Excellent story set in the same universe as Wind-up Girl. This one documents the adventures of an immigrant working in the heartland of the gen tech companies. ( )

Another glimpse at the world that spawned [b:The Windup Girl|6597651|The Windup Girl|Paolo Bacigalupi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1278940608s/6597651.jpg|6791425]. The world-building is top-notch. This could have been a longer piece but needed a more sympathetic character than the antiques dealer, like say, a windup girl. Nightshade has this story posted on its site, at this link. ( )

Windup as in Clockwork?

AgriGen and Co....Monsanto?

I liked the ideas, the setting. I just had a hard time with the prose - I couldn't sink into it. A reflection on the reader, and not on the writer.

In the near future, after the 'Expansion' (our world) has collapsed and the 'Contraction' (very nasty) is over, food and energy problems have been solved by redesigning technology around simple mechanisms (like springs) and growing a few gene-engineered crops that supply both food and energy. 'Calorie men' deal in these crops but the gene patents for them are privately held. One calorie man embarks upon a mission to end these monopolies. A chilling dystopian vision of a low tech, green future. ( )

Espionage in a future America where most energy comes from genetically engineered plants and animals. ( )