Biology in Science Fiction: Free Fiction http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory Sun, 06 May 2012 00:13:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 May Highlighted Stories: Natural History on Alternate Earths http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/9wpLk0W2ga0/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/may-highlighted-stories-natural-history-on-alternate-earths/#comments Sun, 06 May 2012 00:12:18 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2343 One of the main things that sets science fiction apart from other genres is the question “what if”? SF usually looks to the future: what if a new technology develops? what if scientists discover a cure for cancer? what if we meet extraterrestrials? what if we colonize another? But it can also look to the past.

This month’s highlighted free fiction are set in the past right here on Earth, or at least an Earth, where the biology is just a bit different than we find on ours.

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Image: “Mermaid and fishes of Amboyna – After Valentyn” from Sea Monsters Unmasked by Henry Lee (1883)

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/may-highlighted-stories-natural-history-on-alternate-earths/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/may-highlighted-stories-natural-history-on-alternate-earths/ Golubash, or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy by Catherynne Valente http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/RRzGqGZDGs0/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/golubash-wine-blood-war-story-by-catherynne-valent/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:34:59 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2328 Title: Golubash (Wine-Blood-War-Story) OR
Golubash, or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy

Author: Catherynne M. Valente

Length: short story

First Publication: Federations anthology, 2009

What the Story is About: The interstellar trade in fine wines involves genetic engineering, adaptation of grapes to different ecologies on different planets, clever business folk and even violence. All to bring customers the finest and rarest vintage.

The author discusses the background of the story in this interview on the Federations website. It sounds like the research for the story was tasty.

Note: audio version available as part of this Escape Pod podcast.

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/golubash-wine-blood-war-story-by-catherynne-valent/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/golubash-wine-blood-war-story-by-catherynne-valent/ A Study in Flesh and Mind by Liz Argall http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/VjNG-EyAVPM/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/a-study-in-flesh-and-mind-by-liz-argll/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:01:20 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2323 Title: A Study in Flesh and Mind

Author: Liz Argall

Length: short story

First Publication: Daily Science Fiction, 2011

What the Story is About: Models at the Albury-Wodonga Academy of Fine Arts and Neuroscience display both their body and their minds to the students. Some professors there know how to get the best from their models.

You can listen to an audio version of the story as part of the Dark Fiction Magazine podcast.

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/a-study-in-flesh-and-mind-by-liz-argll/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/a-study-in-flesh-and-mind-by-liz-argll/ Mother Ship by Caroline Yoachim http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/wTzNS9G4mSA/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/mother-ship-by-caroline-yoachim/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:51:23 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2320 Title: Mother Ship

Author: Caroline M Yoachim

Length: short story

First Publication: Lightspeed Magazine, 2012

What the Story is About: A living ship carries colonists to another world. While in transit she helps heal the deformed babies of the pregnant women she carries. Will she be able to heal her son – or herself?

For some background on the story, see the Lightspeed interview with the author.

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/mother-ship-by-caroline-yoachim/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/mother-ship-by-caroline-yoachim/ The Homecoming by Mike Resnick http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/SUg4n40Z4bY/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-homecoming-by-mike-resnick/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:41:48 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2317 Title: The Homecoming

Author: Mike Resnick

Length: short story

First Publication: Asimov’s, 2011

Awards: Hugo nominee, best short story

What the Story is About: A man returns from the stars to visit his aging ailing parents. His homecoming is difficult as his mother’s memory is failing and he has changed considerably…

Note: pdf version only

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-homecoming-by-mike-resnick/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-homecoming-by-mike-resnick/ Beneath Impossible Circumstances by Andrea Kneeland http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/x9ciP9tHKeo/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/beneath-impossible-circumstances-by-andrea-kneeland/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:32:42 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2314 Title: Beneath Impossible Circumstances

Author: Andrea Kneeland

Length: short sotry

First Publication: Strange Horizons, 2012

What the Story is About: In a world where birds are dying and natural reproduction is a crime a couple decides whether to have baby.

