Deselecting girls -- choices and consequences

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal, the weekend edition, contained a book review by Jonathan Last about Mara Hvistendahl's Book, Unnatural Selection; Choosing Boys over Girl and the Consequences of a World Full of Men. Hvistendahl writes about countries which regulate, promote or condone the preferential birthing of boys.  As my readers know, my mystery,  A POINTED DEATH, deals with this subject, although I can't say how as it might spoil the plot for you. The author makes several frightening points. Some really big countries like China and India are involved in sex selection favoring males, the anti-girl families are the rich ones not the poor, and societies with more men tend to be more violent. She also note that cultures with fewer women don't hold females more dear, rather the opposite, the women are more likely to be exploited. Also, she notes, big countries with too many men steal women from small countries.

Both the author and the reviewer ponder the impact of gendercide on the right to have an abortion. One result might be the narrowing or loss of abortion rights. I would prefer to focus less on the fear of losing rights and more on changing for the better the perceived value of women.

It is sad to contemplate the prospects of women in countries where political, economic and cultural constraints make having daughters such an undesirable outcome. We need a lot of wattage to shine the beacon of female equality, opportunity, intellect and productivity into the dark corners of the globe.

China's cyberassaults: life imitates genre

Today, on the opinion page of the WSJ is an article by Richard Clarke opining about China's assault on the computer networks of America's businesses and the need for the US government to do something about it. This scenario is very close to the plot of my mystery thriller, A POINTED DEATH, which deals with the stealing of industrial intellectual property and biological samples in the biotechnology industry. Sadly, truth is imitating fiction, although I am not claiming any huge prescience or originality here. The Chinese certainly give fiction writers s lot of fodder when it comes to nefarious doings. It is kind of like the Russians during the Cold War; an author just couldn't resist making them the heavies. These days we have a lot of evil actors to choose from, but when it comes to cyber-hacking, it is pretty clear who leads the pack.

A Pointed Death (The Pointer Mysteries)

One-Child Rule in the News

Image via Wikipedia

The parenting regulations of the Chinese government that featured in my mystery, A POINTED, DEATH, were the subject of an article in the Wall Street Journal today. The Commission which oversees the policy, decided to keep it in place for another five years, according to the story, written by Jeremy Page. The one-child rule has produced a significant gender imbalance in China in the thirty years it has been in place.

As a single lady, it is interesting to fantasize about a world with a lot of spare men. Generally, women are used to the situation being the other way round. But in the real world, imbalances either way cause social, economic and even international problems.

As with social policies the world over, the rules don't apply to everyone. Certain groups are exempted, and if you have money, you pay a fine when you have a second kid. Sounds like the Obamacare setup. Page reported that one proposal floating around is a two-child policy which would be implemented across the board. But as with all such regulatory systems, a few years would elapse and the same sort of exemptions would probably begin to creep in.

Perhaps they could come up with a trading system comparable to energy credits. Every citizen would receive the same number of credits which could be used if they wished to have a child, or traded to someone who wished to have more than one child. Infertile people could give their credits to siblings or friends, perhaps in return for a promise of a little help from the bonus youngster when they enter their childless old age. Or they could just sell the credits to the highest bidder and sock the money away for a rainy day. Gosh, once you start down this social engineering path, the possibilities are endless. . . and scary.

Of course, the plot of A POINTED DEATH was scarier than this, but you'll have to read the book to find out how and why. :)

Related articles

• China considers relaxing one-child policy (guardian.co.uk)
• China Discusses Its One-Child Policy (online.wsj.com)

A Pointed Death Trailer

I forgot to post a blog link to the trailer of my mystery on YouTube. The trailer was produced for me by the folks at PumpUpYourBook.com. Enjoy!

A Pointed Death Trailer

My Mystery, A Pointed Death, is available on Amazon.com

My book, A Pointed Death, the first novel in the Pointer Mystery Series, is now available on Amazon.com. The Kindle version will be available within the month. I am publishing the mysteries under the pen name of Kath Russell.

Here is some of the promo copy for your reading pleasure --

"A Pointed Death is a comical mystery thriller set in the world of technology, featuring a feisty female heroine and her shorthaired pointer, Skootch.

Set against a wild and wacky backdrop of San Francisco, the epicenter of the biotech industry, A Pointed Death tells a smart, funny, and chilling story of espionage and modern love. Techno whiz Nola Billingsley finds her former employee, an amoral creep who stole secrets from startup companies, murdered. She begins a flirtation with the inspector assigned to the case, and counts on her shorthaired pointer Skootch to watch her back as she’s hurled into a world of danger and deceit. Smart, witty, and playful, A Pointed Death looks at both the landmines in today’s technology as well as the perils of romance, and introduces a feisty female heroine you won’t forget."