Publisher's Synopsis
Xenobiology is a subfield of synthetic biology, the root word Xenos meaning stranger or alien. It is a form of biology that is not (yet) familiar to science and is not found in nature. Xenobiology features New-to-Nature organisms.
Since Xenobiology is not a study of naturally occurring organisms, the stories in this anthology deal with biology that has been artificially produced, or biological creatures that have been produced by genetic material being acted upon by outside sources to produce something new. Those new organisms can be intriguing when thrown into the mind of an imaginative author. Some of the following stories tell of genetic material being acted upon by humans to try to 'upgrade' Humanity. What happens when an upgrade does occur and 'normal' humans are left wondering about their own place in the scheme of things? Should laws be passed? What kind of ethical questions would be raised? Richard Tornello investigates that concern, among others, in his story A Child Is Borne. What kind of genetic adaptations might be necessary to live and work on moons and planets 100 light years from Sol-and what would humans be willing to give up in order to adapt successfully so far from Earth? Sergio 'ente per ente' Palumbo explores this question in The Purifiers. With Xenobiology being such a young sub-science, what are the political, economic, and ethical ramifications of humans altering the genes of other humans and what happens when that alteration goes haywire? So many questions with only one certainty: science will go forward eventually, no matter how the mass of Humanity seeks to stop it. Beyond humans taking the reins of artificial reproduction of humans, could there be others in the universe who are eager to see what they could become if merely tweaked a little? Have those extra-terrestrial forces already altered Humanity's history as some suggest? Will forces in the universe that we are not yet familiar with speed Humanity's evolution in the future? What kind of 'improvements' would they be willing to experiment with? The story Starfish, among others, invites us to view a life altered by 'others' from out there-and how other humans react to the alteration. Zoomania by Carlton Herzog gives us an entertaining view of what might happen when animals are changed via bioengineering. What happens when an altered version of yourself decides (it/he/she) wants to become the creator of new forms of life? Will its reach exceed its grasp? Will there be an angry mob with pitchforks in your future? You'll need to read the story to find out. E W Farnsworth shows us what happens when a 1940s-style detective named Val Cassidy discovers cocoons of humans hidden in the New York City sewers. "Nothing opened a police morgue in NYC faster than two crisp Ben Franklins." The Scionites is a fun story, certain to entertain. The sky is the limit with Xenobiology...and far beyond the sky, where wars are raging peopled with stranger humans and aliens. But with a little help from Science, perhaps we are indeed the aliens we seek.-Michele Dutcher
