The novella began as a story treatment for a proposed film adaptation of Alan E. Nourse''s novel The Bladerunner. A later edition published in the 1980s changed the formatting of the title to Blade Runner, a movie. Burroughs'' treatment is set in the early 21st century and involves mutated viruses and ''a medical-care apocalypse''. The term ''blade runner'' referred to a smuggler of medical supplies, e.g. scalpels.