Nightmare in Silicon

Book excerpt: Fiction. "A toxic-shock torrent of bad energy and beautiful language, Colette Phair's 'Nightmare in Silicon' is recklessly brave and driven writing, brimming with fluorescent style and startling ideas. Here is a strong new voice that demands and deserves to be listened to" - Alan Moore. Getting medical tests performed on her to pay the rent, staying up all night with her scarred and strange friends, sharing beds with her boyfriend and whoever else comes along, Ymo's is a world so infused with sex that it's become an identity. Ymo is a woman. That is, until diagnosis with a life-threatening illness leaves her no chance of survival, except in the gender-neutral body of a robot. What follows is her struggle to stay human while existing as a sexless object. Ymo's final role as guinea pig will be to answer the question, "What if people didn't dream?"