Genetic World

In The Synthetic Age, Christopher Preston argues that what is most startling about this coming epoch is not only how much impact humans have had but, more important, how much deliberate shaping they will start to do. Emerging technologies promise to give us the power to take over some of Nature's most basic operations. It is not just that we are exiting the Holocene and entering the Anthropocene; it is that we are leaving behind the time in which planetary change is just the unintended consequence of unbridled industrialism.

On May 10, 1998, biologist Craig Venter, director of the Institute for Genomic Research, announced that he was forming a private company that within three years would unravel the complete genetic code of human life, seven years before the projected finish of the U.S. government's Human Genome Project. Venter hoped that by decoding the genome ahead of schedule, he would speed up the pace of biomedical research and save the lives of thousands of people. He also hoped to become very famous and very rich.

Living in the idyllic seaside town of Palmetto Beach is a dream come true for Mitch Sanders, an aspiring marine biologist who studies from home while his wife, Ashley, scores the perfect job at the Bioengineering Clinical Research Institute of Medicine, which is about to make an astounding medical breakthrough.

Loosely based on Zecharia Sitchin’s Earth Chronicles, The Blue World follows the efforts of the Sumerian gods, the Anunnaki, as they land on Earth to mine the gold there in order to repair the damaged atmosphere of their home planet, Nibiru. The Anunnaki miners find gold mining laborious and dangerous, so they genetically engineer a hybrid race to do it for them. Mixing Anunnaki DNA with simian, they create the Human, "those who work".

It's been two decades since Mars' failed conquest of Earth. The journalist and his wife, Carrie, have a son. A criminal selling poems and nursery rhymes contraband on the streets of Artilleryman's glistening subterranean metropolis, New London. Pursued by a disillusioned gunslinging-curate, Pockets evades capture only to stumble across darker secrets buried below the citadel. Teaming up with Tuppence and Zero, the young trio plan to escape to the surface, fatefully on the conjunction of our two planets.

The evolutionary path from the original primates to modern man is a long one and has taken many twists and turns, but naturally, as the fossil record grows, scientists gain a more complete understanding of our own mental and physical history in terms of genetics and anatomy. However, the correct order and relationships of the various specimen types are difficult to pin down.

All was well for Martin Reed, a 20-year-old PhD biologist, until one day, he came across a gene sequence that seemed unusual, out of place. With the help of his girlfriend, Helen, Martin began exploring this mystery sequence. Buried in the deep secrets of our DNA lies a set of instructions on how to build a protein molecule. With these instructions, a learned person could create the very essence of what we know as life. Each day brought more detail and further “instructions”. Martin would soon conclude a very simple fact - we are not alone.