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.”