User Profile

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For starters, as anyone who has read any of my longer multichapter fics has no doubt figured out, I am what the name states – I am a real life lab squint. I work in a University lab doing infectious disease research – HIV being my pathogen of choice. It’s a devastating disease and someday we’re going to beat it. But in the mean time, I think my day job of trying to engineer a vaccine against HIV is going to be secure for a long time. Unfortunately.

But as much as I am a science geek (and I say that proudly), I have a very creative side. Much of that creativity comes out in music – I have sung in choirs since I was seven, have played the oboe and still play the piano. Well, I still play when the urge hits and I have the time. I come from a very musical family and have siblings who are professional musicians. I’m the only family member that took the scientific vs. the artistic career route. But still, that aspect of my personality has to come out. And writing seems to be my current creative outlet.

I used to write as a young teen, but then in high school that aspect of my personality was overridden by my involvement in the music program and I stopped writing for a very long time. But it was while watching Bones that something clicked for me – my love of the Brennan/Booth dynamic that makes the show what it is, combined with my love of science. My first writing attempt was not scientific at all; it was my testing the waters after being away from writing for many years. But by the time I wrote my first real multichapter fic, The Acid Test, which was mostly written from my own scientific knowledge of the world of HIV research, I found my niche.

The idea of a Booth/Brennan relationship has always caught me, not just of them getting together, but of the difficulties that are inherently built into any long term relationship (keep in mind, this could also be 15 years of marriage talking). Thus the story arc of The Acid Test/Burial in Green Ridge Forest/Human Puzzle in a Packing Crate came along. The challenge is to take their relationship, push it to the next level and still try to keep it interesting. Something that I think the show writers are a bit nervous to do, which is why we’re still waiting for it to happen on screen.

But in addition to the relationship issues, laboratory science is my thing. Forensic science however is not my thing, so my spin on these stories is to do real research into the cases and properly reference them. As I said in an Author’s Note once, I’m a scientist, referencing sources of information is just what we do; otherwise it’s called plagiarism. So when the reader sees a list of journal articles at the top of a chapter, they know that the science in the chapter is absolutely real and often cutting edge. I’ve had reviewers comment that reading one of the science based stories is like watching an episode, which is high praise in my mind as this is exactly what I’m trying to do.

Not all the stories are heavily scientific in nature. Stalemate and it’s sequel Atonement are of a darker tone and have more to do with moral dilemmas and character psychology than the science based stories. And there is a fluff piece or two thrown in for good measure. So hopefully there is a bit of everything for everyone here.

Since the summer of ’07, I had been fortunate enough to join forces with FauxMaven. What started off as an author/beta relationship has evolved into a co-creator relationship. She is also a science/engineering geek, so we speak the same language when it comes to the science aspect of the stories. But beyond that, she is an excellent researching resource, a creative sounding board in her own right and a copy editor extraordinaire. All of the later efforts are still written by me, but the creative content is a joint effort of the two of us together.

So pull up your lab stool, sit back and enjoy the ride! Because I think we’re here for the long haul…

August 2009: FauxMaven and I are now on a semi-hiatus from fanfic as we attempt to make our mark in the world of original fiction. We will continue to publish our Bones stories, but at a much slower rate than before as we write our novel. But feel free to stop by and see how the process is going as we make our 'Blogging the Novel' entries outlining our journey through the wonderful world of writing and hopefully, in time, the wonderful world of publishing...

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