. In fact, without such antagonists, it is
impossible for the characters or real people to reach deep down inside and find
their own greatness, which has always been theirs. In other words, these
monsters, villains, circumstances, whether without or within, are not a threat
to destroy us but the vehicle which allows us all to become heroes. There are
no heroes without villains.
5. What’s the best writing
advice you have ever received?
Those who overly dwell on gratuitous language,
immorality, violence and gore are lazy and unimaginative writers. It also
detracts from the story and one’s ability to climb about with the characters by
pulling the reader out of the story time and again. It is worth the author’s time
to use dialogue and words that move the story and characters along rather than
bring it to a screeching halt or a graphic stream of epithets that do nothing
for the story except destroy the magic. Unfortunately, much of moviedom,
television and literature seem to dwell on this kind of cheap, poor substitute
for good writing, good stories and quality characters.
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