Posted on November 21, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

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Go to Amazon:

Scroll down and click on Independently Publish with Us

On the left hand side, under ‘Self-Publish with Us’, click on ‘Kindle Books’. At the next screen, you’ll click ‘Sign in’ or ‘Sign up’ if you don’t have an account. Enter all the yackity-smackity they ask you for if you’re creating a new account.

Next, click on ‘Add New Title’. You’ll see a blue box titled ‘Introducing KDP Select’. That’s a promo program Kindle has where you can offer your book for free for up to five days in a 3-month period. I won’t go into detail here or advise whether or not you should use it; for now skip it. Scroll down to ‘1. Enter Your Book Details’ and begin to enter the information requested. Skip the ‘this book is part of a series’ and edition number stuff unless you have more than one edition of your…

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Fiction Character Development

Posted on November 21, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

When people learn that I write fiction, I’m often asked to describe my main characters and, specifically, they ask how I develop the concepts for those characters.  The answer is simple: from observing people in their everyday lives.  The long answer, however, is much more complex.

While it’s true that a character is often based on real life experiences, transforming a mental image of someone into a fictional character is an intricate process.  It’s comparable to applying multiple layers of varnish onto a raw piece of furniture.  You apply, buff, reapply and buff some more before the grains of finish develop depth and beauty.

In a similar way, character development layers all the components of a person (or several different people) in order to build a multi-dimensional being that the reader can connect with in the two-dimensional world of literature.

In the process of developing a character, I follow something I call my 3P Model.  I structure a character physiologically, psychologically and philosophically.

The Physical Aspects of a Character: You should have a good idea what your character looks like before conveying that to a reader.  Physical appearance is the first to lock down in your own mind.  Even if you never describe that character’s anatomical features, you should visualize a definite physical image.  Appearances often influence how others act around a person and, although we need not specifically state what a person looks like, hints at physical attributes give the reader much needed information to arrive at an accurate mental image, how the character acts and how others may react in their presence.

Keep in mind, however, that only rookie writers actually go into detail describing a character.  Instead of saying, “She’s five foot eleven, has red hair and weighs 110-lbs”, you might say, “Her legs went on forever, her waistline the envy of most women, her flaming hair a perfect complement to her peaches and cream complexion,” or some other subtle, more pictorial description.  Be creative, not biological, when describing characters.

The Psychology of the Character: A character’s mental state – their feelings and their perceptions of the world around them – drive their actions.  This is where background development becomes so important.  Create a virtual life for your main characters, a pedigree that makes them who they are and which determines their actions.  For example, a person raised in a loving family with close siblings would react differently in a given situation than a person who grew up in foster care or reform school.

It’s said that we are the product of our life experiences.  For readers to be able to connect with the characters we create, we have to construct full lives for those characters we write about.  That means where and how they were raised and educated and what sacrifices they endured to reach their present state of being.  Most of what you envision (preferably in a brief outline) will never actually be stated in your book unless it’s important for the story’s progress, but it provides valuable information to direct your character and the story.

Knowing how a character would feel in a scene provides important visual clues that you can use to indicate what a character is thinking and feeling without wasting dialogue.  For instance, a character fidgeting indicates nervousness and putting a hand over the mouth could express disbelief.

The reader should be satisfied that a character is acting appropriately in any given scene.  Your job as a writer is not only to write the scene but also to direct your characters to act accordingly.  A reader should never say, “Hmm, he would never have done that!” It takes the reader out of the story and you lose the reader’s emotional connection to the character.

The Character’s Philosophy: Each of us has opinions and beliefs about most any given subject.  Our characters should also to be definitive, and those distinct beliefs and philosophies are what drive the story one way or the other.  An indifferent character doesn’t make for good storytelling.

A character can be indecisive initially and that can create important dramatic tension, but then their inner principles must take over.  Without a character with strong viewpoints, there’s no reason for the character to take action and the story doesn’t progress.  Action moves a story forward and motivates our protagonists and antagonists to do what they should do to entertain the reader.

