Heeby-Jeebies

I promised I would cover the entire process while I was going through it, so I’ll expand on that a bit today.  But first, what’s new…

I’m on the last chapter.  Yay!  My football teams sucks, (The Browns,) season over.  I know, don’t laugh.  It’s not funny, it’s just sad.  My dog Romeo is an attention whore and sometime’s I stop writing to oblige.  Okay, I do it a lot.  

Romeo, the attention whore

I know that sounds like procrastination, but I don’t see it that way.  My little breaks are mind refreshers.  I write when I have something to write, and when I turn from the page, it’s usually because I need a break.  Playing with my dog, getting a cup of coffee, or surfing the net are all fine distractions.  I also like a good game of solitaire to relax my mind.  So little breaks are perfectly fine, IMHO, the main key is ass planting.  Plant your ass in the chair and write, and don’t worry about the little breaks.

Another HUGE part of the process is marketing. 

Marketing.  The very word gives me the heeby-jeebies.  But I’ve decided that it is so important, that it is the most important part of the process next to the actual writing of the book.

As you may or may not know, when I started writing GERM LINE: REVOLUTION, my intent was to self-publish electronically.  It still is, though I am open to other avenues as well.  But I wanted to run this as an experiment for myself to see if it could become a viable source of income.  In other words, can I sell books on the internet and earn money? 

That’s the big question here.  Can I earn money?  I already believe I can write, or I wouldn’t be doing it, so is it viable as a business concern?

Like any business concern you need a product, plus relationships with vendors, employees and customers, and if you’re smart, effective marketing efforts.  Since we live in the digital age and this is a digital venture, my product and relationships and marketing efforts will, for the most part, be digital as well.

When I started the process, research revealed that I should begin marketing right away, so I designed a cover, (digitally of course).  That was my very first marketing move.  After all, the cover is the face of the franchise at this point.  The cover is what people will see first, and (hopefully) remember when they see it again.

There are a lot of cover designers out there, so suffice it to say you can get a cover made easily and relatively cheaply or even better, free.  Just do a search for “free book cover design” and companies like www.covercreator.net or www.diybookcovers.com will pop up.  You will need to decide if a template or particular stock photo appeals to your vision of the book.  Take your time, look around, the rest is easy.  If none of that works for you, you can hire to have it done, fairly inexpensively.  

I wanted free, and I couldn’t fine a template or photo that tripped my trigger, so I designed my own.  If you’re handy with Photoshop, or know someone who is, you can too.  The three dimensional version was done on a free template, and I created the background and married the cover to the template by first altering the perspective.  There are also plenty of companies that will allow you to make 3D versions, just google search “3d book cover template”.  

The intent of my design is to visually highlight the subject matter of genetic manipulation, as well as to convey the sense of a “Frankenstein” approach to building a perfect human.  Does it work?  Would you read the book based on the cover?  You tell me.

Germ Line: The Cover

The next step in building my self-publishing empire involved designing a logo and coming up with a name for my publishing company.  More on that later.  (Since I’m still in the free stage, the company hasn’t officially launched yet, so it’s all hush-hush for now.)

After that, I created a Facebook page, and began writing this blog.  I also began promoting the blog on Facebook and Twitter.  Hopefully, you are aware of all this.  If not, I’m doing something wrong.

I should note here that I have spent and will continue to spend hours scouring the web for ways to market frugally.  After all, with zero sales, my marketing budget is an appropriate percentage.  (To give credit where credit is due, and repay in some small way, I will attempt to provide you with the names and websites of those most useful, helpful and effective as they come up.)

One thing I did make sure to do was download the free ebook, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER BY Carolyn Howard-Johnson.  Sorry I’m not sure it’s still free but I advise getting it.  Buy it if necessary.  Lots, and lots of good information there. The Frugal Book Promoter

Marketing is tough.  Being heard above the noise it the hardest part.  Making an impression is even harder.  If you’ve read my last post, you know that the viewership numbers are sketchy at best. 

