INTRODUCTION

Back in 1981, Alan Ryan was editing Perpetual Light, an anthology for Warner Books composed of stories about the religious experience. Over the years, Alan and I had compared our Jesuit educations—I'm a graduate of Xavier in Manhattan (yes ... I was a Subway Commando) and Georgetown—and he thought I'd be an apt contributor.

The Jesuits taught us to think, to question, never to take anything purely at face value. One result of all that thinking and questioning, at least for me, was an awareness of the negative effects of most religious movements.

I used a variation of the BioCog unit as far back as Healer in the mid-seventies. The concept became a staple of cyberfiction.

"Be Fruitful" was the first story completed on my then brand-new Apple II+ using Applewriter I, a word processor that seems Paleolithic now, but was downright miraculous then. The story itself seems to get more timely with each passing year. The Procreationists could be just around the next political corner.

Watch out for them.