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Baby X by Rebecca Ann Smith is a work of science fiction…or is it? The story is built around the ethical and human considerations of growing a baby (embryo, then fetus) ex utero – that is, in an artificial uterus in a laboratory. Scientifically, we are almost at the point of being able to do this, so what are the concerns? The story is told in first person from different viewpoints: Alex Mansfield, the physician and scientist overseeing the entire operation, from conception to implantation to growth; Karen Frey, the woman, who for genetic reasons is unable to bear a child, and who chooses to have a donor egg fertilized by her husband’s sperm and grown ex utero; and Dolly, Samantha McFarlane, who takes the position of laboratory assistant in Dr. Mansfield’s lab and thus observes the motivations and emotions of both her supervisor and the patient. Having these three viewpoints is essential to understand the complicated motivations of each woman and added a depth to the story. What I had difficulty with was the timeline: the story jumped forward and back. I think it would have been better written in a linear fashion, since the changes in point of view, coupled with the jumps in time line, led to some initial confusion on my part. An element of surprise is given away at the very beginning – Dr. Mansfield births and kidnaps the baby boy, named Baby X, and goes on the run. This grabs the reader and the how and why of it develops through the rest of the story. I think using this as an introduction is fine, as long as the remainder of the story proceeded in a straightforward fashion. The author does a bang up job combining the science and medical ethics of the various techniques available to help childless couples, and since I myself went through a round of in vitro fertilization, I could feel Karen’s pain and sense of worthlessness. Her husband, Robert, came across as a cypher, in that he initially agreed to everything having to do with Karen’s decision to try IVG (in vitro gestation), only to reject his wife and her feelings after the event. This struck me as off, but it’s certainly the author’s choice in developing her characters! There was no discussion of adoption (something that was considered in passing later on), which is usually something childless couples discuss at the outset of their decision-making. The mystery comes with the involvement of scientist with a questionable past in Alex’s life – what is his motivation and is he trying to harm the baby? Why is Alex experiencing changes in her physiology? Through it all, we get the thoughtful observations of Dolly, who is being questioned about the process and the people involved via a Public Inquiry. Despite the furor generated by the media, she remains close to and supportive of Alex, all the while questioning the ethics and ramifications of IVG. This book explores the maternal instinct from any mangles, along with its challenges and compensation. I enjoyed it, possibly because of my scientific background and personal experiences, but also because there is good story telling here. It is leavened with the humanity and decency of the author’s consideration of the medical ethics and the readers are left to decide for themselves how they feel about the issues raised. About the author Rebecca Ann Smith writes novels for novels for adults, teenagers and children.  Her first published novel is Baby X. She is interested in creativity, feminism and social justice; she blogs mainly about her writing process, but occasionally about politics, swimming and other random stuff. She can be found on her blog: http://www.rebeccaannsmith.co.uk/ on twitter: @beckysmithhurst) and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccaannsmithauthor/?fref=nf Baby X is available on  Kindle through Mother’s Milk Publishers: http://www.mothersmilkbooks.com/index.php/shop/product/212-baby-x-by-rebecca-ann-smith And on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30823467-baby-x 0 0

As most of you know, I have made it a habit to do a shout out to new followers. I have been blessed with 30+ in the last month or so, so many that in order to do a shout out to each of them, I am instituting a post called New Followers Friday. Each Friday I will recognize six or seven people who have chosen to follow my blog…until I run out! I hope everyone will take a look at these amazing bloggers. I have, and I’ve come down with a case of blogger boggle! Hemangini blogs at My PetriDish.  This blog has book reviews and pretty darned good short stories, so check it out!  http://mypetridish.com/blog/me-before-you-by-jojo-moyes-book-review/ MeRaw   The Journey of My Left Foot (whist remembering my son) is written by a mother with malignant melanoma. She has already suffered the loss of her son to testicular cancer and writes movingly about her life.  https://alienblob.com/2016/05/18/remembering-you/ Stephen Anthony is a recent college graduate trying to build up his social presence. He is a skilled photographer – check him out at https://stevenphotos.wordpress.com/about/ Kritika Nangia at When the Pen Speaks, who is pursuing an engineering Degree from Delhi Tchnological University (formerly Delhi College of engineering) with majors in Computer Science and who likes to explore, travel, eat, meet people and write. Expand your world and go here: https://kritikanangia.wordpress.com/2016/03/06/the-dilemma/ Plaisted Publishing house for indie authors. Check it out at  https://plaistedpublishinghouse.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/scam-alert-paperbacks/ Amanda Fairchild at the Uncertain Scribe. She’s a poet, the author of short stories and thoughts on writing. https://theuncertainscribe.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/a-forbidden-mothers-day-poem/ Adam Harkus, a musician! His blog contains music, written and performed by him. To treat your ears, find him athttps://adamharkusblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/30/sitting-here-at-home/ 0 0