[Update: The counter I installed on the page after I wrote about it shows a current total of 2200+ views.  You can see it for yourself down at the bottom.  Also, the “real” Paige View count has gone up significantly since I began promoting it more aggressively.  And, I finally have a comment!  I held a contest for the first comment and our contest winner was Delali!  Congratulations on being the winner!]

Since I’m nearing the end of the first draft, I realized I need to amp up my Twitter presence in the hope of amping up interest in the book.  I began tweeting more vigorously and frequently, started following more relevant people, and my “Follows” have more than doubled.  From 79 to over 200, (There has also been a corresponding jump in blog page views, if you believe the counter,) and I’ve had several retweets and have been added to a handful of lists: DS_Scriggler/writers, IScriggle/scifi-and-fantasy-authors, sheaoliver/writing-about-scifi1, ppcorcoran/science-fiction1, ndrewHinkinson/writing, IndBk/writers.   Very cool!

This exposure I’m receiving in such a short period of time is fantastic, invaluable, and I cannot thank enough the individuals responsible.  I also need to give a shout out to the fine folks at www.scriggler.com and www.HappyMeBooks.com for helping me get the word out.  They’ve been promoting GERM LINE: REVOLUTION since they started reading my tweets.  Very cool.  I also want to mention www.EdgeKorp.com, @KKAllen_Author, @TBRList, @ReadersGazette, @CowboySciFiBot and anyone I may have missed for their retweets.  Much, much appreciated!  (I wish I could figure out how to like a retweet notification.  Help?)  Also, a major thank you to David at www.askdavid.com he offered and I took advantage of the ability to tweet to his 44,000+ followers.  He gave me free tweets, so thank you very much, David!  Awesome offer!

I started using www.Hootsuite.com to schedule my Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn posts.  It happens while I’m at work, and their free platform allows me to work with three social media sites.

My interest at this point, (beyond getting my numbers up,) is in establishing real, viable long term relationships with individuals and companies that can help promote the book effectively and economically, free whenever possible.  I’ve starting building a network of companies and individuals.  More on that later, it’s still in the very early stages, so stay tuned.  

I have listed the blog on Daypop & Popdex for what that may be worth.  I really have no idea.

Even though marketing and promotions are ongoing, I know I will eventually need to spend money to do this thing right.  Free promotion is great, and I hope to utilize that type of generosity whenever possible.  But there will be hard costs such as editing, formatting, printing, (I need at least a few hard copies,) publishing, and advertising & marketing.  I’m thinking I need a Kickstarter project to fund the launch.  So don’t say I didn’t warn you.

So that’s where I am.  I’ve just begun Marketing in the grand scheme of things, but I have begun.  There is much, much more to do as it’s a never ending process.  Right now, my focus is on perpetuating the book’s presence and continuing to write.  Finish.  Then rewrite.  I’m a ways down the road from actual publishing, but I won’t publish until both the book, my release campaign are ready to launch and I have funding in place.  And as of now, I’m not completely sure what that all entails.  I do know that I need a lot more people interested first.  It hasn’t costed a dime, so far, but I know it will.  So that is the question, isn’t it.  Can I make money, beyond the costs?

I’m very interested in reading your thoughts on all this, perhaps share your experiences or point out what I’m doing right and/or wrong.  TIA!

Rules & Readership

If this is your first visit, the journey starts with In The Beginning.

I am always amazed by how much time passes between posts.  It's mind boggling.  It does not seem possible that three months have elapsed.  But they have.  And now I’m thinking, “Christ, I'm three months closer to death than the last time I posted.”  

Morbid?  Maybe.  It’s not meant to be.  It’s simply a fact.  When you’re on the north side of fifty you think about shit like that.  You also realize every day is a blessing.

So, sorry I haven’t been here sooner. I've been busy being blessed.

