Dear Reader,
After publishing five books in her award-winning Far West Texas mystery series, today's guest author, Tricia Fields, detoured to swampy south Florida in her first book in the new Maggie Wise series. Living in a log cabin on a small farm in rural Indiana, Tricia claims an affinity for anything remote and hot and quiet. Read about both of her series at: www.triciafields.com
Tricia has a copy of her newest release Young Blood to send to a lucky book club reader. Be sure to read the details in her guest column today.
Please welcome author Tricia Fields...
I love a good statistic. A quality statistic can send me down the rabbit hole like little else. It was statistics about the US blood supply that drew me to the research for my new book, Young Blood. I discovered that in the United States alone, someone needs blood every two seconds. I also learned that before the mid-1900s women often died during childbirth due to uncontrolled bleeding. Christian Millman, from Discover Magazine, said that at that time animal blood was commonly used during transfusions. It wasn't until the 20th century that doctors discovered that humans have differing blood groups, and that some blood types cannot be mixed with others. (Sounds like fodder for a good murder mystery...)
On a more personal note, when I received my Red Cross blood donation card in March of this year I learned that I am A+, like 34% of the population. However, back in high school, I performed a blood test which revealed that my blood type was B-. My teacher informed me that my blood type was only found in 2% of the population. I was special! We were also studying Punnett squares to determine the blood type of offspring. I went home that night to plot my parents'--blood types into the matrix and discovered that I couldn't have been their child. The photos I had seen of me as a baby, toddler, schoolgirl, etc. suddenly didn't prove anything.
Science confirmed it! I'd had no inclination that I was adopted. My parents had no inclination either. It turned out that I had mistyped my blood. Scientific error: part of the learning curve.
Science is such a wonder. So many questions needing answered, so much to learn, so many things to screw up again and again before theories are proven, and then debated for another hundred years. I wonder what medical procedures that make sense today will one day be viewed as outrageous.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with one more statistic and a friendly call to action. One blood donation can potentially save the lives of three people. The Red Cross has said there is an urgent need for blood and platelet donations due to the pandemic. Drop me a line at [email protected] with the last time you gave blood, or just a comment in support of the Red Cross--I'd love to chat with you, and I'll send a random person an autographed copy of Young Blood. A nice combination--a free book, and the chance to save three lives. Be well my friends!
-- Tricia Fields
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Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
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PENGUIN CLASSICS this month features the book The Posthumous Memoirs Of Bras Cubas, by Machado de Assis. I have a copy of the book to share, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.
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