Evolutionary Biology And Saving Seeds
I love many of the sciences. I follow the works of a gazillion scientists.
My favorite science is evolutionary biology – how lifeforms change over time to adapt to different conditions. This evolution is essential for survival. Our surroundings are changing. If we don’t change also, eventually we won’t survive where we currently are.
This is important. Especially now. Our climate is changing scarily quickly. Animals, plants, birds, insects, other lifeforms are struggling to match that fast pace.
Humans are attempting to help them. Experts are doing the bulk of that work. Some amateurs are trying also.
Then there’s me. (grins) I rank well below amateurs.
But I AM attempting to help by saving the seeds from the vegetables that survived the hotter, drier summer and managed to reproduce. The hope is…THEIR offspring will be better able to survive next summer.
Yes. (laughs) I’m doing the science.
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Cyn-Sights | Comments Off on Evolutionary Biology And Saving Seeds
Evolution And Climate Change
If I was to choose one science that I most loved, one science that most influences my writing, it would be evolutionary biology, the way living things change over time and under pressure.
There have been few greater pressures than that of climate change. The world around us is changing almost scarily quickly as the average temperatures increase.
But there is good news! Recent studies by Andrew Hendry, Michael Kinnison, and other colleagues have shown that some living organisms have been evolving as quickly as climate change and other human pressures have been unfolding. (Read the entire article here – https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/a-new-database-reveals-how-much-humans-are-messing-with-evolution/ ).
Female elephants, for example, are evolving to be devoid of tusks, due to humans hunting elephants with large tusks. Because these female elephants don’t have tusks, they tend to eat different plants, which is changing the landscape around them.
Fish tend to be smaller because humans are less interested in harvesting smaller fish. Smaller fish also don’t retain heat as much as larger fish do, which is a benefit in our warming oceans.
Electric pylons are often covered with zinc, which is toxic to most plants. Tufted hairgrass has evolved to be immune to zinc.
This gives me great hope that life will continue to survive on this wonderful planet of ours. These lifeforms will look different than they do now but these differences will ensure species endure and that is such an awesome prospect!
***
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Seizing Power
This cyborg believes he’s in control.
Power is the self-appointed leader of the cyborg council. Other members might debate situations. He makes the ultimate decisions.
When a threat to Homeland is revealed, he takes command of a fleet and ventures to the edge of cyborg-controlled space to investigate. He finds a rebellion led by a mysterious upstart he calls Cadet.
The plan Power derives is simple—he’ll quickly quash the uprising and teach its leader a lesson the warrior will never forget.
NO ONE challenges his authority.
Eirene Ours might be called a cadet by Power but she is NOT his subordinate. She is the arrogant E Model’s genetic match.
For much of her mature lifespan, she has desired the male, yearning for his dark-eyed gaze, craving his sure hands, longing for his respect.
That esteem was never granted. And Eirene Ours can no longer wait to earn it. There’s an external threat to their kind, a danger that might destroy them all.
Having lured Power to her home terrain, she now plans to use everything within her means — her fists, her daggers, her ship-destroying missiles — to pound that truth into her stubborn warrior’s thick metal skull.
The future of every cyborg is at stake. She can’t fail them.
Power will believe her. Or he will die.
***
Seizing Power is an enemies-to-lovers Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features an epic battle between two equally strong cyborg leaders, plans that go terribly yet passionately wrong, and a love that will shake the entire universe.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HT5RMH8
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HT5RMH8
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HT5RMH8
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/seizing-power/id1589084775
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seizing-power-cynthia-sax/1140305634
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seizing-power-2
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1108292
Topics: SciFi News | Comments Off on Evolution And Climate Change
The Future Of Humans
Recently, a reading buddy asked me, “Why do you think humans in the future will be the same as we are now? We could be better as a species.”
I LOVE these discussions. When some of my SciFi Romance buddies and I hang out virtually, these are the types of topics we talk about. I adore this sh*t, could happily talk about it forever.
