Mr. Big Maus

What do you get when you cross Catcher in the Rye with The Apprentice? Ocean's Eleven with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? You get a madcap romp; a rip-snorting dash through contemporary corporate culture in the quest for life-affirming existence. You get a hilarious, irresistible page turner, filled with intrigue, humor, word-play, droll observation, memorable heroes, dastardly villains, fast-paced action, plot turns galore, and justifiable revenge. Above all, you get Mr. Big Maus.

What do you get when you cross Catcher in the Rye with The Apprentice? Ocean's Eleven with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? You get a madcap romp; a rip-snorting dash through contemporary corporate culture in the quest for life-affirming existence. You get a hilarious, irresistible page turner, filled with intrigue, humor, word-play, droll observation, memorable heroes, dastardly villains, fast-paced action, plot turns galore, and justifiable revenge. Above all, you get Mr. Big Maus. Miles Maus has a lot going for him: he’s young, intelligent, cuddly, and has a coveted job on Madison Avenue. Unfortunately, he also has a lot going against him—like the disillusionment that has steadily accrued from endless invention of frivolous desire, directed at a public yearning constant satisfaction. One other thing Miles has a lot of: a mouth full of unsolicited opinions, irreverent quips, and rapidly burbling disdain for the industry he serves. This lands him in trouble with two odious digital wizards from Silicon Valley, who take umbrage at the way he is marketing their revolutionary gadget. A device that, if all goes according to plan, will net them a windfall in a pending public offering . . . . . . assuming Miles and his irrepressible mouth don’t screw it up. The morning Miles decides to take a personal holiday in Central Park to reevaluate his life is the day his life changes—thanks to his dog-eared copy of Catcher in the Rye, a discarded New York Times crossword puzzle, a suspicious skateboarder, a bewitching Asian art-lover, and two federal agents. In short order, Miles is: assaulted, blackmailed and enlisted by the government into taking a few more personal days to root out terrorists, perform an undercover sting, purchase firearms and sundry espionage paraphernalia, embark on a feverish dash down the eastern seaboard to break into a federally-protected national monument. After all that, who would be surprised when he gets fired? Moreover, who would complain? Miles can. And does. And with the aid of two childhood pals--a former All-American football hero and a much-adored cell-service promo girl--he sets out to set things right. If comeuppance is your cup of tea, Mr. Big Maus will prove the most savory of brews.

Todd Joseph Miles Holden was born in Pasadena, California, and educated in Paris, France, Irvine, California, and Syracuse, New York. For twenty-six years he lived in Sendai, Japan, where he was Professor of Mediated Sociology at Tohoku University. Trained in Social Ecology and Interdisciplinary Social Science, he has written extensively on topics ranging from semiotics to cell phones, gender, globalization, advertising, television, elections, nationalism, identity, sports, and Japanese popular culture. Reflective of his interdisciplinary training, Todd’s creative writing spans genres and strives to defy pat categorization. PERIPATETIC POSTCARDS, published in 2011, is a travel memoir of confession, self discovery, reflection on life’s lessons and personal growth, set in twenty-five of the world’s more intriguing cities. TSUNAMI is a fictionalized account of Japan’s triple disaster of 2011 and ESCAPE FROM SONOYO, based on characters introduced in Tsunami, is an exploration of catastrophic life change, endurance and redemption. RED DOT, ORANGE ROCK, BLUES is an autobiographical meditation on being and becoming, based on six years coaching men’s collegiate and women’s professional basketball in Japan. THE SEEKERS OF WISDOM weds philosophical detection, high school teaching and sports, the literary canon, hard-boiled mystery and police procedural. ORPHAN 7Y-05-O is a dystopian tale centering on a training school for terrorists. To read samples of these works, please visit his author’s website: http://www.tjmholden.com. Todd has been blessed with incomparable parents, admirable siblings, a remarkable wife and astonishing children. He currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with some of same and two adopted cats.