How could I resist reading a sci-fi book which has a blurb saying, “Parts of the world are disappearing…”? The premise is exciting: bits of our world are just gone – a part of a beach, a swath of African savannah, a wall in the Grand Canyon. The well-drawn characters who discover these phenomena are compelling, and the descriptive talent of the author is truly awesome – beautiful, colorful, lyrical. Eventually news of these individual events makes its way via circuitous and political avenues to the United Nations, where the allocation of money which can be diverted to investigate the phenomenon gets the ball rolling. Simple, yes? Hardly. This book is packed with expositions on fractal geometry, quantum physics, philosophy, civic and corporate politics, psychology, religion – all wonderfully written but heavy on minutiae. In many ways, it reminded me of Umberto Eco’s In the Name of the Rose. I think the book will appeal to people whose roots lie in these various disciplines, but I freely admit that much of the physics and math lost me, and there were parts where I turned the pages to get back to the story line. At least I understand Shrodinger’s cat and the Heisenberg Principle! The protagonist is a young woman, Susan Corporell, who works for the UN in Africa, fighting a losing battle with local government to provide donated food to starving populations. She sees one of the first manifestations of the phenomenon and it is she who finds a physicist and mathematician, David Altaforce, with the drive and supreme intelligence to try to determine the cause of the “disappearances.” The great mystery is not only who is behind them, but how it’s being done, and the solution will boggle you. The plot is wonderful, with lots of twists and turns, and the characters are colorful and three dimensional. Herzog is a truly gifted writer, and this book will appeal to readers who are looking for a dense, intelligent story packed with musings and observations on far more than just the story line. About the author: Robert Herzog was an entrepreneur in the worlds of energy, environment, digital media, the internet and health care for over thirty years, while keeping alive his writing hopes. He’s had stories and poems published in Solstice Literary Magazine, Toasted Cheese, Downstate Story Magazine, Straylight Literary Arts Magazine, and South Jersey Underground, and made an award-winning short film, “Flights.” He was a physics major until he read Nietzsche, a political philosopher who became an entrepreneur engaged with the great issues of his time, from energy and the environment to technology and health care, and this translates into his first book. He has also climbed another height, Mt. Kilimanjaro. This book is the culmination of decades of dreams. You can find the author at:    http://www.robertmherzog.com/ and http://thezog.com/ on twitter @HerzogIND and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertmherzogauthor/?fref=nf 0 0

We arrived home yesterday afternoon, just in advance of some mighty thunderstorms that rolled through all last night. While we were gone, other storms took down a huge loblolly pine which fell across our driveway. We had to arrange for its removal to an area out of the way from Maine. We had a grand time, eating lobster and more lobster, whole body clams, scallops, mussels, Atlantic halibut and more lobster. Oh, and those delicious little wild Maine blueberries in scones, waffles, pie and crisp. We had to bring back some jam. The views in the evenings while dining were wonderful.                 While I was there I popped into an antique shop and discovered a Staffordshire ware plate that spoke to me because it depicts the courtship of Priscilla Mullins by John Alden (both origine Mayflower passengers) as immortalized by Longfellow. WWL imagined a triangular courtship with Myles Standish asking Alden to speak for him to gain Priscilla’s hand. All fabricated of course – there is no record of this happening – but it makes for a good story. I enlarged the back photo so you could see the plate had been for Smith’s store in Plymouth (I wonder how it got to Maine?) in 1957. Smith’s was an upper end gift store my family used to patronize for wedding gifts and oogling, but  it’s been closed for probably 30 years. My book signings went well – sold out the first and most of the third books in Boothbay and Camden – and I plan to return to Damariscotta in October for their Pumpkin Fest to sell more of Death by Pumpkin, since one of the festival events inspired the book. I visited the Boothbay Brewery for an incredible lobster roll and slaw made from vegetables (including kale) grown on the brewery’s farm and sampled their beers. The brewery might be featured in my next book – it even has a friendly ghost. All in all an pretty fun time, but then I always have a good time in Maine.   0 0

