Would you change the colour of your skin?

During a discussion with another author on skin colour, she happened to mention the blue people of Kentucky to me. I'd never heard of them before, so I rushed to Wikipedia to look them up. And there they were! Seriously, this isn't a joke.

They suffer from a rare genetically inherited condition called Methemoglobinemia characterized by a higher percentage of methemoglobin in the blood - an oxidised form of hemoglobin - causing tissue hypoxia. Basically, less oxygen gets to the tissues so they turn blue, just as you would if you were suffocating. Certain drugs can also cause 'acquired methemoglobinemia', and the classic 'blue-baby' syndrome is caused by nitrates ingested in tap water.

Argyria sufferers - taken from Wikipedia

There's also a condition called Argyria caused by excessive exposure to silver, which affects humans and animals as silver is accumulated in the body over time. Because of the low toxicity of silver and its related compounds, the condition is considered 'cosmetically undesirable' rather than medically threatening. With my hero in Keir being blue-skinned, the whole subject fascinated me. The idea of him being blue came from the alien entity in his ancestry, but now it seemed the idea of blue skin wasn't such an alien one. It happens!

But blue skin isn't the only odd colour change for humans. Carotenosis is a more common one - or one perhaps more well-known - where the excessive intake of carrots (or other vegetables containing the pigment carotene) turns the skin orange. It occurs most often in vegetarians and younger children, and is more noticeable in those with fair skin. It's a benign condition but one likely to draw attention!

Carotenoderma of the nose - taken from Wikipedia

Of course, you can brown your skin by tanning in the sun, or by using spray tans. Unless, like me, you're white-skinned and redhaired, burning at the mere touch of a summer sunbeam. But scientists are now looking at the possibility of taking a pill or smearing on a cream to naturally turn your skin darker, or even lighter if you wish it. Skin, hair and eye colour are mostly determined by the pigment melanin. Scientists have been working on a way to chemically stimulate melanin production in the skin of mice to give them natural protection from the sun. The same technique could also be used to lighten skin, and potentially hair and eye colour. All with far less mess than using dyes. Perhaps in the future we might even see a pill that could turn your brown eyes blue. :-P

Or maybe we'll find a way to transplant the chromatophores that allow chameleons to change their colour into our own skins, changing it at will or to match our mood. Would you like the ability to change your appearance with a thought? Or might it lead to public embarrassment if the colour change revealed your secret feelings for someone in public? No more guessing if that man across the room is giving you the eye or has noticed that your skirt is tucked in your knickers. Passion and hate shown by a single, simple colour change.



And if we could change the colour of our skin to show our true feelings, would we give up wearing clothing? Who needs that little black dress when we can change our skin to every colour of the rainbow. How might our language change? Would we give up speech and communicate in colour?

So what colour would you like to be today?

Wild Hogs Memorial Day

MISSION SUCCESS
Laurie's Journal

On the writing front, I had a bit of "home work" to do over the holiday weekend including a few tweaks to a couple of scenes in my first novel...and *drum roll* christening it with a new title!

I'm not going to share what that new title is just yet--I've learned the value of suspense--but watch for a future post on that subject. In the meantime, it shall be known as:

The Novel Formerly Known as P2PC

(tee hee)

My next task is to get back to work on The Outer Planets. I've set a goal of RWA Nationals for the completing the final rub out, polish, and shine. *rolls up sleeves*

Wax on, wax off.

Memorial Day Outing

I'm very lucky to live in an area that's known for being the setting of Hollywood westerns and aging biker flicks. For Memorial Day, David and I made the short drive to Madrid (MAD-rid), New Mexico to enjoy the rustic charm of the mining-community-turned-artist-colony and Harley Club destination.

Madrid gained a bit of fame (and a lot of sprucing up) as the main set for the movie Wild Hogs, but it was already a died-in-the-wool Biker Central long before the movie was filmed. The narrow tree-lined main road, quaint artists shops, Mineshaft Tavern and quirky eateries make for quite a draw.

We enjoyed people-watching, motorcycle-admiring and truly spectacular weather from our restaurant patio table over a scrumptious fish and chips lunch. Ahhh, summer!

Here's a few photos from our day.

