Why Nancy Kress has gone to the Dogs

Paul Raven @ 03-07-2008

Nancy Kress - DogsWhile probably best known for her seminal sf story “Beggars In Spain” and the novel it grew into, Nancy Kress has authored twenty-three books (including thirteen sf novels), and won at least one of every short fiction award worth having in the science fiction field.

Her newest novel - a technothriller entitled Dogs - is about to hit bookstores everywhere in the middle of this month. Futurismic was proud to be offered the chance to ask Nancy some questions about Dogs, her writing in general, and - as it’s a subject that plays a strong part in much of her fictional output - genetic engineering and biotechnology.

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PGR: You’ve been writing about genetic engineering and its consequences in your novels for quite some time now. What was it about the field that initially sparked your interest?

Nancy Kress: What interests me is that this – unlike, say, FTL – is the future happening right now. Food crops are already being massively engineered (despite all the political problems with this); so are animals. Even humans have taken the first step by genescanning in vitro embryos in fertility clinics and choosing among them for implantation in the womb. Continue reading “Why Nancy Kress has gone to the Dogs”


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Sending puppies to prison: rehabilitation through cute

Paul Raven @ 08-11-2007

Puppy in a cage Well, I’ve had a click around, and this seems to be genuine. Forget high-tech panopticons and increasingly arcane psychological regimes - the way to reform career criminals is to let them raise a dog in prison. The PuppiesBehindBars program does exactly that, giving inmates the chance to train and care for canines that go on to become guide dogs or bomb detectors. The heads-up post at Metafilter has a number of links to articles that suggest the scheme is incredibly effective, for both dogs and convicts alike. [Image by ngader]


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