When I started this blog I had no illusions or expectations about readership.  I had some doubt as to whether anyone would ever read it, ever.  So imagine my surprise when I logged onto the blog site and checked my stats and discovered that, according to my Stats page, I’ve had 1,197 page views since I started writing this blog.  That seems like a lot.  Because when I go to my Posts page, it shows that I have a total of 33 view counts.  

Someone is lying.

On my Stats page I can see that 981 (or 81%) page views have been done on Firefox, 1004 page views (or 84%) have been done on the Windows operating system, and 877 of the 1197 page views have come from China.  236 from the United States, 16 from the Ukraine, 13 from France, 11 from Russia, 10 from Switzerland, 7 each from Germany and Turkey, and 4 each are from the UK and India.

In other words, it seems that while I’ve had a disproportionally large number of views from China, the Brits and Indians couldn’t give two shits.   Of course it could be one Brit and single Indian national visiting my blog four times each.  Or two twice, or whatever.  Or, it could actually be one Brit who travels to India (or visa versa) and has visited my blog four times in each country.  

So now I wonder about Turkey and Germany.  Is it one German and one Turk viewing seven times each or is it possibly a lonesome traveler visiting the site fourteen times, seven times in each country?

Is it eleven Russians?  Or one Russian eleven times.  

I’m thinking it definitely has to be more than one Chinese viewer, right?  Unless it’s a single crazy, obsessed, Chinese stalker viewer—

You know what?  It doesn’t mater.  What matter’s is, I’ve had a viewer.  Someone has read what I have written.  That’s all that matters.  If I have touched the heart and/or mind of a single crazy, obsessed, Chinese stalker viewer, then I’ve done my job.

Back to the question at hand: Has my blog had 1197 page views with a shitload of Chinese readers and maybe a couple Indian readers, or have I only had 33 views of mostly friends and family as it illustrates on my Posts page?  According to my Posts page, only one reader read my last post.  I’m pretty sure that was my wife.  (I love you, baby!)

By the way, we celebrated our one year anniversary in September.  Talk about time flying.  Holy shit!  The year flew by.  We also had new windows put in our house last month.  Holy shit!  Was that expensive.  But it needed to be done and now we can check it off our list… once it’s actually paid for in five years.  Home owning is not for the faint of heart.  (As my bride is happy to remind me, we could’ve bought a condo.)  But I digress.  

Given what I’m able to discern, (and hey, I will be the first to admit that I may be misinterpreting the data,) I have to ask, “Hey Google Blog dudes, exactly what is going on?  What good are stats and analytics if there is a 3600% +/- margin of error?”  

I don’t expect them to answer.   Bottom line?  I don’t think I’ll be approached by sponsors any time soon.

I do have good news.  I’m almost done.  Yup, almost done with the first draft of the book.  I have been working solidly and steadily whenever I have time, and I just started the final chapter.  There will be an epilog.  Take that, rule makers.  (More about this later.)

Overall I’m pleased with the work so far.  I expect it to get better as I go through it again and again.  I’m also happy about the length.  The MS should be about 70,000 words when I finish the first draft.  That’s more than I thought it would have, considering it’s a conversion from the 18,000 word screenplay.  I was concerned that I wouldn’t have enough material for a novel.  When it’s all said and done, I hope to have an 80,000 +/- word manuscript.  

On a technical note, research (Google search) seems to produce the prevalent opinion that the 80,000 page range is the number publishers and editors prefer to publish for a first time author.

I’m extremely excited to start the rewrite/edit phase.  I don’t know that I’ll be doing much rewriting.  That will need to be determined later.  I am concerned about plot holes and logic lapses.  (I’m always concerned about plot holes and logic lapses.) I will definitely be editing, polishing and paring to make it tight and, hopefully, better.  I will also be fleshing it out, expanding on the characters and (again, hopefully) breathing more life into them.  And producing said 80,000 +/- word manuscript.  Which seems to be the “Rule of length for new writers”.

