"This is why I read science fiction."—Daryl GregoryIn Longer, Michael Blumlein explores dauntingly epic topics—love, the expanse of the human lifespan, mortality—with a beautifully sharp story that glows with grace and good humor even as it forces us to confront deep, universal fears.Gunjita and Cav are in orbit.R&D scientists for pharmaceutical giant Gleem Galactic, they are wealthy enough to participate in rejuvenation: rebooting themselves...

Payne is a member of a minority offshoot of humanity called Grotesques, or Tesques, who are distinguished by a cranial deformity and an extra orifice in their chest. A small percentage of Tesques have the ability to effect phenomenal healings, which makes them a valuable commodity in their world. Sadly, such gifted healers live a life somewhere between that of a possession and a slave. Payne is unusual in that he is seemingly unaffected by the mysterious burn out (called "The Drain") that ...

Michael Blumlein was one of the most singular writers to be associated with the science fiction genre. Active from the 1980s until his death in 2019, he produced a body of work notable for its literary ambition, its urbanity, its depth and breadth of subject matter, and its sly deadpan humor.A medical doctor and San Francisco native, Blumlein’s profession and locale deeply informed his fiction. The physician and the author were fascinated by the human body, mind, and spirit, and th...

Michael Blumlein was one of the most singular writers to be associated with the science fiction genre. Active from the 1980s until his death in 2019, he produced a body of work notable for its literary ambition, its urbanity, its depth and breadth of subject matter, and its sly deadpan humor.A medical doctor and San Francisco native, Blumlein’s profession and locale deeply informed his fiction. The physician and the author were fascinated by the human body, mind, and spirit, and th...

The innovative novels and stories of Michael Blumlein, MD, have introduced new levels of both terror and wonder into the fiction of scientific speculation. His work as a medical researcher and internist at San Francisco’s UCSF Medical Center informs his tales of biotech, epigenetics, brain science, and what it means to be truly if only temporarily human.Our title piece, “Thoreau’s Microscope,” inspired by a historic High Sierra expedition with Kim Stanley Robinson and Gary Snyder a...

Robert Fairchild is a genius.He is also lonely.Dubbed the one-eyed architect,” Robert and his innovative buildings are praised to the skies. Suddenly his masterpiece, a dome made from a living membrane, collapses in on its inhabitants. Meanwhile his relationships disintegrate as he chooses his work over his lovers. Reeling from failure and paralyzed by self-doubt, what Robert needs is inspiration.Robert needs Grace.Unable to find someone to love, Robert deci...

The politics and terrors of biotech, human engineering, and brain science are given startling fictional form in a selection of short stories with Michael Blumlein's signature mix of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and wicked humour. The title piece, 'Thoreau's Microscope,' is a stunning mix of hypothesis and history, in which the author inhabits Thoreau's last days to explore the politics of impersonal science and personal liberation - a journey as illuminating as it is disturbing. On a ...

Robert Fairchild is a genius.He is also lonely.Dubbed the one-eyed architect, Robert and his innovative buildings are praised to the skies. Suddenly his masterpiece, a dome made from a living membrane, collapses in on its inhabitants. Meanwhile his relationships disintegrate as he chooses his work over his lovers. Reeling from failure and paralyzed by self-doubt, what Robert needs is inspiration.Robert needs Grace.Unable to find someone to love, Robert decide...

2022 Splatterpunk Award Winner**[STARRED REVIEW] *“Hugo Award–winning editor Datlow (Edited By) brings together 29 spine-tingling tales of body horror to terrify even the most seasoned horror reader."—*Publishers WeeklyBestselling editor Ellen Datlow (Lovecraft’s Monsters) presents body horror at its most wide-ranging and shocking best. Discover twenty-nine intricate, twisted tales of the human body, soul, and psyche, as told by...