GeneSis

Lynn's feelings of social isolation and family tension are soothed only by the music of her idol, the eccentric pop icon Bayle. Her alienation at first seems to be a classic byproduct of teenage anxiety, but when Lynn and her best girlfriends are suddenly shaken from their daily high school existence by a deadly attack from members of her own father’s biotech corporation, GeneReal, it becomes clear that Lynn’s social estrangement stems from far more complex sources. Miraculously saved from certain death by her idol Bayle himself, Lynn finds herself sucked into the middle of a political whirlwind revolving around top-secret, large scale transactions between GeneReal and the American and Chinese governments. Drawn suddenly into a plot to expose these ethically dubious transactions, Lynn must reconcile her morals and preconceived world views into a new reality. As she and an eclectic undercover team of ‘hactivists’ infiltrate the GeneReal headquarters in Beijing, dodging deadly counterattacks to gather information about top secret genetic innovations, Lynn suddenly realizes that her involvement in the entire situation is not simply a moral or social issue – it is more personal than she could ever have imagined.

Lynn's feelings of social isolation and family tension are soothed only by the music of her idol, the eccentric pop icon Bayle. Her alienation at first seems to be a classic byproduct of teenage anxiety, but when Lynn and her best girlfriends are suddenly shaken from their daily high school existence by a deadly attack from members of her own father’s biotech corporation, GeneReal, it becomes clear that Lynn’s social estrangement stems from far more complex sources. Miraculously saved from certain death by her idol Bayle himself, Lynn finds herself sucked into the middle of a political whirlwind revolving around top-secret, large scale transactions between GeneReal and the American and Chinese governments. Drawn suddenly into a plot to expose these ethically dubious transactions, Lynn must reconcile her morals and preconceived world views into a new reality. As she and an eclectic undercover team of ‘hactivists’ infiltrate the GeneReal headquarters in Beijing, dodging deadly counterattacks to gather information about top secret genetic innovations, Lynn suddenly realizes that her involvement in the entire situation is not simply a moral or social issue – it is more personal than she could ever have imagined... Modern society is a hybrid of cultures, architectures, and tastes. GeneSis probes the inevitable next step of this ubiquitous hybridization, and perhaps the step most true to the semantic meaning of the term: the hybridization of the human genome. While examining the ethical implications of genetic advancements, this vibrant and action-packed novel offers at once a poignant socio-political commentary on future society and an exploration of relationships and cultural boundaries all too similar to our current world.

By day, Matt Maciejewski conducts bioinformatics/chemoinformatics research for a big pharma company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He holds a PhD in biophysics from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Edinburgh. Nick Marcela is a lecturer at University of Silesia, where he got his PhD in literature and philosophy, with a focus in pop culture studies. He also produces indie pop music. By night, the duo combines their unique scientific and literary perspectives to bring about explosive concoctions, one of which is right in front of you!