We COULD be better as a species. Especially if we encounter an extinction-threatening event that forces us to either change or perish. That is absolutely possible.
But it is unlikely we’ll change much as a species in, say, a thousand years.
Physically, our changes will be minimal. We are very much the same today as we were in 1021. Humans evolve slowly. Researchers believe it would take about a million years or more to see a significant change. That’s because we reproduce slowly (the average first time mom in the US is 26 years old). And we’re mobile, have a wide selection of possible partners.
That means our brains are unlikely to change significantly. Some of our behaviors (like fight or flight) are hard-coded. We have basic urges (like the need to reproduce or survive). Unless our brains are altered, those will remain.
And that will drive behavior. Our technology might evolve but we will likely continue collecting resources, continue huddling together in the safety of groups. We will likely fight when faced with threats perceived or real.
As a species, significant change might be challenging. But as individuals, I believe we have the opportunity to be better, kinder, more generous, more loving humans. We can make Earth and the universe a more wonderful place..
***
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Under Strain
A damaged cyborg warrior is hunted by a peace-loving human female.
***
Strain is severely malfunctioning. The D Model cyborg was the sole survivor after a horrific decision was made by his cruel manufacturers. He hates all humans, and when he attacks one who is under his cyborg leader’s protection, he is reprimanded, stripped of his weapons, and told to watch and not actively participate in the next mission.
That mission takes place on a small remote planet. Its lush terrain should only be inhabited by the cyborgs they were sent to rescue, but Strain senses another presence on the surface. She is watching him, tracking him, hunting him.
A fully operational cyborg would end her lifespan.
Strain wants to claim her. Forever.
Kamyelle is the only one left of her kind. Warriors have killed the other nonviolent human inhabitants of her planet. She survived…barely…by hiding in the trees, observing her enemies, and covering herself with lifeform scan-concealing mud.
When a handsome, gray-skinned, brilliant-blue-eyed male arrives, surrounded by weapon-carrying warriors, she has to save him. Warriors harm and they kill. That is what they do.
She won’t allow them to hurt Strain.
***
Under Strain is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a broken warrior, a human female who thinks he’s perfect, and velociraptor-like dinosaurs who view them both as light, tasty snacks.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R322L7S
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08R322L7S
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08R322L7S
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/under-strain/id1545957749
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-strain-cynthia-sax/1138505613
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/under-strain
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10602
Topics: General SciFi Romance | Comments Off on The Future Of Humans
How I First Became Interested In Evolutionary Biology
I love evolutionary biology. It is the science most prevalent in my stories. I’m fascinated by how beings and creatures change and adapt to survive and thrive in different climates and terrains.
Why do ducks have webbed feet and chickens don’t? (Ducks have evolved for water. Their webbed feet help them swim.) Why do people living in hotter climates have darker skin than people living in cooler climates? (Melanin protects humans from harmful ultraviolet radiation.)
These questions interest me. Greatly.
Fjord Horse
I first became intrigued by evolutionary biology when I was a child. I didn’t know that was what it was called. I didn’t even know I was actively pursuing a science.
I LOVED horses (or hay burners, as my farming Granddad would call them – grins) and studied them thoroughly, taking out books from the library, learning every little detail about them.
When my family got our first computer (a Commodore 64), I crafted a program to input all of my horse facts. This database listed the different horse breeds with every detail I could find about them—their average heights, their common colorings, their origins, etc.
I noted, for example, how all thoroughbreds could trace their origins to three stallions, how they’d derived some of their characteristics from these stallions and some from the English mares.
Breeding is human-assisted evolutionary biology. Horses are selected to breed based on certain characteristics. In a thoroughbred’s case, the primary characteristic is speed.
Why horses have hooves also interested me. I completed a separate project, tracing the evolution of paws to hooves and the advantages hooves give horses in their terrain.
Paint Horse
I invested every spare moment I had into this research. When a teacher offered extra credit to students entering the science fair, I didn’t want to divert my efforts so I entered my database and the associated research projects.
