For my current novel-in-progress “Saint Arcology”, I made up a Latin-y word, Biolibertas, to refer to a philosophical/civilizational movement towards increased freedom via intentional biology. In this world, both humans and artificial sentient entities pursue freedom from the economic chains of poorly regulated capitalism by taking advantage of enhanced biological capabilities and specialized engineered organisms and symbiotes (enabling human photosynthesis, regeneration, reverse-aging, biologically created housing structures, etc.).
(To my half-dozen or so fiction fans who’ve done a deep dive into my N.E.N.T. theory of everything, this corresponds to the Gensynth evolutionary layer.)
I’ve been toiling away, developing characters and stories around these ideas, for years now (two-and-half yet-to-be published novels worth). But we’ve had a breakthrough! LaShawn Wanak, editor of the esteemed GigaNotoSaurus web magazine (and also author), saw some value in my recent novelette “The Portishead Tunnel,” and picked it up. It’s live as of today, and free to read.
Also, a huge thanks to Beth Dawkins who provided some early, extremely helpful feedback on this story.
Read The Portishead Tunnel on GigaNotoSaurus.
It’s a long one! Hope you enjoy.