Characters should be good or evil, but rarely neutral.  Good and evil characters create and drive a story.  A villain’s selfishness and greed make good fiction as well as the altruistic concerns of a hero, but neutral characters don’t.  They may be necessary to create a realistic background, but they don’t propel the story to any formidable conclusion and are always secondary.

Finally, success is in the details.  A well-conceived character has likes, dislikes, and specific needs – just as real people do.  Everyone has merits, flaws and quirks.  Your dialogue and narrative should be peppered with those of your main characters.  The more these individual traits are exposed, the more emotional connection the reader has with a character.  Make your characters real and believable by first making them real to you.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Writing, Character development, Character Development Techniques, Protagonist Development, The Art of Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Flowering Plants – Beautiful But Deadly

Posted on November 14, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

As many of you know, I write about MURDER, MAYHEM and MEDICINE.  They’re the focus of my website, and my thrillers and suspense novels always contain a healthy dose of each.  With years of experience as a clinical pharmacist prior to evolving into a full-time writer, I have a wealth of pharmaceutical knowledge that I now use to conjure sinister plots.

Historically, drugs have been used both as instruments to cure as well as to kill.  As a healthcare professional, I sought to cure.  As a writer, I seek to kill (at least on paper or on screen, that is).  So is it any wonder that my weekly blog is called “Prescription for Murder”?

With that in mind, I came across an interesting news article the other day describing a drug that can both cure and kill.  The oleander plant (Nerium oleander) is a common shrub in warm Southern climates.  It grows as tall as twelve feet and produces beautiful, fragrant and colorful blossoms.

As I read the article describing a new drug being developed from the sap of the oleander, I remembered what my mother used to tell me.  “Stay away from the oleander.  It’s poison!”  So I decided to educate myself about this plant, and this is what I learned.

The oleander is indeed a poisonous plant.  The milky sap from the leaves and stems contain Oleandrin, a powerful cardiac glycoside so toxic that ingesting one leaf is reported to kill a small child.  Although documentation is poor regarding the exact toxicity of the sap, it’s been estimated that ingesting 15-20 leaves would kill a normal adult.

Symptoms of overdose include gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), cardiac (both lethal slowing and rapid increases in heart rates) and neurological (tremors, shaking muscles, seizures).

Oleandrin, properly prepared as a drug, has been used for years in Russia and China to treat congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia.  Interestingly, it’s been used also as an instrument of suicide in those countries.

Presently, Oleandrin is being studied as a promising anti-cancer treatment.  Patented drug extracts, developed by a company in San Antonio, Texas, may one day treat colon, pancreatic and prostate cancers as well as melanoma.  Tests are also being conducted on leukemia, certain lung cancers and HIV.  The primary focus of this company is to prevent and treat human malignant diseases by targeting the fast-growing cancer cells, and one of their formulas is already in Phase 1 clinical trials.

As I read about these new drug developments, I thought about how drugs have been used throughout the ages to cure and kill.  Ancient alchemy, as a precursor to modern pharmacology, produced wonderful, life-saving medicines while at the same time spawning lethal poisons for darts and arrows.  Modern pharmacology has furthered the science in much the same way—so many ways to cure and yet so many ways to kill.  As a writer, that gives me a multitude of plot ideas.  How about you?  Happy writing!

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, Drugs From Oleander Plant, Oleander Plant, Oleander Poisoning, Oleandrin, Pharmacy/Pharmaceuticals, Plant Poisons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Meningitis Murder

Posted on November 7, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Recently, a horrendous outbreak of fungal meningitis was reported in the news.  I watched in awe as the story evolved from a few isolated illnesses to 419 cases in 19 states that resulted in 30 deaths, at last count.

I write novels of murder and mayhem and, since I practiced clinical pharmacy long before becoming a writer, the plots in my stories usually involve a medicinal component.  Murder, Mayhem and Medicine are components of my (fictional) world these days, and these headlines have all the makings of my most sinister plots; but this horror is unfolding in real time and putting an ominous spotlight on compounding pharmacies.

News reports suggest negligence on the part of the compounding pharmacy involved and inspections by both the Massachusetts State Board of Pharmacy and the FDA resulted in shutting down the business.