I encountered a tiny snippet of the bias evolutionary biologists today endure. The judges didn’t know what to do with my project. One (male) judge told me pompously that it wasn’t ‘real’ science. There wasn’t an experiment he could touch or see. All I had done was gather information and test theories.
The science fair judges considered disqualifying me but, in the end, they relented, relaying that the massive amounts of programming I’d completed for the database deserved SOME recognition. I earned my extra credit and returned happily to my work on the database. (grins) I knew what I was trying to accomplish and who I was trying to accomplish it for—myself.
I didn’t realize that many years later, my fascination with evolutionary biology would lead to me writing hot and sexy romances featuring cyborgs and aliens.
***
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Doc’s Orders
She wants both sides of her cyborg—the medic AND the beast.
A fully functional cyborg is balanced. His machine half and his organic half work together to produce the perfect warrior.
Doc isn’t fully functional.
The G Model operates at the two extremes. When his machine is in complete control, he’s the logic-driven medic, saving lifespans. Once his organics take charge, he becomes the savage beast…and beings die.
Both sides of Doc want to be the first to claim his female.
Allinen is one of the few beings in her small settlement who wasn’t born with a fated mate. Determined to belong somewhere, she has crafted a plan to leave the planet.
That plan doesn’t involve a huge stormy-eyed male who alternates between cool seduction and out-of-control ravishment. Doc isn’t her fated mate. Allinen knows that. But his dual nature and forbidden embraces tempt her to forget forever and indulge in more immediate delights.
Neither side of Doc views their relationship as being temporary. Her conflicted cyborg is prepared to battle her family, her planet and death itself to keep her.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Apple/iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/docs-orders/id1463105812
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/docs-orders-cynthia-sax/1131529760
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/doc-s-orders
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938342
Topics: General SciFi Romance | Comments Off on How I First Became Interested In Evolutionary Biology
The Common Ancestor Theory And Interbreeding With Other Humanoids
I adhere to the common ancestor theory for my alien species.
As a lover of evolutionary biology, I enjoy starting with a common form for all beings and then showing how that form changes or evolves when a being is placed in a different environment. A humanoid living on a wet planet might evolve to have webbed feet, for example.
I also adhere to the common ancestor theory because genetically two species have to be very similar to have viable offspring. I LOVE babies. I want many of my characters to have babies. And, of course, I’m fascinated about how these babies will look and act. Will the baby have his daddy’s wings? Will he have his mommy’s curiosity?
How close genetically do two humanoid species have to be to have viable offspring? Well, if we look at our own human history, our ancestors (homos sapiens) interbred with Neanderthals and the Denisovans, taking traits from both of these species.
See the entire video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdYwMLSNHnU
Knowing this, I do think it is plausible that humanoids with a common ancestor could evolve on two very different planets and still be able to have beautiful babies.
***
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Doc’s Orders
She wants both sides of her cyborg—the medic AND the beast.
A fully functional cyborg is balanced. His machine half and his organic half work together to produce the perfect warrior.
Doc isn’t fully functional.
The G Model operates at the two extremes. When his machine is in complete control, he’s the logic-driven medic, saving lifespans. Once his organics take charge, he becomes the savage beast…and beings die.
Both sides of Doc want to be the first to claim his female.
Allinen is one of the few beings in her small settlement who wasn’t born with a fated mate. Determined to belong somewhere, she has crafted a plan to leave the planet.
That plan doesn’t involve a huge stormy-eyed male who alternates between cool seduction and out-of-control ravishment. Doc isn’t her fated mate. Allinen knows that. But his dual nature and forbidden embraces tempt her to forget forever and indulge in more immediate delights.
Neither side of Doc views their relationship as being temporary. Her conflicted cyborg is prepared to battle her family, her planet and death itself to keep her.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Apple/iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/docs-orders/id1463105812
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/docs-orders-cynthia-sax/1131529760
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/doc-s-orders
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938342
Topics: General SciFi Romance | Comments Off on The Common Ancestor Theory And Interbreeding With Other Humanoids
