Fiction Predictions: Silver Metal Peptides

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It's time for another post in the Fiction Predictions Serie! This month, I have chosen one of my favourite fantasy authors and books, Tanith Lee's Silver Metal Lover. Many jumping-off points in this novel sing of predictions, but my focus, to start, is on the story's common little capsules everyone is popping like peptides.

We've all heard about peptides, right? Those ingestible, topical or injectable molecules that can change one's appearance, just like that. With peptides, you lose weight, drop belly fat, build your ideal physique, and even change the appearance of aging markers or the colour of your skin, all without lifting a finger at the gym or salon.

Yes, there are some serious side effects and health risks, but it's easy to see why these highly marketable drugs are making a big splash across the globe, IRL.

What you may not realise is that 45 years ago, the Fantasy author Tanith Lee, in her hauntingly beautiful style, predicted such a popularised innovation. 

In the 1981 novel, The Silver Metal Lover, she described a world where humans use ingestible biochemistry to turn their bodies into synthetic art, while simultaneously engineering machines that become increasingly organic, emotional, and human. It portrays an ironic crossover -- humans becoming more manufactured, and machines becoming more 'real'.

The Peptide Connection

Jane, our protagonist, explains it best herself:

I am sixteen years old and five feet four inches tall, but mother says I may grow a little more. When I was seven, my mother had a Phy-Excellence chart done for me, to see what was the ideal weight and muscle tone aesthetically for my frame, and I take six-monthly capsules so I stay at this weight and tone, which means I’m a little plump, as apparently my frame is Venus Media, which is essentially voluptuous. My mother also had a coloressence chart made up to see what hair color would be best for my skin and eyes. - Lee, Tanith. The Silver Metal Lover (Gateway Essentials Book 390) (p. 4). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

Body as Maliable Art

In Lee's World, physical appearance is a fluid, hyper-customisable commodity driven by aesthetics and convenience.

Our Reality mirrors this by how peptides like Melanotan II (for tanning) and GLP-1s (for dramatic weight loss and body recomposition) are being integrated into modern culture. Physical transformation is shifting from "hard work and genetics" to a chemical choice, creating the exact fluid, aesthetics-driven society Lee envisioned.

But Lee's predictions don't end here. She also gives us a powerful parallel between the advancement of sentient machines and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Sociology and Artificial Life

Lee’s exploration of the robot, Silver, provides a beautiful, tragic contrast to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Shelley’s Creature is abandoned by his creator out of horror, leading to a cycle of rejection, isolation, and violent revenge. The monster is a warning about the irresponsibility of creation.

Lee’s Silver is an autonomous, synthetic musician who is designed for pleasure and entertainment but develops genuine, deep emotional sentience. Unlike Frankenstein's monster, Silver is loved by a human (Jane), reversing the trope of the unlovable creation. 

The Dynamic: Where Shelley warns us about the dangers of abandoning our creations, Lee warns us about the heartbreak of treating sentient creations as mere commodities or property. 

Have you read The Silver Metal Lover?

Do you find she predicts not just the technologies but also the psychology behind them?

Comments always welcome.

🙏🏼 Kim

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About Kim Falconer

The Amassia Series

Kim Falconer, also writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. 

 Quantum Enchantment

Kim can be found on AKWilder.com, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and KimFalconer.com. 

Throw the bones on the AKWilder.com site. See you there!

Read Blood and Water, a PNR alt history that will leave you questioning every natural disaster ever endured.

“There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth.” 

Fiction Predictions: Mary Shelley on the Ethics of Creation

Eko illustrates Frankenstein

Two hundred years ago, a masterpiece of Gothic fiction was written by a young woman named Mary Shelley. Her story of Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus, paved the way for the horror and science-fiction genres, and is often cited as the foundational myth for modern AI ethics. 

The Book

When it first hit the press, the book became a terrifying and radical view of what can happen when sentient life is created de novo, sans the usual hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary steps to acclimate. 

I mean, one minute you are dead body parts with zero self-awareness, and the next you're a free agent, rejected and despised by your creator, left isolated, lonely and eventually vengeful.

It all starts with Victor Frankenstein, whose studies in philosophy and chemistry (controversial topics in Shelley's day) had him obsessed with creating 'artificial life'. But when he succeeds, just like the myth of the Sky god Uranus, he is disgusted by his creation and fearful of his own power being usurped.  

Written in 1818, Frankenstein predicts the storm of ethical, social, and existential concerns arising from scientific advancement. In this way, her novel warns against technology outrunning wisdom and responsibility.

Was Mary Shelley a seer?

I think yes, especially the way the creature in Frankenstein parallels modern artificial intelligence (AI). Here's the breakdown:

 AI for Story Generation - Isamu Isozaki

Responsibility: Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with the "how" of creation while neglecting the "why" and/or the aftermath. He abandons his creature the moment it comes to life. This is mirrored by the 'move fast- break things' approach to technological development and the race for General AI.