First off, what are compounding pharmacies?  They are specialty pharmacies that create pharmaceutical products that fit the unique needs of a specific patient.

These special needs include: 1) changing the dosing form of a commercial medication (like crushing a pill into a liquid suspension or dissolving a drug powder into an IV solution); 2) developing a drug dose similar to a commercial product but without inert ingredients that a patient may be allergic to; 3) formulating the exact dose needed (such as making a higher concentration than a commercially available drug); or 4) adding flavor to a medication (often used with children who require therapies with adult dose medications).

Compounding pharmacies are the modern version of where ancient chemists created medicines from plants and roots.  The coal tar compounds of the 19th century and the primitive sulfa antibiotic formulas of the early 20th century are the results of such compounding practices.

While there are only a few such compounding pharmacies in any large community (and maybe none in smaller communities), these specialty pharmacies provide a much-needed service to patients and their physicians when a required therapy is not commercially available.  But the traditional triangular relationship of physician-pharmacy-patient still remains: orders occur for a specific patient for a specific need from a specific physician.

When a compounding pharmacy goes beyond those parameters and distributes hundreds and thousands of drug doses to multiple clinics outside of a local geographic community, then that pharmacy operates outside of the laws of pharmacy practice and functions as a drug manufacturer.

A drug manufacturer makes FDA-approved prescription drugs for mass distribution in predetermined strengths and dosage forms.  The FDA also requires drug manufacturers to follow Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP).  Specific state boards of pharmacy do not require or enforce such regulations since pharmacies don’t mass market their products.

When a pharmacy moves its business model away from the traditional physician-pharmacy-patient relationship, it no longer acts as a pharmacy.  When the business model includes providing specific dosing to multitudes of clinics in multiple states, then that business has transitioned into a drug manufacturer, and the governing agencies and the regulations change.

In such a case, the state’s board of pharmacy would no longer be the agency governing the business.  The FDA would become responsible for regulating the safe operation of that business and may well require the product distributed to go through a new drug approval process.

The pharmacy in the news recently was shut down for several reasons.  It appears that they were functioning as a manufacturer, but not licensed as one, and distributing large quantities of sterile injections across state lines to multiple clinics.  Such injections, called epidural injections, are accepted medical practices and the clinics practiced within acceptable guidelines because they trusted that the product they were injecting was manufactured according to Current Good Manufacturing Practices.  But the FDA was not regulating the business since it was licensed as a pharmacy.

This fact has the FDA, the Massachusetts State Board of Pharmacy, the governor of Massachusetts and the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives scrambling to come up with tougher laws and regulations to track the volume and distribution of compounded drugs.

Presently, there’s a “legal gray area” between state and federal agencies in this regard and a “regulatory black hole” for this type of pharmacy.  Legitimate compounding pharmacies play an important role in today’s healthcare industry, but definite rules must be enforced when a pharmacy transitions from providing specifically compounded prescriptions and crosses that line into mass production and distribution of drug products.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, Compounding Phamracy, Meningitis Outbreak | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Flesh-Eating Horror

Posted on October 31, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Since today is All Hallows’ Eve, commonly called Halloween, I thought a little bit of horror was in order.  I won’t bore you with what you already know: that it’s the eve of All Saints’ Day in some Christian religions and historically is the Festival of the Dead with deep pagan roots.

In modern times, Halloween has evolved into a day and night of fun and festivities in which the more outrageous and ridiculous wins over anything normal and real.  Most popular in recent years are zombie festivals to celebrate Halloween with a healthy dose of flesh-eating creatures, and the costumes are enough to scare the most jaded.

But with a medical background and having dealt with many unusual bacterial infections in my career, I know there are real flesh-eating creatures out there that can put a zombie wannabe to shame.

The real horror story is that flesh-eating bacteria exist and cases are definitely on the rise.  Medical professionals attribute the increased incidence to two important reasons: better diagnostic tools that more accurately identify the culprits before they kill and the failure of standard antibiotic therapies due to resistant strains (more on that in a minute).

About 750 people each year suffer from such infectious attacks and one in five die as a result.  That’s a 20% death rate!  The odds that you could outrun a zombie would be better than escaping these deadly bacteria once they get under your skin.

