This collection of stories about possible future developments in biotechnology juxtaposes the ultra-large scale of "Mortimer Gray's History of Death", which encapsulates several thousand years of human history, both past and future, with the intimate scale of "Next to Godliness," in which a dinner party goes wrong, in a fashion obliquely connected to the psychotropic drug-patches worn by all the guests. Among the other tales are "Some like it Hot" which deals with possible approaches, both biological and psychological, to the prospect of global warming; while the previously-unpublished novella "The Golden Fleece" offers a comparative study of the scientific and artistic responses to a natural ability to perceive more shades of color than most people can. All the stories work at the interface between biological possibility and philosophical potential.
First-rate SF speculation by a master storyteller.
Robert Reginald says: "An absolutely first-rate guide to writing fantastic literature. Stableford has much to say that potential writers of ALL fiction might find valuable, interesting, and highly illuminating. His reasonable discussion and dissection of the basic issues facing authors of creative fiction--and the solutions to be found to each problem--are dollops of solid gold advice, in this editor's humble opinion. Every would-be author should read this book--and more than once!"