From the patio at The Holar Restaurant 

overlooking the Mineshaft Tavern deck.

(Visits from local dogs provided at no extra charge.)

A purdy yeller trike that caught my eye,

parked at the Mineshaft Tavern.

The famous/infamous Mineshaft Tavern

Mug Shot! On the deck at the original soda fountain shop.

(This is the look you get when you snap a Candid Camera on me. heh)

Of course, Memorial Day is all about remembering those who sacrificed so much for our country and our way of life. If you have a minute, please check out the video David put together from recent pics of some of the monuments and memorials in DC and posted on Facebook. I think he did an excellent job. What do you think?

In Remembrance - Memorial Day 2012

~~ * ~~

SUZANNE BROCKMANN'S NEW SFR: GENIUS AT WORK

Occasionally you pick up a book and you know you’re in the presence of genius.

It’s like stepping onto a train and being instantly, soundlessly whisked away from the platform. Within seconds, the landscape changes outside the train’s windows and before you take your next breath you’re in a new world, filled with fascinating people. That train just keeps speeding along, and it seems like you never want the ride to end. But, inevitably, you reach your destination, the doors open and you step back onto the platform in your own world again. Wide awake now. Smarter, or better or at least happier.

I could have predicted that kind of reading experience from romantic suspense writer Suzanne Brockmann. The prolific author of over 50 books, including the popular Tall, Dark and Dangerous series (originally for Harlequin Silhouette, now out in HQN) and the Troubleshooters series, both featuring U.S. Navy SEALs as heroes, has a huge, devoted following. She’s a regular on both the USA TODAY and NEW YORK TIMES bestseller lists. She’s won two RITA awards and RWA’s “favorite book of the year” three years running. Paranormal superstar J.R.Ward considers her a mentor, as do the many writers who have benefited from her workshops and classes. What’s not to like?

Well, um, Navy SEALs? I’m not a huge fan of military anything—science fiction, thrillers, or suspense. (And before you start—Classic TREK was not military SF, despite the ranks and discipline of Starfleet.) I like to see things blow up as much as the next geek, though, so I will make exceptions. Military guys are just not my preferred romantic heroes—too many strong, silent, military types in my own family—so for a long time I thought Suzanne Brockmann might not be my cup of tea.

Still, when I heard that she had started a new series set in the future, that she’d started what was, in essence, a science fiction romance series, I just had to read it. The book is Born to Darkness, the first in her Fighting Destiny series, about an organization of people with enhanced psy skills fighting a war against kidnapping and drugs in a world on the edge of full economic collapse. And Oh. My. God.

Genius.

Okay, the science is not overwhelming. Our heroes’ psy skills are enhanced because they are already capable of using a greater proportion of their brain power than the rest of us. Computers have identified them among the population and brought them into the organization for systematic training. (The drug they are fighting does the same thing chemically, but has the nasty side effect of making people psychotic.) Nothing really new here. Just a few twists.

But the writing skills! Within seconds of meeting any character on the page, we know the essentials about him or her. We know that Michelle “Mac” MacKenzie is smart, but insecure, tough, but vulnerable, not because of any info-dumping, but because of some subtle magic of integrative story-telling. We know that ex-SEAL Shane Laughlin may feel guilty over what happened on his last mission, but he’s the last guy to ever have done anything wrong, not because Suzanne tells us the whole story, but because somehow she shows us who Shane is by how he acts.

Such a contrast to some of the more recent SFR reads I’ve experienced, in which the story drags on and on while I wait for some clue as to who the main character is—what made her like this? What is his problem? Why are they acting the way they are?

Everything works together seamlessly in this book to reinforce the characters’ goals, motivation and conflict. For example, Suzanne could have given Mac any kind of psy skills—telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, the ability to read objects—but she gave her heightened empathy (the ability to read emotions, even past emotions) and the ability to change her appearance. Part of the consequence of the combination of these skills is that Mac can make herself super-attractive to others on demand. So when she and Shane hook up for a mind-blowing one-night stand, Mac refuses to trust Shane’s attraction to her. She thinks he’s responding to her unconscious manipulation of him, which just feeds her self-loathing.