So what are flesh-eating bacteria and how do they attack us?  Medically, the disease is known as Necrotizing Fasciitis, a relatively rare infection of the deeper layers of skin and the tissue that lies under skin (the hypodermis or subcutaneous tissue).  Once the offending bacteria invade subcutaneous tissue, they spread easily within the hypodermal layers and cause irreversible tissue damage.

But the term “flesh-eating” is a misnomer since bacteria don’t actually eat flesh.  Instead, they cause destruction of skin and muscle tissue by releasing toxins that destroy muscle.  The bacteria attack the underlying tissue by entering the skin through a scratch or cut.  Without an entry into the subcutaneous tissue, any of these bacteria usually remain relatively harmless; but give them an opening to underlying muscle tissue and they can be deadly.

Patients often experience flu-like symptoms initially, and this can delay proper diagnosis.  Initial symptoms include nausea, vomiting and dizziness.  Progression to localized pain, swelling, a purplish discoloration, scaling and peeling of skin usually signal the patient and caregiver that something more serious is going on; but that’s when it’s almost too late.

Early initiation of specific antibiotic therapy is crucial to prevent the spread of infection to surrounding tissue, but it can take less than 24 hours for these bacteria to invade and produce destructive toxins that destroy tissue.  So vital muscle is often lost well before the disease is identified.

At that point, the only sure treatment is removal of the infected area to prevent toxin migration into surrounding skin and muscle.  Skin and muscle grafts are then utilized to replace removed tissue.  When the infection has spread to large muscle areas, amputation is sometimes the last treatment option remaining to prevent further disease from spreading into healthy tissue.

Several types of bacteria are considered flesh-eating entities.  Surprisingly, the most common are those that are literally the most common, and that is where the horror lies.

Staphylococcus aureus—the simple bacterium that causes pimples, boils and abscesses—can be quite aggressive and deadly.  It’s the bacterium behind many pneumonias and toxic shock syndrome.  The medical community is becoming more and more concerned about these bacteria because a certain type, the Methicillin-resistant Staph A (MRSA), is resistant to most antibiotics and few new antibiotics are effective against this strain.

Group A Streptococcus, the bacteria that causes strep throat, and Clostridium perfringens, the bacteria from marine sediment and decaying vegetation that results in gangrene, are the next most common flesh-eating bacteria and they can be as deadly as Staph aureus.

So when you’re thinking about all the ghouls and goblins that show up on Halloween, you might think about taking a microscopic look at your skin to see the real ghouls of nature and, like a vampire, don’t invite them in.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, Flesh Eating Bacteria, Halloween Blog, Necrotizing Fasciitis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Medicine Cabinet and Kids – A Deadly Combo

Posted on October 24, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Poison Control Centers across the nation introduced a new initiative this year called “Safe Kids”.  In conjunction with that, Safe Kids Worldwide unveiled a new initiative called “Safe Storage, Safe Dosing, Safe Kids”.

Poison Control Centers are focusing on this initiative because of some staggering new statistics that spotlight the fact that poisons alone are not the only child safety issue in the home.

Medications that we commonly have in our medicine cabinets potentially could pose an even greater risk.  EACH DAY approximately 165 kids are seen in emergency rooms after ingesting prescription medications.  That’s roughly four school busloads of kids!

An even more sobering statistic is that of the children taken to emergency rooms for accidental medication overdoses, 95% swallowed the products while being unsupervised.  Only in 5% of the cases did a caregiver make a dosing error.  This translates to one simple fact: we as parents and caregivers are not doing enough to keep medications out of the reach of our children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that, although the overall U.S. deaths due to poisoning among children plunged by half between 1979 and 2006, the percentage of those deaths from medications (both prescription and over-the-counter products) nearly DOUBLED from 36% to 64%.

If a single factor for this increase in medication related deaths were identified, the answer to this problem would be simple.  Unfortunately, the solutions are rarely so obvious.

