MORT(E)

In this page-turning, speculative fiction adventure, in the vein of ANIMAL FARM and WATERSHIP DOWN with RAMBO thrown in, the "War with No Name" has begun with human extinction as its goal. The instigator of the war is the Colony, a race of intelligent ants who, for thousands of years, have been silently building an army that would eradicate the destructive, oppressive humans forever. The final piece of the Colony's war effort is transforming the surface animals into highly functioning, two-legged beings who will rise up to kill their masters. Once achieved, the Colony's visionary utopia will be realized: a world free of the humans' penchant for violence, exploitation, and religious superstition. Former house-cat turned war hero, Mort(e), is famous for taking the most dangerous missions and fighting the dreaded human bio-weapon EMSAH. But the true motivation driving his recklessness is his constant search for his pre-transformation friend, a dog named Sheba. When he receives a mysterious message from the dwindling human resistance that Sheba is alive, he embarks on a journey that will take him to the remaining human strongholds he once fought against, then into the heart of the Colony itself. After spending two years in the West Indies as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Robert Repino earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Emerson College. His fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize among other awards, and has appeared in The Literary Review, Night Train, Hobart, The Furnace Review, Ghoti, Word Riot, JMWW, Juked, The Coachella Review, and the anthology BREVITY AND ECHO (Rose Metal Press). Repino is the pitcher for the Oxford University Press softball team and quarterback for the flag football team, but his business card says that he's an Editor.