Since this book is destined to be self-published, length may not matter.  But if by some miraculous intercession a major publisher considers publishing Germ Line: Revolution, I want it to be the correct length. 

There are a lot of rules in writing.  I don’t pretend to know them all, but over the years I’ve learned some things and come up with some rules of my own.  In the interest of full disclosure, the act of considering my own rules was inspired by an excellent article entitled Ten Rules For Writing Fiction on theguardian.com.  Inspired by this article, I started thinking about my own rules for writing, and here they are:

My Ten Rules Of Writing

1) Write.  If you’re not writing you’re not a writer.  Talking about it isn’t writing.  Writing is.  So write.

2) Inject humor whenever possible.  Humor is universal and can help the reader identify with a character or situation.  Don’t force it or use it inappropriately, but if it fits, don’t be afraid to use it.

3) Enjoy the process.  It is a process, a long one.  From initial idea, through the actual writing, through preliminary editing and rewrites, through the editorial process with your editor, through those rewrites, through marketing and sales, it is a long process, so you better enjoy it.

4) Don’t talk about what you’re writing.  It’s okay to discuss in general terms, like I’m writing a book about whatever, but don’t discuss details, plot points or progress.  Doing so locks you into preconceived notions and writing must be fluid and open to change. (I also believe it steals creative energy from the project, but I may be insane.) 

5) Finish your projects.

6) Use proper grammar, spelling and formatting.  If you don’t know what that is, find out.

7) Always write on a computer.  Some writers will tell you that you should only write with pen (or pencil) and paper.  I say that’s just plain stupid.  Someone will have to transcribe it into digital form eventually anyway, so you might as well start out that way.  Besides, it makes it MUCH easier to spell check, edit, and play with words, sentences and paragraphs.  Try this: Grab a pen and some paper.  Write five sentences.  Now take the third sentence and make it the first.  Now take out any unnecessary words and spell check all the words that are left, correct those and rewrite the paragraph perfectly.  Now try it with a computer.  That’s right, you don’t have to rewrite the paragraph perfectly, it’s already done.  And it took like a fiftieth the amount of time.  Enough said.

8) Always back up your work.  Always.  Twice preferably.  Once on a hard drive and once in the cloud.  Google, Box.net, iCloud, whatever.  Just make sure your can always access copies of your work if your computer goes to shit.  And they do eventually.  Almost always.

9) Hire an editor.  He or she knows things you don’t.  There allowed to be brutally honest, that’s what they’re paid for.  Your wife, husband, sister, friend, fuck buddy won’t be.  They will tell you that you’re great.  But you’re not, and you know it, and you want to sell your work, so don’t fuck around.  Hire an editor.

10) Don’t worry about using or not using adverbs, similes, metaphors, clichés or profanity.  If they work, use them.  If they sound stupid or get in the way, get rid of them.  Other writers who tell you how to write want you to write like they do.  Write like you do.  That means discovering your own voice.  Whatever it is.  Discover it, and don’t worry about all that other silly shit.  Eventually it will blossom like a rose.  You’ll be hunky-dory.  A fucking veritable writing machine.  With a voice.

So that’s it for this post., and yes, this blog is probably a violation of rule #4, but if I were to have a rule #11, it would be: Don't be afraid to break the rules.  Rules are meant to be broken, as they say.  Just be aware that breaking them is more effective if it's intentional and you are aware of the infraction in the first place, and you have a good reason for breaking it. 

As always your questions and comments are welcomed and encouraged.  If nothing else, type in what country you’re from.  

I'm starting to collect readers for the first polished draft.  If you're interested in being one and don't mind providing feedback, let me know.

