Visit to the dentist inspires new novel

What would you do if you could hire a flesh and blood clone of your favourite celebrity?

Who would you choose to clone? How much would you be prepared to pay?

Werribee author Barbara Goulter tackles these issues in her latest novel, 2040 – Seeing Double.

Ms Goulter said inspiration for the futuristic novel struck when she read an article on cloning in an old National Geographic magazine in a dentist’s waiting room.

“What if they could have done that back in Marilyn’s and Elvis’s day? Future possibilities then flooded my mind, and I started writing that very night.

“Even as I wrote, I was seeing and hearing it as a movie.

“The emphasis, for me, was not so much on the technology as on human reaction to the technology.

“I hope the readers will come away with a better sense of the dangers we run when we embrace technology with no concern for unintended consequences.”

Ms Goulter was born in the smallest US state, Rhode Island, but spent most of her life in San Francisco before moving to Werribee in 1999 with her Australian husband.

She spent 20 years teaching English at Foothill College and the University of San Francisco, working in journalism and media, and writing and publishing several fiction and non-fiction books.

Ms Goulter will host a book launch for 2040 – Seeing Double at 1pm, January 24, at 4 Barber Drive, Hoppers Crossing.