Bio-punk: stories from the far side of research

Toby Litt's Bio-Punk story 'Call it ''The Bug'' Because I Have No Time to Think of a Better Title' short-listed for the 2013 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award
Featuring
Jane Feaver, Sara Maitland, Annie Kirby, Simon Ings, Toby Litt, Adam Marek, Jane Rogers, Sean O'Brien, Justina Robson, K.J. Orr, Dilys Rose, Gregory Norminton, Simon van Booy & Sarah Schofield
Programmable memories, fatherless reproduction, nano-tech implants, amphibian-powered scar treatment, full body modification, brain-scanning lie-detectors, inter-species reproduction, self-determining synthetic 'green goo'…
Which of these would you wager is pure science fiction, and which currently being developed in the lab? Such is the speed and excitement of today's bio-medical research - sprinting from the starting gun that was the Human Genome Project - it's sometimes hard to tell. In a unique collaboration, fourteen short story writers have been invited to explore the increasingly grey area between the fantastical and that which is already within our reach. Closely collaborating with scientists and ethicists working at the forefronts of their respective fields, each writer has been tasked with predicting some of the potential 'ethical side-effects' of this groundbreaking work. Not all progress, after all, is progressive. And dark forces are afoot that threaten to hi-jack what many declared would be 'the century of biology'.
Supported by the Wellcome Trust. Dilys Rose's contribution was made possible as part of the European Short Story Network, with support from Creative Scotland and the European Cultural Foundation.