Into The Minds Of The Characters

Wow, I just realized that it has been well over a year since I started this venture.  Time has certainly flown by.  It has also been quite a while since I’ve posted here, or written at all for that matter.  It’s been a very busy time at work, and springtime always holds its own share of extra work around the house.  On top of that, we’ve been in the middle of construction hell, having our screen room remodeled, a project that should have taken two weeks but ended up taking two months.  Fortunately, (or unfortunately I should say, because the silver lining is more of a dull grey,) the weather here in northwest Ohio has been absolutely abysmal so we couldn’t have used our screen room even if it had been complete on time.  If it hasn’t been raining, it has been humid, hot and muggy.  I wonder if we’ve even had a dozen actual nice days since winter ended.

I’d hoped to be much farther along with the book by this point in time, I’m smack in the middle of chapter twenty-four.  It is a very exciting time for me though, regardless of my slow progress.  I’m  starting to get a much deeper feel for the characters as they come to life.  I’m beginning to understand them better, and am getting to know them on a far more intimate level.  Perhaps because there is so much action involved, and the pace is so quick early on in the book, there hasn’t been much time for the characters to take stock or reflect.  Right now I find myself at a point in the manuscript where several of the main characters, (Stark, Melissa, Rebecca and Simon specifically,) have time to take pause and consider all they’ve been through and to consider what possibilities the future may hold. 

This was never something that was dealt with in the screenplay, and I have to admit that I find it totally exhilarating as a writer.  Much is being revealed about the characters as this unfolds, and not all of it expected.  I’m encountering many surprises about these characters as I discover who they are, what they want, and where their hearts actually lie.  Dimension is being added to each one in a way that I had not fully anticipated, and I find that extremely exciting.

I don’t want to reveal anything that may spoil the story so it’s impossible to be specific, but I can say that the characters are becoming more alive and human than they were before in screenplay form, and therefore they are becoming far more compelling.  That’s not to say that their human qualities aren’t revealed earlier in the book, but those qualities are predictably in alignment with the storyline and plot as it is being revealed.  These later qualities have much more to do with who they are and how they feel on a deeply personal level because it deals more directly with their inner morality than with their public persona.

To further explain, it’s almost like making a friend.  When you first meet, you may share common interests, common goals or common sensibilities, but it’s not until much later, once you’ve had the opportunity to really get to know them and understand who they are, that you fully appreciate their depth of character, their loyalty and their heart.  That’s when they become true friends, when they become family.  When they become people whom you’re willing to share your home with, people  you share your dreams with.  It’s virtually impossible to do that at the beginning of the relationship, unless you’re either an idiot or completely gullible.

At this point, I am just over 60,000 words, estimating that I’m approximately seventy-five percent complete.  I imagine I’ll be at the 80,000 word mark when I finish  the first draft, but hope to be near 100,000 words when I complete the novel. 

My intention is to flesh out the characters even further, delving deeper into the minds of the main characters, and exploring the motivations of the hybrids to a much greater degree.  As of right now, I don’t feel that I have generated enough sympathy for them or their cause, or have explained their motivations for murder enough to justify their actions.

That is a tough nut to crack, developing sympathy for a group of advanced beings who have committed the ultimate sin.  I do look forward to the challenge, however, because theirs is a particularly unique point of view; rebelling against their creators with reason and ability to do so. 

Making all of these characters come to life is the most enjoyable part of the writing process, and one of my main motivations for converting the screenplay to novel form in the first place.

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.

Why?

Why?

Why did I choose to write GERM LINE the screenplay and then adapt it into the novel, “Germ Line: Revolution”?  It’s a question I’ve asked myself, and one that needed to be answered before I wrote the first word.  Why write it?

