Laurie R. King

So, Laurie’s been posting a lot of weird stuff this week: now that it’s Hallowe’en, is she going to get truly disgusting?

Fear not, the creep factor in today’s post is along the theoretical and long-term lines.

The story “Hellbender” contains elements of genetic manipulation, in which DNA of one species is blended with that of an entirely different species.  It’s one of those pieces of fiction that seems far-fetched, until…

Until you read about the glow-in-the-dark mice, whose genes have been mixed with those of jellyfish.

Pharming (farm+pharmacy) and transgenes are no longer fiction, but fact: not only corn that contains its own insecticide (which may or may not be contributing to the bee problems in the world) but higher organisms as well: mice that produce human drugs, cows with non-allergenic milk, goats whose milk can be used to produce bulletproof vests.

There’s even a center for Post-Natural History, a museum documenting the myriad ways in which people have changed the genes of the natural world.

And maybe even themselves, as Mike Heller finds in “Hellbender.”

Enjoy your spooky All Hallows, and be careful of that genetically modified candy corn.

“Hellbender” is here.