And his reaction? He’s a SEAL (forget the ex-, that doesn’t even count). What do you think? Yep. Just makes him that more determined.

More complications ensue when he’s recruited as a trainee for the same organization she not only works for, but is second-in-command for. Her vow to never see him again gets shot to hell when it’s discovered he’s nothing special in the psy department, but he has the ability to boost her powers just by being in the same room. Add sex and the numbers go through the roof. Awkward!

All this plays out against a suspense plot of the first caliber, set in a near-future world that is chillingly believable. The secondary characters, including gay lovers Elliot and Stephen, all have stories of their own and are as lovingly drawn as Mac and Shane, promising a rich and diverse series ahead.

As yet another major author enters the SFR field (and Sherrilyn Kenyon hits the bestseller list with Born of Silence, the latest in her League series), we can only hope this augurs a trend. Are you listening, New York?

Cheers, Donna

A NEW AUDIENCE FOR NAUGHTY

Recently my blog partner Laurie sent me a link to a YouTube® video parody of E.L. James’s breakout novel trilogy 50 Shades of Grey. I haven’t read the books, but who hasn’t heard the buzz, and the parody was hilarious. I would share the video with you all here, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate for a general audience.

The point is that the books have become such a phenomenon that even a determined effort to ignore them will be wasted. So, let’s discuss. How is it that something like this can happen?

Those of us who aspire to be professional authors slave over our computers for years, tweaking every word, seeking just the right formula of character and plot that will catch the agent’s eye or the editor’s ear. For us progress is glacial, though we occasionally have a little melt that carries us a few feet in a good day or a mile in a huge jolting leap forward.

But here’s this piece of hastily re-written fan fiction (yes, this was originally posted to a Twilight fanfic site) that somehow goes viral, snags the attention of the Powers That Be in New York and its unknown, (apparently) unskilled author wins the publishing lottery.

Is it that the ideas expressed in the work are new, or done differently somehow? Okay, I haven’t read the books, but from all accounts the answer is no. Nothing about the story of a young “innocent” woman in New York City having sexual adventures with a rich, sexually sophisticated/demanding man is new. The book is erotica, plain and simple. Our own Friend of Spacefreighters, Barbara Elsborg, writes in that genre and does an excellent job of it, thank you very much. And she’s not the only one (she’s just one of the best).

What E.L.James and her handlers managed to do was find a new audience for something that has been around for quite some time. For the crowd that is swooning over 50 Shades of Grey, erotica truly is a new thing. These are grown women who love Twilight, even though it is aimed at a much younger audience. Twilight deliberately avoids sex, for appropriate reasons. Twelve-year-olds shouldn’t be having any.

Romance novels aimed at adult audiences, especially paranormals featuring vampires, do anything BUT avoid sex. Christine Feehan, who along with Sherrilyn Kenyon started the whole paranormal phenomenon, writes some of the hottest vampire novels around in her Carpathian series. For readers of her books, well-written erotica is hardly shocking. It’s expected.

But for the mommies who were reading their daughters’ Twilight books, not so. When they got wind of this new thing, they suddenly discovered they were adults. Now they can’t seem to get enough. It’s a “mommie porn” stampede, worthy of laughs on Saturday Night Live.

The one good thing that could come out of this is that the competent writers of elegant erotica (like Barbara) and better paranormal romance (like Christine) should benefit from the expanded audience of enlightened readers. I’ve been telling everyone who brings up 50 Shades of Grey with me about Barbara and her books and sending them to Amazon to buy them. (Barbara—if you have business cards, send me a bunch.)

Meanwhile, E.L. James is getting paid, and as my friend Linda says, I ain’t mad at her. She got lucky—proof that the lottery does have winners. The rest of us keep buying our tickets and hoping our numbers come up.

Donna’s Journal

Action

The partial I sent out a while back yielded a request for a full from a major agent this week—for both my novels! The same day I got another request for fulls for both novels from another well-known agent based on a query-plus-five pages. Woo-hoo! Now my fingernails are being bitten down to the quick while I wait for their responses. Fingers and toes crossed, y’all!


Ping Pong

Huge congratulations to Laurie on signing with her agent last week! We are indeed building some momentum around here.

Cheers,
Donna