The LadyKillers

What and What?? Let's talk about Genetic Dark Matter instead

Ann Parker here, settling into Saturday as Staci McLaughlin moves into Thursday. According to the old nursery rhyme, "Saturday's child works hard for a living." Well, that's the truth. But I love my work, much of which encompasses science writing. So, I'm going "off topic" today. (If you want sex and violence, or sex OR violence, check out posts by LadyKillers Rita, Staci, Camille, and Priscilla.) Rather, like Mary Anna, I'm striking out on something different...

Instead, I'd like to draw your attention to the very recent announcement in the New York Times of the discovery of "genetic dark matter."

You see, for decades, scientists have been working on unravelling the genetic code. They mapped the human genome, sequenced it, and deciphered bits and pieces. The strange thing was, so much of the genome seemed to be useless, or as it was often called, "junk." There seemed to be no purpose to the chaotic DNA bits filling up the (sometimes) vast spaces between the actual genes.

Well, what they've discovered now (you probably saw this coming), is that the "junk" isn't junk at all, but are really really important. The DNA bits are actually little gene "switches" that (to quote the NYT) "turn out to play critical roles in controlling how cells, organs and other tissues behave." These switches, once considered as being little more than filler, may be key to development of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, depression, and more.

Just like in a mystery, the truth about this so-called junk was hiding in plain sight, just waiting for someone to grasp its significance in the overall plot and scheme of things.

I urge you to read the NYT article... it's well written and the concepts of the research are easy to grasp.

So, just as Mary Anna started the week celebrating the development of Curiosity on Mars, I shall raise my morning cup of joe to the discoveries of the ENCODE project, which involved 440 scientists from 22 laboratories from around the world.

Life... It's a mystery, and it's amazing.

 

Sex and Violence (and repeat)--First Friday with Rita

SEX AND VIOLENCE, SEX AND VIOLENCE, go together like a horse and carriage…

 Hum along if you wish. Priscilla is right. Why on earth are they seen together so often?

 In the 1970s while I toiled within the gates of Sodom and Gomorrah, aka Hollywood, as a scriptwriter, I was invited to appear on a panel on that very same subject.  I was in very famous company. Some of the top movie and TV writers appeared alongside me.

Sorry, I don’t remember anymore who was there. But we attracted a big crowd. Everyone seemingly concerned about where those two hot subjects were heading. Each panelist gave an impassioned speech. Cut down on violence. It was destroying our children. Blatant sex belonged in the porno world. Let’s keep the arts safe. Yada yada…

Well, you know how that went.

Copycat me will copy Camille and give you an incident in my career.  It’s 1978. I went into the network to pitch a story for a TV movie I was commissioned to write. Sex was what the title was about since it was based on a song called Torn Between Two Lovers. Yet, nothing in the lyrics stated the obvious. Infidelity was a delicate subject. We had to tread on egg shells. The script would be handled with tact, subtlety, class and never that word would be uttered. The S word. 

Sex or violence. Your choice.

So I’m building to second act climax (oops, no pun intended here) I tell Ms twelve-year- old network exec (at least that’s how she looked to me) that our star would have just come home from a secret liaison with this hunky guy she met (and to her own chagrin she was attracted to a man, not her hubby.) They had, er…intimate relations… Anyway, so as not to drag this out, she arrives home and oh, boy, shock. Her hubby has returned early from his business trip. And he wants, er…intimate relations…

In my mind, at that moment our star is filled with mortification and shame and guilt and every other emotion possible to dredge up all at the same time.

I pause, expectantly (no pun intended here either) waiting for our chick exec to respond to this high point in my drama.

She speaks, “So…?

I say “So, what do you mean, so?”

She says, “I mean so what. What’s the big deal?”

And at that moment I saw the future. Nothing would ever shock anyone anymore. Ever.

Sex and Violence? Not So Much

Staci here, in my new every-other-Thursday slot, talking about the topic of sex and violence. You won’t find much of either one in my mysteries, I’m afraid. They’re cozies, after all, which requires a rather gentle hand. Sure, Dana (my main character) and her boyfriend might kiss here and there or make suggestive comments to each other, but any sex happens behind closed doors. To be honest, I’m not even sure if those two have slept together yet. I leave it up to the reader to decide what happens off page, as do so many other books and movies.

Years ago, I watched The Last of the Mohicans with a college friend. When we reached a particular
scene with Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe, my friend said, “Yup, they just did it.” I had no idea what she was talking about. In my eyes, the movie hadn’t so much as hinted at a sexual liaison, but she insisted they’d done the deed because Madeleine Stowe’s hair had been in a bun earlier and now her hair was down. Apparently flowing hair was all the proof my friend needed.

That’s kind of how I’m handling the situation between Dana and Jason. Some readers might decide they’ve uncovered little clues that the two are intimate, while those of a more reserved nature can just as easily conclude that they haven’t yet reached that next step in their relationship.

The same goes for violence in my stories. At least one person is killed in each book, but the reader (and Dana) never sees the actual crime. She’s found a body or two, but usually these people look like they’re sleeping. No one finds body parts spread out over a five-mile radius. The formerly
pristine walls of a hospital room aren’t covered in arterial spray. I’ll leave those scenarios to the thriller writers.

Instead, I keep the murders rather tidy, because in a cozy mystery, the focus is not on the viciousness of the crime, but rather the process of putting the pieces together to figure out who the killer is. And if my characters want to “hook up” for a little alone time, we’ll just let them do
that behind closed doors.

News plus Sex and Violence next week

CH-CH-CHANGES AT THE LADYKILLERS

September is here and changes are in the air...

Diana Orgain (Thursdays) is sliding out the side door to exit, stage left (as we all cry, "Bon Voyage! Come back and visit! We'll miss you!"), with her last regular post with us being September 16. Hannah Jayne, who has been splitting the every-other-Thursday spot with Diana, will take over the spot "full time."

In another  change in the lineup, Staci McLaughlin and Ann Parker are switching posting days starting this coming week: Staci will take the Thursday slot opposite Hannah, and Ann will be checking in every-other-Saturday in her jammies. (What? Who says? She will not!)

NEWS FLASHES

• LadyKillers Staci McLaughlin, Penny Warner, and Ann Parker join fellow mystery author Carole Price for the Mystery in the Valley Tour, starting this week at:
  • Thursday, September 6, 7 p.m., Rakestraw Books, Danville, California
  • Friday, September 7, 7 p.m., Bay Books, San Ramon, California
  • Sunday, September 9, 3 p.m., Read Booksellers, Danville, California
• Camille Minichino will be discussing Ann Parker's Mercury's Rise on Tuesday, September 4, 6:30 pm at the Castro Valley Library.
  

NEXT WEEK: SEX AND VIOLENCE

... As one anonymous LadyKiller said, upon hearing of this upcoming week's topic: "One's good and one's bad. End of post."

Some crime fiction novels go with one, some go with another, some don't have either, and some have both. So, there appears to be something for everyone, no matter what your reading tastes. Come join the LadyKillers this week with your cuppa, and weigh in on the topic.