The reality is that these skyrocketing statistics are due to a multitude of factors.  They include:

1)   More available medications in the home

2)   Improperly stored medications at home

3)   Rising number of households with multiple generations, especially the elderly

4)   Unsupervised children (who just love to put things into their mouths)

5)   The natural curiosity of children, especially when medications look like candy

6)   Momentary or intermittent unsupervised periods (like a parent or caregiver going to the bathroom)

7)   Caregivers who mistakenly think “child resistant” packaging means “child proof”

8)   Thinking that “over-the-counter” (OTC) means the medication is not harmful in large quantities

The statistics show that we are doing a much better job of keeping household cleaners and other chemical poisoning out of the reach of children.  The question is, what can we do to keep medications out of their hands?  A simple solution is to LOCK DRUGS AWAY the same way we do with the most dangerous household cleaners.  Simply LOCK MEDICATIONS out of sight and that does the trick.

When my children were young and inquisitive (still inquisitive but not so young now), the medications in our home were locked in a toolbox and put up high in a closet.  A metal toolbox, an inexpensive padlock and finding a secure hiding place will exponentially decreased the risk of kids getting into any medication.

The same advice goes to grandparents and other caregivers when our loved ones come over for a visit.  Remember, tragedy can happen in an instant (while we’re in the bathroom, while taking out the trash, etc), so be prepared and put some forethought into the potential dangers to our little visitors.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them.

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, Drug Misadventures, Drug Overdoses in Children, Drug Poisoning, Drug Poisoning in Children, Pharmacy/Pharmaceuticals | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Killers from the Sea – Part 2

Posted on October 17, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

In last week’s blog we talked about the pufferfish and it’s lethal tetrodotoxin as a murder weapon.  Today I’d like to discuss a couple of other interesting sea toxins that could be used as instruments of murder to kill off characters in your stories of intrigue.

Saxitoxin:  This toxin is produced from marine plankton contaminated with toxic algae such as, Blue-green algae and Red Tide (as discussed in my blog on harmful algae blooms).  Saxitoxin is abbreviated as STX and is alternately referred to as Paralytic Shellfish Toxin (PST) or Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP).  This toxin accumulates in shellfish (clams, mussels and scallops) when they consume tainted plankton.

This chemical is highly toxic and can kill in very small oral doses (as little as 0.5mg for a normal sized person).  If the toxin is injected or applied to an open wound, only one-tenth of that oral dose would be needed to kill (a minute 0.05mg).

Poisoning by inhalation, however, requires larger doses (about ten times the oral dose), but that’s still a mere 5mg and certainly smaller than some other aerosolized poisons.

Such small deadly doses make saxitoxin a major cause for concern as a weapon of terrorism, but more importantly this toxin can be synthesized in a lab rather than harvested from infected shellfish for potential use as a chemical weapon.

Saxitoxin is about 1000 times more toxic than sarin nerve gas.  In fact, saxitonin already has a military history.  The United States previously designated it as a chemical weapon and provided saxitoxin-impregnated needles to elite US soldiers as suicide tools for use if captured and tortured for top-secret information.

It has been said that U2 pilot Gary Francis Powers had a hollow silver dollar on his person when he was shot down in 1960 over Soviet airspace and that it contained an STX-impregnated needle to use at his discretion.

The symptoms of PST and PSP involve paralyzing the nervous system but the unset involves a “flaccid paralysis”, leaving the victim calm, relaxed and conscious before paralysis sets in.  Death ultimately results from respiratory failure when the muscles of the diaphragm cease functioning.

Ciguatera:  This food borne toxin causes illness in humans from contaminated reef fish.  The source of the contamination is from marine microalgae called dinoflagellates found in tropical and subtropical waters and which transfer to fish as they feed.  Since larger fish feed on smaller ones (and the smallest consume the microalgae), the toxin moves up the food chain.  Predator species near the top of the chain are more likely to cause illness because of the greater concentration of toxins from multiple feeds on contaminated fish.

The toxin is odorless and tasteless.  It’s very heat-resistant, so conventional cooking does not detoxify the seafood.  The good news is that this toxin produces illness more often than death.