I’m on vacation, as you all know, but couldn’t miss re-posting this from Terry Tyler. As the author of a just published new book, I support this most whole-heartedly. ******* On Monday 25th July, book blogger Rosie Amber wrote this post encouraging readers and writers alike to post a short review on Amazon for any book they’ve read and enjoyed. The idea is that, from August 1st, everyone who reads this uses their Amazon account to post just one review on one book that they’ve read (but feel free to carry on if you get in the swing!).  You don’t even have to have read it recently, it can be any book you’ve read, any time.  The book does not have to have been purchased from Amazon, though if it is you get the ‘Verified Purchase’ tag on it; however, if you download all your books via Kindle Unlimited, as many do these days, they don’t show the VP tag, anyway. Remember, this isn’t the Times Literary Supplement, it’s Amazon, where ordinary people go to choose their next £1.99 Kindle book.  No one expects you to write a thousand word, in-depth critique; I don’t know about you, but I’m more likely to read one short paragraph or a couple of lines saying what an average reader thought of a book, than a long-winded essay about the pros and cons of the various literary techniques used.  Yes, those are welcome too (!), but no more so than a few words saying “I loved this book, I was up reading it until 3am”, or “I loved Jim and Vivien and the dialogue was so realistic”, or whatever! Why should you write a review? They help book buyers make decisions.  Don’t you read the reviews on Trip Advisor before deciding on a hotel, or any site from which you might buy an item for practical use?  Book reviews are no different. If the book is by a self-published author, or published by an independent press, the writers have to do all their promotion and marketing themselves ~ reviews from the reading public is their one free helping hand. The amount of reviews on Amazon helps a book’s visibility (allegedly).  If you love a writer’s work and want others to do so, too, this is the best possible way of making this happen. It’s your good deed for the day, and will only take five minutes! Off we go, then!  A few more pointers: If you need any help with writing your review, do click on Rosie’s post, above. A review can be as short as one word.  The shortest one I have is just two 🙂 You don’t have to put your name to the review, as your Amazon ‘handle’ can be anything you like. No writer expects all their reviews to be 5* and say the book is the best thing ever written; there is a star rating guide on Rosie’s post. Would you like to tell the Twittersphere about your review?  If so, tweet the link to it with the hashtag #AugustReviews ~ and thank you!  I will do one blog post a week featuring these links: The #AugustReviews Hall of Fame (thank you, Barb!). If you have a blog and would like to spread the word about #AugustReviews, please feel free to copy and paste this blog post, provide the link to it, re-blog it, or whatever ~ many thanks, and I hope you will join in to make this idea a success 🙂 THANK YOU! 0 0

We’ve been in Maine for several days now, weather warm and blue skies. I have personally eat my way through lobster, clams, mussels, scallops, and Atlantic halibut. I discovered a wonderful dish called nage, which is pieces of lobster, scallops, mussels and shrimp cooked in an aromatic court bouillon. This is the view from the deck where we had this spectacular dish.           I’ve chatted my way through two book signings, one more to come on Saturday and sold out at one store! We plan to come back at the beginning of October to sell my latest, Death by Pumpkin, at the annual Damariscotta Pumpkin Fest and do a reading at a local library. Everyone has commented positively on the cover, so huge thanks to everyone who helped me choose it!   0 0

I’m off to Plymouth MA for a high school reunion and some research on Thursday and then on to Maine the following week, hopefully to sell some books and definitely to eat lobster!  So I will only be checking everyone’s blogs occasionally.  Will have a book review or two to fill in… Seafood, ho! 0 0

Death By Pumpkin will be available on Kindle on July 19th! The band is playing and you can pre-order a copy while tapping your feet to the music. HUGE thanks to everyone who made this possible. 0 0

I could mean a hard tack on my sail boat, but actually I want to introduce you to the hard tack the Pilgrims ate as one of their staples during their 66 day voyage on the Mayflower. As many of you know, I am writing  a historical novel about one Pilgrim in particular, and as a treat (?) for one of my critique groups reviewing the early chapters, I made some for them to try. Hard tack is is a simple type of biscuit or cracker (my friends who tried it said it tasted like a Saltine), made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. In the absence of perishable food, it’s a cheap and long-lasting source of sustenance, commonly used during long sea voyages, land migrations or military maneuvers. It derives from the slang word for food used by British sailors: tack. Synonyms are cabin bread, pilot bread, sea biscuit, sea bread, ship’s biscuit, or ship biscuit, and it has also been sarcastically called dog biscuits, molar breakers, sheet iron, tooth dullers and worm castles. It is baked HARD, and can keep for years if kept dry. For example, during our Civil War, hardtack shipped to Union and Confederate storehouses had been made and stored during the 1846–48 Mexican-American War. For long voyages, hardtack was baked four times, rather than the more common two (as in the recipe I will provide), and was usually made months before it was needed. Hard tack is softened by dunking it in brine, coffee, or any liquid of choice. Soldiers during the Civil War would often get hard tack with insect infestation, usually of weevils. They would crumble it into their coffee, the insects would float to the top, where they could be skimmed off, and the coffee plus sodden hard tack then eaten. Here is my hard tack recipe, made in the traditional way without sugar, butter, and milk. Ingredients: 3 cups of white flour 2 tsp salt 1 cup of water Instructions: Preheat oven to 375o. Gradually mix in the water until a dough is formed that doesn’t stick to your hands. One cup is just about right. Roll out the dough into a square no more than 0.5 inches thick Cut the dough into 9 squares. Using a nail, make a 4 x 4 grid of holes deep into the dough in each of the squares. Put the squares individually on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 30 min. Turn the squares over and bake for another 30 min. Allow the squares to cool thoroughly before attempting to eat! My group found this hard tack interesting, and two of them asked for the recipe. One wants it for her diet and the other wants to make it for cruises on his sailboat. Go figure! 0 0