First and foremost it’s a cautionary tale.  I don’t believe that we are that far away from the commercialized genetic manipulation of our species.  And in case you’re wondering, yes, genetic manipulation is happening now.  Here are a few of the more interesting examples:

    •    Cloning - One of the most controversial uses of genetic engineering has been cloning, or producing a genetically identical copy of an organism. While the ethics of cloning are hotly debated, the first ever sheep (named Dolly) was cloned in 1996 by scientists.
    •    Glow-in-the-dark cats - It sounds strange, but in 2007, scientists in South Korea altered the DNA of a kitty so that its fur would glow in the dark, and then cloned other cats from it, making the world’s first glowing cats. (This is probably something I would shoot if I saw it in the middle of the night slinking through my house.)
    •    Pesticide-resistant rapeseed plants - Rapeseed is a flowering plant used to make certain types of vegetable oil. Genetic engineering has allowed these plants to be resistant to certain types of pesticides, so that when the fields are treated to remove pests, the plants will remain unscathed.
    •    Cows that pass less gas - Methane is produced by cow flatulence, and the chemical is a huge contributor to global warming. (A myth if you live in Northwest Ohio.)  Cows that fart less than average have been produced to fight the deleterious effects that cow flatulence can have on the environment.
    •    Plants that fight pollution - Poplar trees developed by scientists at the University of Washington can absorb polluted water through their roots and clean it before the water is released back into the air. The plants were many times more efficient at cleaning certain pollutants than regular poplars.
    •    Golden rice - Genetic modification is often used to make "healthier" foods, such as golden rice, which contains beta-carotene – the very same vitamin that makes carrots orange. The result is that people without access to many vitamins will get a healthy dose of vitamin A when the rice is consumed.
    •    Environmentally friendly pigs - Genetic modification has helped to create pigs that can digest phosphorous better, which decreases the pig’s phosphorous output. The result is that manure, which is often made from pig waste, is less destructive to the environment due to its lower phosphorous content.
    •    Faster-growing trees - Demand for wood can be met by trees that grow faster than average. Genetic engineering has produced trees that can ward off biological attacks, grow more quickly and strongly, and create better wood than trees that are not genetically modified.
    •    Bigger, longer-lasting tomatoes - When tomatoes are genetically engineered, they can be made bigger and more robust. These are engineered to produce tomatoes that can remain fresh for longer, can be shipped farther from where they are grown, and can be harvested all at the same time rather than harvesting only parts of a field at each harvest.
    •    Salmon that grow faster - Salmon do not produce growth hormones year-round, so scientists have looked toward genetic engineering and found a solution: a modification that allows salmon to grow twice as fast than those that are not engineered.
    •    Insecticide corn - Instead of spraying insecticide on plants, why not genetically engineer crops that kill pests on their own? Corn was developed through genetic engineering to produce a poison that kills insects. While this corn may also harm beneficial insects such as butterflies, supporters say that the pros outweigh the cons.  (Yum.)
    •    The banana vaccine - Bananas were developed through genetic modification that offer vaccine against diseases such as cholera and hepatitis. Just like with a needle vaccine, people who eat them develop disease-combating antibodies that make them immune to a disease. 

(Source: yourdictionary.com)

Of course there are many other applications such as the development of vaccines and drugs, the treatment of disease, and, as some of the examples above show, the diversification of domesticated animals and crops, and the modification of the ecosystem.  You are already eating genetically manipulated food, and these are only the examples that are fairly common knowledge.

Most of this type of genetic manipulation seems benign, even helpful or advantageous, but what happens when it starts being used to eradicate abnormalities and behavioral tendencies among the population?  What happens when society determines that certain attributes, behaviors or even looks are no longer socially acceptable? 

Could food be engineered to cause impotence in anyone with a chronic illness gene?  Could water be engineered to eradicate anyone with a communicable disease such as aids or syphilis?  What if we simply decide that we just can't leave the genetic make-up of our unborn children to chance?

This isn’t something that would happen overnight or through a series of bills and laws.  It would happen gradually, and it would begin where it would be least noticeable.  Among the elite and within the secret halls of government research.  According to some, the transformation has already begun.

in 1978 the book, “In His Image: The Cloning of Man” by David Rorvik was published, claiming that an anonymous billionaire had hired a team of doctors and scientists to have himself cloned.  According to Rorvik, the cloning was a success.  That story has been somewhat debunked but the author swears it is true.  According to one source, human cloning was again achieved in 1997 by fusing a human skin cell with a cow egg stripped of its nucleus.  This is the same process used to clone Dolly the sheep.

