Nancy Kress is unrivaled in her treatment of genetic engineering. In 1991 she wrote the ground-breaking classic novella Beggars in Spain (Hugo/Nebula) and since then has only enhanced her outstanding reputation of telling stories set in the near-future and dealing with genetics. ***

This collection brings together six of these stories written between 1984 and 2008, including The Flowers of Aulit Prison which won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short story.