IS THAT POSSIBLE? "Fractured," has been out for about a year now and since then I've spoken at a number of author events. Invariably someone asks, "Is the science you talk about in the book real?" People want to know if it's possible to "print up" a bone. It seems too fantastic, like something Dr. McCoy would do on an episode of Star Trek. I hope to convince you it's not. Recall that in the story the two main characters, orthopedic surgeon Mark Thurman and stem cell scientist

In the days of the Wild West if a horse broke its leg in short order it would be staring at the barrel of a cowboy's six-shooter. Not much has changed. Even today, in the technological twenty-first century, with all the modern advances in medicine a broken leg in a horse is often a mortal injury. There are lots of reasons for this but it boils down to the fact that horses have to stand on all four limbs. If one is broken and can't bare weight then it's not long before problem

A principal character not introduced until the second chapter is the heroine of FRACTURED, Claire Hodgson, a vivacious stem cell biologist whose intellect, creative curiosity and professional ambition have propelled her into the ranks of the preeminent scientists in her field. Born and raised in Sydney she left Australia to continue her education and training. After completing a Ph.D. in cell biology and two post-doctoral fellowships Claire is now the director of the Stem Cel

Readers of FRACTURED may wonder about protagonist Mark Thurman’s dual roles in the book. He’s both an orthopedic trauma surgeon at a level I trauma center and the medical officer for the area SWAT Team. While at first, these roles may seem a bit paradoxical they're becoming more commonplace these days. Some might say these dual skills are becoming critically important. The SWAT team doctor is a new breed of physician, a hybrid of healer and soldier, and an increasingly necess

Bones are amazing. They are blessed with a remarkable structure formed from calcium phosphate crystals that are carbon fiber strong and packed with many cell types and blood vessels. Bones are vibrant structures. Unfortunately, in the pantheon of human organs bone doesn’t get the respect it deserves. When pondering how our bodies function bone is usually an afterthought, an under-appreciated element of our human form. Most don’t think of bone as an organ at all, like they do

This is the initial article in a series about the soon-to-be-released book, FRACTURED. The title was selected for its relevance to several themes that play out over the arc of the story. These themes involve things that can be fractured. Things like land, bones, and lives. This piece will focus on the first of these. In the initial chapter it's revealed that one of the main characters, John Bristow, owns farmland near Sanford, North Carolina that's saturated with natural gas.