"crocodile blood" Is Published

"crocodile blood," a 5-7-5-7-7 tanka of mine inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson's Blue Mars, now appears in the August 2014 print edition of Scifaikuest.  The print edition of Scifaikuest is only available at albanlake.com.

In the final book of Robinson's award-winning Mars trilogy, scientist Sax Russell undergoes a genetic alteration procedure that involves introducing the code for crocodile hemoglobin into his DNA.  Crocodiles are able to tolerate levels of carbon dioxide that would be toxic in humans, and this genetic modification allows Dr. Russell to breath the terraformed Martian air, still high in carbon dioxide, without having to wear a carbon dioxide filter mask--a truly inspiring (pun intended) concept.  A review of Blue Mars may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2014/04/review-of-blue-mars-by-kim-stanley.html.