Ah, who knew genetic slicing could be so fun? Perhaps, for example, the artist Alexis Rockman, whose nouveau-dioramas depict pernicious acts of cross-breeding and super-engineered sports stars.

So, what happens when the Adam of the future cuts out the middleman (aka God) and creates his own helpmate and romantic interest, Eve, through genetic re-engineering?

Eve: The Novel by Aurelio O'Brien is no slickly-oiled vision of the future, but a throw-back to the monster truck playing cards of the '70s: walking eyeballs, multi-headed deer, a stink-on-demand skunk, and a real, live beetle car.

The characters in the novel are described as "the same ones who use supercomputers to make cartoons, Hummers as commuter cars and think actors should lead governments; who are simultaneously clever and idiotic, charming and vulgar, childlike and childish."

O'Brien's promo site, www.evethenovel.com, is one of the best use of Flash-as-teaser I've ever seen.

From Lee Potts' blog, The Eyes Have It:

In order to promote his book, Eve: The Novel, Aurelio O'Brien created a number of bizarre animations illustrating some of the more mind-blowing (and humorous) possibilities of genetic manipulation in the forth millennium. It looks like a good story but I can't be the only one who finds that sink animation seriously disturbing.

From the author's description of the novel:

The time is the fourth millennium. The storyteller is a robot, Pentser, a lone relic of times lost, a museum piece of electronic memorabilia, an automated antiquarian of long forgotten information and, in his own humble opinion, mankind's most perfect creation. The premise is simple: what if you created your perfect mate?
Pentser's user, a 600-year-old-but-doesn't-look-a-day-over-twenty man, Govil, is unhappy. Although he--and everyone else on Earth--lives in a luxurious, genetically designed paradise of eternal health and ceaseless pampering, Govil wants something more. He doesn't know what it is, but he wants it anyway.