It’s just over one month until the release of A Glamour of Blood (insert happy dance here!), and celebrations will ensue. In the meantime, I’m feeling grateful that I finally have a bit more time to write down some of my thoughts about the book. 

A Glamour follows several of the characters from the True Born series in a new adventure, set in the fictional world of Dominion City. As some of you may recall, this is a world largely driven by environmental collapse and a resulting plague (which, at the time the novel begins, is wrapping up). 

The richest inhabitants of this world have the ability to “clean” their DNA of the disease through genetic manipulations, known as “Splicing.” Those who have had this form of treatment are known as Splicers, a segment of society who are much more likely to survive the plague. 

A separate class of people in this fictional world are known as True Borns, whose DNA expresses our ancient evolutionary past. Some, like central character Carl Chiba, have striking physical forms that express the reemergence of animal DNA. (Carl is a large, walking, talking, cigar smoking cat). 

Others like the ubiquitous Nolan Storm, appear human but also hold unique powers that mark their ‘otherness.’ What all the True Borns have in common — even with their more human counterparts — is that their genes hold history within them. Family history, evolutionary history, traumatic history. 

While this may sound like a bunch of science fiction gobbledygook, this fantastical premise is based on epigenetics, a field of science investigating the impact of our personal experiences on our health and that of our descendants, down through generations. 

A wealth of evidence has arisen from studying those who have suffered incredible tragedies – those who were prisoners of war, for instance, as documented in this wonderful article by the BBC , and how their experiences adversely impacted the outcomes of their children’s health and longevity. 

Essentially, the science shows, biological and social determinants of health (as well as socioeconomic factors) work in tandem to “predict” a person’s health and wellbeing. And while the genes themselves may not mutate, the expression of those genes will. 

Writers have the liberty of playing god with these scientific facts, and I will confess to being one of them. In the world of A Glamour of Blood, genes are everything. Bodies express not just generations, but aeons of cellular memory. 

What I loved exploring in this particular novel is how this mechanism works for those who are not considered True Borns, such as a group known as the Order of Cernunnos. A diaspora peoples, the Order literally encode their histories on their skin, in the form of tattoos. This visceral memory echoes their central faith in epigenetics (and, consequently, the superiority of True Borns). 

The book likewise makes a few outlandish suppositions, such as that Cernunnos (a mysterious figure of Celtic mythology) was once upon a time a living chimeric being who found ways to manipulate and transfer genetic materials through time and space. 

Genetic experiential coding is not a random and reactionary act for the Order. They believe that genetic expressions have been deliberately programmed, much like a cosmic clock, and for reasons known only to the great Cernunnos. 

The results of this epigenetic experimentation, however, are remarkable. They result in characters like Salvager (and main character) Serena Rogue, whose congenital eye failure is both a result and a reward of these genetic expressions. 

This is only the tip of the iceberg, though. Stay tuned as I have a lot more to say on A Glamour of Blood. In the meantime, the True Born series has just become available (for FREE!) on Kindle Unlimited (sorry folks, U.S. readers only) for six months!

A Glamour of Blood drops around the world on August 28.