Vital: The Future of Healthcare is an anthology of short stories. Vital has already gathered stories from leading futurist writers, weaving together disparate visions of what comes next in health and health science. Our visions of the future -- whether dark or hopeful, thrilling or mundane -- have always challenged us to examine our world. What challenges will we face? Vital: The Future of Healthcare aims to explore these questions as they relate to humanity's physical and mental well-being.

Science fiction is full of grand visions of humanity launching colony ship fleets to settle alien worlds. It is, but sci-fi author James Patrick Kelly wants to know who would be paying for all those ambitious colonization missions. "It's a truism that the field doesn't acknowledge that very few, if any, science fiction writers have any idea of economics," Kelly says in Episode 264 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. In Kelly's new novel Mother Go, opposition to a colony ship steadily mounts as the launch date approaches because a vocal'Earth First' faction doesn't want to see so much technology and talent depart the planet forever. Kelly thinks that's an all-too-plausible scenario.