But cloning is just the beginning.  After all, why make a duplicate of something that is inherently flawed?  As a species, humans are weak.  We’re emotional, frail, and prone to disease and distraction.  And of course the biggest sin of all, we’re mortal.  Not only that, the lifespans we do have are too short.  The United States in particular and the world at large has become so ageist that anyone over the age of fifty is no longer considered relevant, and anyone over thirty-five is considered past their prime.  That means that a relatively intelligent individual basically has thirteen years after they graduate from college to make their mark on the world before it’s too late.

So the desire, obviously, is to engineer a better human being.  It likely begins with something simple such as increased endurance or heightened sensory awareness like better hearing and sharper eyesight.  It would be most advantageous as well to engineer the body and it’s organs to break down more slowly.

We’ve all met individuals who don’t look their age; the beautiful woman in her late forties who looks thirty-five or the youthful thirty-something man who is actually fifty.  They are usually proud that they look younger than their age, but it’s highly likely that they don’t advertise the fact when they’re job hunting or trying to fit in with a younger crowd. So if science were able to engineer a way for us to age more slowly, we’d all be on board with that.

Another “no-brainer” (pun intended) is increased intelligence.  If we have limited shelf-life and a finite amount of time to make our mark then superior brain power would be just the ticket to getting us on our way.  We could finish college in our teens and hit the job market or the creative carousel that much earlier.  Our ideas would be brilliant and our creations amazing.  Who wouldn’t opt in for that?  Where do I sign up, you ask.

It’s also an established social fact that attractive people tend to be more successful and have better “luck” than those with “average” looks.  So why wouldn’t we toss in symmetrical faces with high cheekbones, flawless skin, straight noses and full lips as long as we’re tweaking the gene pool.  We know that obesity causes health risks and is a drain on resources, why wouldn’t we make certain that we become genetically disposed to slimness.  In fact, wouldn’t it be much easier to navigate the world if everyone were the same height?  We could all sit comfortably in coach, and you’d never bang your head because you were “too tall”.  Plus, think of the savings to companies like Levis Strauss & Co.  If they only needed to make one size of jeans for all of the adult males on the planet, their profit margin would sky rocket.

That’s not to say that everyone would look alike, of course that would be silly.  Some people aren’t sexually attracted to blond hair and blue eyes.  They may prefer a more exotic or asian appearance, or prefer a more caramelized skin tone.  And visa-versa.  Sexuality will remain important as long as it remains pleasurable and is necessary for procreation.  Diversity should remain viable for a while.  So add a big dick for the boys and a nice tight ass and perfect tits for the girls to the check list.

Now imagine a time in the not too distant future where a very successful young doctor and her equally successful investment banker husband decide that it’s time to have children.  They’ve both hit thirty, are set financially, and her biological clock is ticking.  She has connections to a researcher who has made incredible strides in genetic manipulation and has had success engineering babies for several other wealthy couples.

Money is no object and they want the full package, the deluxe, World-By-The-Balls package which includes enhanced brain power, (complete with laser focus, emotional control, enhanced creativity and reasoning,) model good looks, a powerful physique and extended longevity.  They want a boy and a girl, and they want them to be born in March, (because statistically they stand a better chance of success if they’re born in that month.)

The process is amazing and works beyond their expectation.  They’re babies are beautiful and smart and they’ve both learned to walk by their sixth month.  He’s hung like a horse and she’s going to be a real heart breaker.  They’re speaking in complete sentences by nine months and they’re potty trained and eating on their own at a year.  Every time mom and dad come home from work, they’ve learned something new or done something amazing. 

They hit their terrible two’s but neither child is a nuisance.  They’ve passed their overly rambunctious, curious phase and now have most things figured out in their small world.  They’re learning to read and are expanding that world.  Within a few months, they’ve begun basic computer programming.

