Innovation, invention, the desire to be more than we are, these are traits that make us human, right?
But as our species has progressed, medicine and science have increasingly bashed heads with our sense of humanity.
There are strict moral guidelines drawn; what can be done, what can’t be done, so that we can stop ourselves from going too far. But what is too far, and who has the authority to decide that?
If science can help a desperate couple have a child, or allow them to choose a gender that won’t inherit an hereditary disease, shouldn’t we be able to stop their suffering?
And if you can choose a disease-free life for your child, would you want to eradicate a pre-disposition to obesity, or stupidity, or ugliness? Homosexuality? Wouldn’t that make their life easier too? After all, we all want the absolute best for our children.
I think we can all agree, a line needs to be drawn. But, I bet, every person you asked, would draw it in a different place.
So, if you could, what traits would you choose to eradicate?
Cutting the Bloodline is set in a future Britain that has successfully extinguished the criminal gene. With no crime, people are safe on the streets, even after dark. They can return to that nostalgic, golden era when everyone left their front doors unlocked. They can trust everyone they meet, implicitly. Does that sound good? Let me ask you this; what would you sacrifice for a world without crime?
As science moves forward, the genetic selection question has become more important, more prevelant, more controversial. In Cutting the Bloodline, I push it to the extreme. What happens when we choose scientific advancement over our own sense of humanity?
Humans have never managed to completely move beyond judging people based on their genetic makeup, valuing them by it, even fearing them for it. Could you abandon your newborn baby because it carries the criminal gene? Could you abort it? How about if you knew keeping it would mean daily abuse, violence, and exclusion from the people you once called neighbours and friends. Even family.
The idea of a criminal gene may be mere fantasy right now, but such dilemmas are real.
The desire to be more than we are, that’s a trait that makes us human, right? But can we ever find perfection? And what are we willing to sacrifice for it?
Originally written as a stageplay five years ago, Cutting the Bloodline is the debut novella from British horror and fantasy author Angeline Trevena.
Released on Kindle on May 12th, this adult dystopian thriller follows magazine journalist Kenton Hicks as he sets out to change the world.
Born and bred in a rural corner of Devon, Angeline now lives among the breweries and canals of central England, with her husband, their son, and a somewhat neurotic cat. She’s been writing since she was old enough to hold a pen, and has several short stories published in various anthologies and magazines.
After spending her formative years on the stage, she graduated in 2003 with a BA Hons Degree in Drama and Writing. While at university, she decided that her future lay in writing words, rather than performing them.
Cutting the Bloodline is set in a future Britain where people are tested for the criminal gene, where carriers are outcast, and babies testing positive are aborted. Kenton simply wants to gather the stories of those who have suffered, but as his book gathers pace, and he investigates further, he finds that the crime free-utopia they enjoy was sold to them on a lie.
While the government fight to protect that lie, there are others determined to expose it, by whatever means. Kenton finds himself pulled between everyone else’s agenda, while his own motivations start to become a little confused. But his book has the power to start a civil war, and he needs to figure out who’s on his side.
Tony Benson, author of dystopian thriller, An Accident of Birth, said “Cutting The Bloodline is a vivid portrayal of a scarily real future, and the man who risks his life to expose the truth. Insightful, original, imaginative, and a great read.”
Links
Buy the book from Amazon: http://authl.it/B00W3AP0VY
Angeline Trevena’s website: http://www.angelinetrevena.co.uk
Cutting the Bloodline – The Blurb
Not everyone is born innocent.
A generation of defective children were abandoned. They grew up on the fringes, without rights, without a way to change their fate.
Journalist Kenton Hicks is driven to tell their stories, but these are not stories everyone wants told. As he digs deeper, he finds that the discovery of the criminal gene, the foundation of their crime-free utopia, isn’t quite the salvation it promised to be.
Armed with a book that could bring down the government, Kenton finds the country’s future in his hands.
Some see him as a saviour, others as a traitor. It’s time for him to choose which he will become.
Angeline Trevena was born and bred in a rural corner of Devon, but now lives among the breweries and canals of central England. She is a horror and fantasy writer, poet and journalist. Cutting the Bloodline is her debut novella, and she has several short stories published in various anthologies and magazines.
In 2003 she graduated from Edge Hill University, Lancashire, with a BA Hons degree in Drama and Writing. During this time she decided that her future lay in writing words rather than performing them.
The most unlikely of horror writers, Angeline is scared of just about everything, and still can’t sleep in a fully dark room. She goes weak at the sight of blood, can’t share a room with a spider, but does have a streak of evil in her somewhere.
Some years ago she worked at an antique auction house and religiously checked every wardrobe that came in to see if Narnia was in the back of it. She’s still not given up looking for it.
