Ken MacLeod's comments.
The title comes from two quotes:
“If these are the early days of a better nation, there must be hope, and a hope of peace is as good as any, and far better than a hollow hoarding greed or the dry lies of an aweless god.”—Graydon Saunders
Contact: kenneth dot m dot macleod at gmail dot com Blog-related emails may be quoted unless you ask otherwise.
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The Human Genre Project
A while ago I was staring at a poster of the human genome produced by the US Dept of Energy, and I remembered Michael Swanwick's Periodic Table of Science Fiction. Cue lightbulb moment.
Why not set up a website that displayed short pieces - stories, flash fictions, poems, and reflections - inspired by genes or genomics, and arranged them (as far as possible - I soon found myself applying for an artistic licence) according to the chromosome that carries the gene that inspired the piece?
Everyone I told about this idea thought it was a good one. The distinguished poet Laura-Gray Street contributed two published poems straight away. Best-selling fantasy writer Alma Alexander sent me an original short story. My good friend Mike Holmes volunteered witty song lyrics he'd once offered to Hawkwind. Other writers and poets assure me they have work on its way.
Now, thanks to enthusiastic work from Emma Capewell and Claire Alexander at the Genomics Forum, and the creative skills of web designer Damien Noonan, The Human Genre Project has gone live. It's early days yet, but it looks good and it's just waiting to be filled up with new writing. If you have something you think might sit well behind one of those colourful chromosomes, here's how to contribute.
7 Comments:
Unfortunately, my own (non-fic) genetics/ethics writing is way too dry for this project, but it's a terrific idea. Well done, Mr M.
Ken, the link to "The Periodic Table of Science Fiction" (both here on your blog, and from the project site) is broken. It redirects to SyFy.com, and 404s.
Thanks, Martin. Darn. The thing was around last time I looked. I'll change the url to some other reference, like to the publication.
Cool project! Swanwick's periodic table is still around at a different site:
http://www.lexal.net/private/scifi/scifiction/periodictable.html
Nowt to do with this, but on a recent boring bus trip I knocked up a few more verses to the 'Incompetent Design' song, which can be sung to the tune of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic'. All being well, they'll be out in the 'Leicester Secularist' [newsletter of the oldest Secular Society in the world] but here they are as a preview. I can't really enter them because verse1 was written by someone else. Nor can I be arsed.
Chris Williams
My appendix's propensity to clog could strike me down
And my retinal detatchment is of infamous renown
The cells within a prostate are a source of many a frown
A blueprint from a clown!
Chorus:
Down with, down with the designer Down with, down with the designer
Down with, down with the designer
I want my money back
Just the fact that men have nipples shows incompetence is plain
And women's reproductive organs are a source of monthly pain
Sugar cravings swell my stomach and my figure brings me shame
Incompetence is plain!
Chorus:
Down with, down with the designer Down with, down with the designer
Down with, down with the designer
I want my money back
Yet there is an explanation that I proffer to my kind
It is not that my designer should be charged and sued and fined
If you look at evolution you'll conclude and you will find
The watchmaker was blind!
Glory, incremental progress
Glory, incremental progress
Glory, incremental progress
It made us, warts and all
Unlike a magic spinning paddle that needs God to invent it
The tale of natural selection it is one we can credit
Our operational requirement in the very earth is writ
It's not beyond our wit!
Glory, incremental progress
Glory, incremental progress
Glory, incremental progress
It made us, warts and all
A great idea, and look forward to seeing how it evolves. Coincidentally (for me), I've just started rereading Primo Levi's The Periodic Table, which does something similar.
By
Dalziel, at
Monday, July 06, 2009 10:16:00 am