The symptoms of ciguatera poisoning are GI distress (nausea, vomiting) and a variety of neurological symptoms (such as, tingling fingers and toes, vertigo and hallucinations).  An interesting neurological effect is that the victim may find that cold things feel hot and hot things feel cold.  The poisoned person may even be misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Even though the toxin may not be lethal, there is no cure and symptoms can range from short-term to long-term.  The victim may recover in days to weeks but the effects of ciguatera poisoning may last for years (even 20 years or longer) and can cause long-term disabilities (coordination and communication issues).  Most recover slowly over time, but it should be noted that during the recovery process exercise could trigger onset of further symptoms.  A particularly nasty villain in your novel might get what he deserves with such a toxin.

Fortunately, there are lab tests to detect the presence of this toxin and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry is most often used.  Previous to this science, “folk detection” was used to detect contaminated fish: ancient cultures determined that flies would not land on such fish and silver coins were put under the scales of a fish—if the coin turned black, the fish was not eaten.  One can assume that the owner was happy to have a tarnished coin to spend on something other than a funeral.

As with my previous postings on murder weapons, I hope these thoughts have stimulated your creative juices to plan and plot unusual murder scenarios that will delight and hold the interest of your readers.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Writing, Ciguatera, Ciguatera Poisoning, Saxitoxin, Saxitoxin Poisoning, Weapons From the Sea | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Killers from the Sea – Part 1

Posted on October 10, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

In last week’s blog, I discussed Water Poisons, specifically Cyanobacteria and Red Tide.  Today I want to dive deeper (pun intended) into the subject of sea toxins and discuss one of my favorites: Fugu.

Specifically, Fugu is the Japanese pufferfish and the dish prepared from it.  Often, however, the term is used for the tetrodotoxin poison (TTX for short) in the fish.  Pufferfish eat other sea creatures that have been infected with the TTX bacteria prevalent in some waters and the toxin collects in the liver, ovaries and on the skin of the this fish.

Proper handling of the fish during food preparation insures that the toxin is separated effectively.  Additionally, there are fish farms specializing in TTX-free fish to guarantee that the fish are never exposed to TTX-laden food.

The meat of this fish is used in some gourmet sashimi and chirinabe dishes.  Interestingly, the liver of pufferfish is said to be the most delectable, as well as the most poisonous, and special care must be taken to assure that a TTX-free liver is used.

TTX is extremely toxic, about 100 times more poisonous than cyanide.  This murder method has been used successfully in television crime shows and in novel plots, so you might want to do further research to invent more creative ways of administering the poison than what has already been done.

The Fugu tetrodotoxin can be ingested, injected, inhaled or absorbed through broken skin.  So your victim could consume the toxin, have it injected into a vein, inhale the poison or have it rubbed into an open wound.  There are so many ways to use this poison, and that versatility will certainly feed the imagination of writers developing murder scenes.

Symptoms from ingestion of this toxin usually begin with paralysis of the lips and tongue.  Excessive salivation follows shortly after and the heart begins to pound and race to 100bpm or more.  Sweating, headache, loss of sensation, general weakness and lack of muscle coordination exhibit next.  A sudden fall in blood pressure precedes seizures and cardiac arrhythmias.  The symptoms also include severe nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Since TTX is a neurotoxin and paralytic agent, the victim is totally paralyzed as the toxin shuts down nerve impulses (the electrical signals that tell our body what to do and how to feel).  The interesting part is that the victim remains fully conscious during the process and death results from total paralysis of the diaphragm.  The victim simply stops breathing and dies from asphyxiation.  It’s a painful death for sure and with full realization of what is about to happen.

The lethal effects from ingesting or inhaling the toxin usually begin within 30 minutes, with a more rapid onset from direct injection.  Less direct methods, such as application to broken skin, could take up to four hours for symptoms to appear.

There is no known antidote for the Fugu tetrodotoxin, but immediate respiratory support increases the survival rate.  Additionally, the drug fampridine, a treatment option for multiple sclerosis, has been used in some cases to alleviate TTX toxicity.  This drug has been shown to reverse the progression of the paralysis and is a useful tool to save your protagonist from death by pufferfish poisoning.

Next week, I’ll highlight more poisons from the sea.  Until then, enjoy writing your next murder scene.  As for me, I can already picture scenes materializing in my mind.

