A Couple Of Reviews

My first novel, Shifted, has gotten two reviews in recent weeks.

The first comes from Dianne Salerni, author of the novel High Spirits, who reviews at Podbram, a tidy operation run by retired financier and author Floyd Orr.

Among other praise, Ms. Salerni wrote this in her five-star review:

"Shifted is well-written and carefully edited, as well as craftily plotted to build suspense. Jones reels out the information carefully over time, revealing just enough to keep the reader understanding events but not enough to give away what’s coming next. Characters are well-rounded, and dialogue is highly believable. The scientific basis for Jones’s version of lycanthropy makes sense and is presented without resort to awkward exposition or phony conversation."

The other review comes from "Mrs. Giggles", who mostly reviews romance novels at her (his?) site, mrsgiggles dot com. Her take on Shifted includes the following bit:

"This is a pretty interesting read since Mr Jones attempts to portray lycanthropy in a way that is different from the usual full moon and silver bullet manner. However, the story is riddled with various small technical flaws that, unfortunately, do add up to present a significant distraction from the story itself. Characters tend to tell each other things that they should already know in unnecessary scenes clearly inserted for the sake of the reader. The author sometimes get carried away in describing minute details that turn out in the end to be unimportant, slowing down the momentum of his story in the process. The characters tend to be rather flat and uninteresting."

Despite these reservations, Mrs. Giggles gives Shifted a 76 ... not bad considering Mrs. Giggles has a reputation for pulling no punches and who, looking at several of her other recent reviews, gives an average rating of around 50.

So, thanks to both Ms. Salerni and "Mrs. Giggles"; I very much appreciate your both taking the time not only to read my book, but to comment on what you liked or disliked about it. Rock on, ladies.

Update on Bloodsucking Pests

I recently posted about a plan, sponsored by Bill Gates, to render mosquitos unable to produce offspring by tampering with their genes. The goal of this, of course, is to reduce mosquito populations, and the dread diseases they carry. Environmental activists, who sit in offices on the East Coast, and who have probably never saw a mosquito, think we ought not fiddle with Mother Nature.

A day or two after I posted that item, I got a call from my sister: seems my brother-in-law had collapsed, possibly with a heart attack, and had been rushed to the emergency room. The good news is: apart from some problems with rhythm, his heart is fine - no heart attack. The bad news is: Lyme Disease.

My brother-in-law is a retired mechanic who still farms and operates a sawmill. This year, the old sawmill has been getting quite a workout as my bro-in-law has been working to clear a section of bottom land. Strenuous work, but he's used to that.

Working in the woods and fields, of course, he gets bit by ticks fairly regularly. He uses repellant, but it sweats off and - honestly - some ticks seem immune to even the most potent bug juice. So now he's in Intensive Care, sick as all get-out, racking up a helluva bill because some nasty little varmint that's almost too small to see decided to make a meal of him.

Yesterday, after his mind cleared a little, I told him we were going to have to keep him out the woods for a while, find something indoors for him to do. He gazed at me with rheumy eyes and, through an oxygen mask, told me, "I used to mow that field where I think I got bit at. As soon as I get out of here, I'm gonna burn it off - every last square inch of it."

I offered to bring some kerosene to get it started good.

Man, I hate bloodsucking insects.

An Arm And A Leg

Cell biologists studying salamanders at the Max Planck institute seem to have finally unravelled exactly how salamanders regrow lost limbs. It seems that a clump of cells called a blastema forms at the end of the stump. Previously, it was believed that cells attaching to the blastema become de-differentiated or "pluripotent"; that is, they are able to become any other type of tissue - bones, muscles or nerves for example.

The big news here is that researchers had previously hypothesized that the cells had to be reworked to an embryonic state to become become capable of regeneration. Studies of salamanders, however, shows the cells only regress a few generations when regenerating lost limbs. What this means is that, if the process can be duplicated in mammals - like us - a complete overhaul of the cells isn't required, just a fairly gentle regression.

There is a downside: regressing cells by a few iterations tends to induce out-of-control growth, otherwise known as cancer.

Of course, the big upside is that if the process can be understood better, it opens the possibility of treatment for people who've lost limbs, perhaps even organs, to disease or trauma.

A contest seems to exist between researchers, scientists and engineers seeking to repair damaged bodies through cellular alchemy such as this, and those persuing repairs by means of prosthetics or artificial appliances. Here, competition is a good thing; the more sick and injured people can benefit from this arms (and legs) race, the better. But I have to give the edge to the cellular biologists. Artificial legs with built-in radar, so as to scan and mirror movements of the opposing limb, with advanced onboard AI systems give users a great degree of freedom ... and are very cool pieces of engineering. But they're not alive. You can't feel them as you would an actual body part, they can't heal themselves if scratched, and the batteries inevitably run down. Such is not the case with regenerated limbs or body parts made of actual living tissue.

And forget Frankensteinian transplants of body parts. I read recently where a woman who'd received a shotgun blast to the face from a deranged "significant other" was given a face transplant. But she still can't see, and she'll be on meds the rest of her life to supress her immune system so that her body doesn't reject the new tissue. Better if we had a way of regenerating her original face.

Such a thing may not be far away. We've gotten to where we can read the genetic code. Now if we can only learn to write it as well.