Lea Griffith and her two cents on genetic manipulation
Today, I’ve got the lovely Lea Griffith on my blog talking about smart stuff I probably know nothing about. So let’s sit back and listen to her for a bit. 
Thanks, Suz, for having me today. I hope you know what you’ve gotten into. 
You know I always struggle for topics to blog on. I’m pretty new to all of this and want to make sure I hit it out of the park every time. Have no idea if this actually happens but that is my motivation, lol! So as I was thinking over what I’d run my mouth about today, it hit me…my debut release, Retrieval, is all about genetic manipulation and things that may, or may not, be possible. So this is my topic.
I’m a scifi nut from way back. When I was young, Star Wars and ET were my favorites. My mom and I watched Battlestar Galactica on Sundays when I was really little and I devoured everything I could on TV and in books. If it had stars, I was there in front of the telly watching it. I went to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama when I was in the fifth grade. As I grew up, my interests remained in the heavens, but I when I entered college they morphed to include all things science. This included genetics.
Now I’m not telling you what I made in my genetics classes—it wasn’t always pretty. But those classes enhanced my already overactive imagination, forcing me to see genetically enhanced bionic men and women and human/animal hybrids around every corner. As my knowledge of the science of genetics grew (slowly I should add here—those classes kicked my arse pretty frequently) so did my thoughts that everything I was learning was not only possible but probable.
Frightening when you think about it, genetic enhancement is happening today. They’re growing human ears on rats, people. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and researched the science behind it. They are growing replacement limbs for people who’ve lost body parts, organs for people who are suffering from chronic diseases. This isn’t science fiction anymore—it’s real life.
And if they can grow an ear on a rat’s back, who’s to say they can’t modify a human’s entire genetic structure? Blend it with other mammals, take away what may be weak and replace it with something stronger? That’s what my heroine’s father did in Retrieval. A mad scientist, Dolan Smythe-Ward takes cloning and genetic enhancement to a new level. Having been raised amongst monsters such as Josef Mengele, he has roots deep in twisted science. He is brilliant for all his madness and creates five women with amazing, extraordinary abilities. That they are his daughters is irrelevant. Nothing is off limits when it comes to his egomania.
One of those daughters, the strongest, is the heroine of Retrieval. Skylar understands what she is and what she has the power to do. She is unwilling to be used by her father in his bid to control the world. Her story is complicated by Sebastian Graham, the man sent to retrieve her and the one man she cannot break free from. Theirs is a love so true, so deep, that overcoming an evil scientist is just the beginning.
Skylar’s story has its beginning in the articles I’ve read on cloning humans. Scientists have already cloned sheep, dogs and cats. It’s my understanding cloning humans is against the law in every country. However, some countries allow therapeutic cloning—which is cloning cells from adults for use in medicine and transplant. Many countries are already cloning embryonic stem cells. My feeling is that cloning an entire human isn’t far off. So Skylar’s story is entirely possible, if it isn’t true already. *muwhahahaha—cue evil scientist laughter here*
The science is there, folks. Around every corner or in the basement of pharmaceutical companies across the world, the conspiracy theories about genetic enhancement and cloning abound. But the simple truth is that this is possible. What’s uncertain is whether it’s happening right now.
So there’s my two cents about genetic manipulation. I get a little more in-depth into the science behind the creation of my heroine and her sisters in Retrieval. Hope you’re not looking over your shoulder now—they could be everywhere and nowhere at all.
Thanks for stopping by to let me drop some science ;D into your brain.
Suz, you freaking rock and I’m looking forward to hosting you soon as you talk Off Her Game.
Check out Retrieval at these places online:
Retrieval Liquid Silver Books| Amazon
Blurb:
Skylar is the hunted. Fashioned for the sole purpose of destruction, she has spent her entire life running from the evil scientist who created her, her father. When a team of retrieval experts hired by her father track her down, neither Skylar nor the team’s leader is prepared for the magnetic attraction that will not let them go. In the midst of danger, with their lives on the line, they forge a bond so tight only death could break it.
Together they will fight an egomaniacal scientist as well as their explosive desire for one another to discover what true power is.
Special thanks to Lea Griffith for joining us today. See below for more places to find her online:
Bio:
Lea Griffith began sneaking to read her mother’s romance novels at a young age. She cut her teeth on the greats: McNaught, Woodiwiss, and Garwood. A firm believer that love makes the world go round, she still consumes every romance book she can put her hands on, but now she writes her own.
Lea lives with her husband and three teenage daughters in rural Georgia. Two dogs, a cat, and a beta fish named Coddy George complete a family that is always in motion. When not working at the EDJ, she’s usually at her keyboard, using every spare second to write. Shifters, artificial intelligence, and gene splicing, oh my!
Nothing is off-limits when it comes to her writing.
