Discover “Shadow Life,” a new biotech SF story by British author Paul J. McAuley

The online edition of the July-August 2009 issue of Discover Magazine uncovers “Shadow Life,” a new biotechnology science fiction short story written by British botanist and author Paul J. McAuley. Set in the post-economic future and illustrated by artist Dave McKean, here are the opening lines:

It all started when Jack scored on eBay a multichannel femtospectrometer from a probe that never, in the end, went to Mars. A frosty CSI-style piece of kit that isolated organic molecules
in a laser trap and determined their molecular structure. ...

Paul J. McAuley is also the author of the Mars novel Red Dust (1993).

Pictured: "Shadow Life" artwork by Dave McKean.