Analise wants to have a baby. A real baby. I tell her that if we had a baby together, itwould be a real baby. It would be a real baby and it would have parts from both of us, and it would be a real person made from both of our genes.

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/beneath-impossible-circumstances-by-andrea-kneeland/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/beneath-impossible-circumstances-by-andrea-kneeland/ A Matter of Proportion by Anne Walker http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/2Nduk7GEVrg/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/a-matter-of-proportion-by-anne-walker/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:14:34 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2232 Title: A Matter of Proportion

Author: Anne Walker

Length: short story

First Publication: Astounding Science Fiction, 1959

What the Story is About: A risk-taking hero of the “Corps” gets a second chance with a new body.

The story even cites a real-life set of experiments on arm grafts:

Hall RH “Whole Upper Extremity Transplant for Human Beings.” Annals of Surgery 120:12-23 (1944)

You can listen to the audiobook version at LibriVox.

For more information, see my blog post: “Hand transplants, face transplants … and brain transplants?”

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/a-matter-of-proportion-by-anne-walker/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/a-matter-of-proportion-by-anne-walker/ The Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer Smith http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/y2P-sWk0mzw/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-game-of-rat-and-dragon-by-cordwainer-smith/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:55:48 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2229 Title: The Game of Rat and Dragon

Author: Cordwainer Smith (Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger)

Length: short story

First Publication: Galaxy Science Fiction, 1955

What the Story is About: The alien “dragons” were quick, taking out starships in a flash. The only way for humans to fight them was to be even faster, with the help of their small but fierce partners who treated the aliens like rats.

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-game-of-rat-and-dragon-by-cordwainer-smith/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-game-of-rat-and-dragon-by-cordwainer-smith/ Triple Helix by Ruth Nestvold http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/YF-7rAlOl50/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/triple-helix-by-ruth-nestvold/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:47:17 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2226 Title: Triple Helix

Author: Ruth Nestvold

Length: short story, hyperfiction

First Publication: Ideomancer, 2006

What the story is about: A team studies life on the planet Rakild, where the intelligent inhabitants – Changers – come in three genders.

Note: this is a work of “hyperfiction”, where words and phrases are linked to each other, sort of like a wiki. It only works as HTML.

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/triple-helix-by-ruth-nestvold/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/triple-helix-by-ruth-nestvold/ Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Monkey by Ruth Nestvold http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/A_VZD1LFj5Y/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-monkey-by-ruth-nestvold/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:35:50 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2222 Title: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Monkey

Author: Ruth Nestvold

Length: short story

First Publication: Daily Science Fiction, 2012

What the Story is About: She takes care of the monkeys sent to be the first life to visit new worlds. They aren’t just animals; they are family to her. What will she do when they start to die?

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-monkey-by-ruth-nestvold/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-monkey-by-ruth-nestvold/ The Procedure by LE Elder http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/-1VBAavj-No/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-procedure-by-le-elder/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:29:18 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2219 Title: The Procedure

Author: LE Elder

Length: short story

First Publication: Daily Science Fiction, 2012

What the Story is About:In the future we may able to cheat death through technology. But are such modifications at the price of our humanity?

“Anna was an old woman, a very old woman, one of the oldest. And, although she’d had all of the latest upgrades, she was having trouble processing the doctor’s words. Perhaps it was that lingering bit of bio-residue mucking things up. She stared without comprehension at the doctor’s burnished face.”

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-procedure-by-le-elder/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/the-procedure-by-le-elder/ Skin Deep by Mary Rosenblum http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BiologyInSFFreeFiction/~3/4CDG-ySS14k/ http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/skin-deep-by-mary-rosenblum/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:22:17 +0000 Peggy http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/?p=2216 Title: Skin Deep

Author: Mary Rosenblum

Length: short story

First Publication: Asimov’s, 2004

What the Story is About: A disfigured man gets reconstructive surgery that gives him a new life. But at what price?

Note: audio only, part of this StarShip Sofa Podcast

]]> http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/skin-deep-by-mary-rosenblum/feed/ 0 http://sciencefictionbiology.com/directory/skin-deep-by-mary-rosenblum/