Author Kira Peikoff Explores The World Of Fertility In New Dystopian Novel "Baby X"

B+C: You set "Baby X" in a world that's moved past the pandemic and influencer age. What about these things stood out to you and serve as inspiration for the book? 

Kira Peikoff: It's backstory in my book starts about 30 years from our present day so some of my characters were kids in today's world who were growing up amidst the chaos of the pandemic and our politics. This moment in time culturally shaped my characters because they are probably more prone to rebel against the status quo, cultural norms, and conventions that that pandemic has thrown into disarray.

B+C: When you were writing "Baby X," did you know that you wanted to have chapters where the characters gave their own POVs?

Kira Peikoff: I'm someone who extensively plots my work before I even write the first page and in this case, I think I spend about two to three months just thinking about the characters and what kind of stories they were in the middle of in their own lives. Basically I knew exactly what the answers were by the time I sat down writing .

B+C: We're in this digital world where we're seeing the shuttering of publications that have been around for a long time and we have a character who's excited to have this opportunity to work somewhere that reminds her of the traditional way of writing. Do you feel like her feelings were displaced when she meets someone else who has a similar opportunity?

Kira Peikoff: Yeah, I think her feelings of insecurity are warranted even though she has a lot to offer. I tried to show that she was very motivated, hardworking, and bright, and has gotten herself into an amazing fellowship at a very prestigious outlet that's a combination of The New Yorker and Wired. They cover highbrow topics from a technological perspective.

So, this character gets this fellowship and she's paired with another postgraduate fellow who was a selected embryo and this other fellow is extremely talented in ways that makes her feel inadequate. Over time, this character learns that your predispositions are what you make of them.

Your own energy, drive, passions, creativity, and what you bring to the table matters more than your scores as an embryo. That's the message I really want to get out there and hopefully comes across by the end of the book.

B+C: We're living in unprecedented times where things like IVF are now in limbo because of recent rulings and there's a little fear that this choice can be taken away from parents. If given the chance, do you think parents would choose their children's genetics in the future? 

Kira Peikoff: I think there's a lot going on to unpack. These types of politics that we're seeing in Alabama and other states absolutely jeopardize and imperil the technologies that could actually help parents in the future to have healthier children or have more freedom in terms of who can procreate. The technology in my book has already been shown to work in mice.

But, it would absolutely be impossible if the prevailing politics take over. That's certainly an issue to be wary about. However, I think there will be a demand for parents to select embryos with certain genetics. We already see the competitive impulses parents have on getting their kids into good colleges.

B+C: Women are often told their biological clock is ticking, but that language is nonexistent in "Baby X." Was that intentional? 

Kira Peikoff: Absolutely. I think part of the huge benefits of the technology — and of course there's risk associated with it — are that age doesn't matter anymore and you don't have to rely on your supply of eggs that you were born with as an infant. [In the book] all you have to do to reproduce is to give a swab of your cells and a lab would turn your cells from inside of your cheek into eggs or sperm.

You still have to carry the baby yourself or have a surrogate, but hormone support and drugs would make it possibly to carry later in life. We're seeing that age 35 is not a sharp cut off for pregnancy today. Instead it's a slow curve that decreases over time.