They seem perfect.  And no one realizes that they’re not.  The first time either one of them didn’t get their way, they didn’t even throw a tantrum.  Instead, they plotted together, silently (because they’re able to pick up each other’s thought waves) to cause an incident that seemed entirely accidental.  For her, it was causing her mother to trip and wrench her ankle as she left for work because she hadn’t allowed her daughter to watch a particular television show.  For him, it was causing their nanny to have a flat tire because she wouldn’t let him have a snack before dinner.

By the time they’re six years old, they have deemed their parents and almost everyone around them to be irrelevant.  They interact with them on a superficial level to avoid suspicion, perform brilliantly when trotted out for guests, and maintain a level of normalcy to most of the outside world.  Since their parents work most of the time, they have no idea who these two beings really are.  The nanny has some clue, but she has only been there a few months.  She is the seventh since they were born.  All the others have been fired for cause, mostly stealing.  The twins, (they’re called that but are not actually formed from a split ovum,) have quite a stash of fine jewelry hidden.  This has become their method of choice when a nanny becomes too suspicious or gets to know them too well.  It’s an easy and completely efficient way to have them fired; the nanny’s are never confronted, simply dismissed and a new one is hired.

Also since their parents are hardly ever around and since the nanny’s rarely stick around for more than a year, the twins have no one to teach them basic morality.  It’s unlikely that the lessons would be learned either, because the rules of humanity clearly don’t apply to these two.  The only hope for any type of compassion is when they decide logically that it is in their best interest to be compassionate. 

They commit their first murder when they are eight.  They’ve been home schooled by a series of tutors, each finding the experience extremely frustrating and short termed.  Their lessons are learned, absorbed really, and the tutors quickly become irrelevant. It was one of their last tutors before high school graduation that became their first victim.  It was a physics experiment, really, because the twins were bored with the literature lesson.  They had already read all the classics.  The murder was planned in such a way as to be untraceable to them, they had rigged a small trebuchet with a round ice cube as the projectile.  They calculated the trajectory and timing perfectly so when the tutor turned to address them, they launched the tiny missile.  It lodged in his throat and he was unable to cough it out.

The twins watched him choke to death on the floor of their study room with clinical indifference.  Once the tutor ceased flailing, they checked his pulse, disassembled the trebuchet, brought in a glass of ice water, applied the tutor's fingerprints and called 911.  They sounded appropriately panicked to the emergency operator.  EMTs arrived, their parents were called and the police did a cursory investigation.  Death was ruled to be accidental choking.

The eight-year-olds graduated high school with honors and were immediately accepted into Stanford.  Their parents decided to give the children a year off and they would take leaves of absences from work so they could all travel for several months.  The parents are finally starting to worry about the children.  The death, the constant turnover of nannies and the twins somewhat distant and condescending nature have started to cause the parents to wonder if their children are “normal”.  They’ve been given the best of everything, why do they seem so “detached”?

The twins, realizing that their parents are starting to worry, “normalize” their behavior and life goes on.

They wait until they finally become of age to kill their parents because becoming wards of the state was never an option.  They now have wealth, doctorate degrees, and substantial research grants in applied genetics at their disposal.  They have learned to mimic “normal social behavior”, are incredibly attractive and can be amazingly charming.  Their futures are very bright indeed.

They’ve also discovered that there are others like them, and find that those that aren’t like them to be tedious and dim witted.

Sound ridiculous?  Far fetched?  Impossible?  Maybe.  However simple eugenics is not a new concept and was practiced by several countries in the early 20th century.  Fortunately the technology didn’t exist to take it to the next level.  It does now.  Also, we have an incredible capacity to do harm to ourselves knowingly and unknowingly.  We have the amazing ability to plunge forward regardless of consequences in the pursuit of science, profit and upward mobility.  Should the above scenario in any form ever play out in reality, you can be certain that it would spell the end of the human race as we know it.  The dominant species always eradicates the inferior one. 

Why did I write this?  Because we need to think about it.