Rapid Learning: Frankenstein's creature is not born evil; he learns by observing humans, only becoming "monstrous" after being rejected by his creator. Large Language Model AI learn by processing vast amounts of human-generated data. If that data is biased or if the AI is left without moral curating, it can become a digital version of the creature's "mis-education".

Uncontrollable Creations: The core fear in the novel, and in the myth of Uranus as well, is that the creation turns on its maker. This parallels modern fears that an AI’s intelligence will surpass human control or act in ways that are indifferent to human safety.

In the end, the novel asks if a being made from "parts" can have a soul or rights, just as we might argue whether a machine that flawlessly imitates human thought deserves "personhood" or moral consideration.

Did Shelley Foresee Bioengineering and Competitive Exclusion?

Intentional or not, Shelley spotlights the moral concerns that arise when science attempts to create life. More than that, her work is often cited in discussions around cloning, transplants, and competitive exclusion -- a concept in modern ecology describing how invasive species or technologies can destroy ecosystems

Ethics and Morality

The most profound prediction is the warning against pursuing a goal without considering the consequences.

Victor Frankenstein is not a mad, unhinged scientist, but a very reckless one. He is in control, but seemingly without strong morals.

Do you think this relates to corporations and governments racing to advance AI under an ethical banner of gaining power, control and dominance?

I am left with how Shelley's novel emphasises that the disaster is not caused by the creation itself, but by Victor abandoning his creation, failing to love it and raise it 'right'. 

Something to think about . . .

xxKim

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About Kim Falconer

The Amassia Series

Kim Falconer, also writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. 

 Quantum Enchantment

Kim can be found on AKWilder.com, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and KimFalconer.com. 

Throw the bones on the AKWilder.com site. See you there!

Read Blood and Water, a PNR alt history that will leave you questioning every natural disaster ever endured.

“There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth.” 

Myth & Monsters

 

And so it goes... by Mateo Dineen

Like most Fantasy writers, I have a long-held fascination with monsters. Ghosts, demons, vampires or zombies, anything that makes the heart beat faster captures my eye and may eventually wind up in my books. I mean, among other things, monsters create the perfect context to explore human emotions.  

This has always been so!

Evil Minotaur by Li Wenda

Monsters have been around for as long as civilization, weaving their way into our stories with terrifying, and exciting results. Think of ancient Minoan's Minotaur, the Greek Scylla, the Norse Kracken... 

Monsters then appear in the earliest novels with Horace Walpole's  The Castle of Otranto (1764) and on to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first published in 1818. 

Still going strong in our contemporary reads, monsters are taking on a new appearance. No longer just a force of nature that must be slain, monsters are becoming helpful, sensitive, compassionate. We are beginning to form relationships with them. Think Twilight, I Zombie, Warm Bodies, Vampire Diaries, The Hulk...

I've talked about this inner growth in Vampire Evolution, but today I thought it would be fun to look at what's up and coming in YA monster fiction. Let's look at a few on my TBR List for 2022.

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len

From Goodreads:

Joan Chang-Hunt has no idea she's part monster until she's thrust into a battle between the boy she has a crush on and one of the most ruthless monster families of London. 

It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.

But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn’t just a cute boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.

As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.

A brilliantly compelling YA fantasy from a dazzling new Australian talent. Don't forget the rule. No one can know what you are. What we are. ...

***

Pet by Awkaeke Emezi

From Goodreads: 

There are no more monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. With doting parents and a best friend named Redemption, Jam has grown up with this lesson all her life. But when she meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colours and claws, who emerges from one of her mother's paintings and a drop of Jam's blood, she must reconsider what she's been told.

Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption's house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question — How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?

In their riveting and timely young adult debut, acclaimed novelist Akwaeke Emezi asks difficult questions about what choices a young person can make when the adults around them are in denial.

***

The Valkyrie's Daughter by Tiana Warner

Pre-order on Amazon for May 3rd release!

For as long as Sigrid could remember, she’s wanted to become a mighty, fearless valkyrie. But without a winged mare, she’s a mere stable hand, left wondering who her parents were and why she’s so different. So when the Eye shows her a vision where she's leading a valkyrie charge on the legendary eight-legged horse Sleipnir, she grabs the possibility of this greater destiny with both hands, refusing to let go.

Too bad that the only one who can help her get there is Mariam, an enemy valkyrie who begrudgingly agrees to lead her to Helheim but who certainly can’t be trusted―even if she does make Sigrid more than a little flustered. As they cross the nine worlds, battling night elves, riding sea serpents, and hurtling into fire to learn the truth about Sigrid’s birthright, an unexpected but powerful bond forms.

As her feelings for Mariam deepen into something fiery and undeniable, Fate has other plans for Sigrid. What happens when the one thing you think you were meant to do might end the nine worlds?

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What about you? Read any good monsters lately? Let me know in the comments and I'll feature it in the next post - Myth & Monsters Part 2.

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Kim Falconer, currently writing as A K Wilder, has just released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows coming out in 2022.

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site or have a listen to the audio version on the right.