Other Lives

Bagge’s (The Complete Hate) dark satire, re-released after an initial publication in 2010, follows a freelance journalist named Vader Ryderbeck as he researches the use of multiple identities in online communities. Vader’s reporting leads him to Otis Boyd, a self-described cybersecurity expert who is himself investigating terrorist activity on social media networks. Vader isn’t convinced there’s a plot afoot, but he is intrigued—he remembers meeting Otis in college, and that he went by the name Javier Ortiz at the time. Hoping for insight into Otis/Javier’s situation, Vader turns to another college friend, Woodrow, an unemployed gambling addict who introduces him to the immersive virtual-world game Second Life. When Vader’s insecurities and inability to commit drive his fiancée, Ivy, to explore Second Life for herself, she and Woodrow strike up an online friendship that quickly spirals out of control, with real-world consequences for all the characters.