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Fiction. Multimedia. Art+Design by Stephen Farrell. This special, limited edition is a must-have for book collectors. The original, groundbreaking novel of identity in the biotech age comes in a clear, polystyrene slipcase reminiscent of the lab. The custom slipcase also holds the voice of the book: an audio CD of readings especially created for this edition and set to music by Alloy Orchestra, renowned creator of contemporary scores for silent movies. Additional music and performances by Paul Johnson, Maria Tomasula, Chris Jara, and Scott Appleby. Scroll down for a look inside this hybrid image-text novel, and sample sound clips from the CD. Up until now, everyone alive on earth was bound to one another through African Eve, our last common ancestor: a woman who, 5,000 generations ago, passed her genes and language to sons and daughters who did the same as they gradually populated the world. Today, however, Square, Circle and the other inhabitants of Flatland have the opportunity to step outside this lineage. To rearrange the bodies of animals, plants, and even themselves. VAS: AN OPERA IN FLATLAND is the story of Square's decision to undergo an operation that will leave him sterile for the good of his wife, Circle, for the good of their daughter, Oval, and for the good of society, including the unborn descendants he will never have. VAS is, in other words, the story of finding one's identity within the double-helix of language and lineage-and Square's struggle to see beyond the common pages of ordinary, daily life upon which he is drawn.