Thought?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Writing, Fugu Poisoning, Pufferfish Poisoning, Tetrodotoxin | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Water Poisons

Posted on October 3, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

“Water, water every where, and nor any drop to drink.”  This quote from The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge came to mind the other day while watching news feeds regarding a spectacular increase in TOXIC BLOOMS on lakes all across the country.

Life cannot exist without water and that’s why NASA’s primary test for life on other planets is evidence of water.  But water is rarely pure; it’s the most common solvent, and the water in our lakes, rivers and seas can become quite toxic and DEADLY.

Toxic blooms that cause adverse effects are called Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs).  They grow naturally as a response to changes in the chemical content of water (like increases in nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer runoff) or changes in pH (how acid or alkaline the water is).  HABs can also deplete the oxygen and block sunlight from water, thereby adversely affecting marine life.

But HAB toxins also harm humans who come into contact with them.  There are two main HABs that create the most havoc.  They are Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae or pond scum) and Red Tide (from the Karenia brevis algae).  So, here’s a suggestion: concentrated levels of harmful algae could be used as poisons in your next murder mystery.

Cyanobacteria – There are both toxic producing and non-toxic strains of these algae.  Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae that’s non-toxic, specifically because it’s free of microcystins (more on that in a minute).  The toxic varieties (like what was reported recently on the news) should never be ingested.  Consumption produces abdominal cramps, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.  And more concentrated ingestion can lead to liver damage and severe digestive issues.  Prolonged exposure to skin causes irritating rashes.  They also adversely affect the nervous system since they are neurotoxins (adversely affecting our brain and peripheral nerves).

Most varieties of Cyanobacteria (50 – 70%) are harmful, and that’s because most contain naturally occurring poisons (neurotoxins) in their cells.  These toxins are called microcystins and are primarily responsible for the health issues associated with toxic blooms.  Microcystins are extremely stable (both to cold and heat as well as changes in pH).  For that reason, boiling water does not remove them.  Filtering is the only way to purify water contaminated with microcystins.  For my fiction-writing friends, filtration is also a great method to capture concentrations of the toxin for drying into a powder.

Red Tide – This type of toxic bloom is most harmful to marine life, particularly shellfish in contaminated waters.  Humans become ill as a result of eating the shellfish.  This is known as neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP).  NSP exhibits in a number of ways: gastritis (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea) and neurological symptoms (slurred speech, memory loss, lack of muscle control).  Symptoms can range from minor to severe, depending on the concentration levels consumed.  It’s conceivable that a person could become totally paralyzed if enough SNP were ingested.  There have also been cases of asthma-like symptoms occurring when the toxin was inhaled.

So water is not only the GIVER of life.  It can also TAKE AWAY life when there’s toxic baggage wrapped around its molecules.  Next week I’ll discuss more sources of death coming from the sea, so stay tuned.

Thought?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Writing, Neurological Poisons, Toxic Bloom Poisoning, Water Poisons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Hyphens and Dashes

Posted on September 26, 2012 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Hyphens and dashes are two distinctly different punctuation marks and a proper understanding of each will avoid embarrassing mistakes in your writing.  Will anyone get MURDERED as a result of using the wrong one in the wrong place?  No, but their proper use is part of the process that makes a writer stand out as exceptional.  Use them erroneously and your publisher might just KILL your story without reading further.

There are actually three distinct types of dashes: one is the commonly used Hyphen, and the other two are called the En Dash and the Em Dash.  Let’s take a separate look at these for a better understanding of how and when to use them.

The Hyphen: This literary device, a short dash, is used in three areas of punctuation to link words or parts of words together.

They can be used to join compound words (like good-natured).  The joining can be between an adjective and a noun (sugar-free), between a noun and a participle (custom-built) and between an adjective and a participle (good-looking).  Modern literature has relaxed the use of hyphens a little and such connections are not utilized as often as they once were.  Now you’ll see words smashed together as one or simply used separately.

Hyphens also join prefixes to other words in such a way as to convey a specific meaning, as in re-cover meaning to cover over something as opposed to recover meaning to overcome some difficulty.

Lastly, hyphens show a word break, like at the end of a sentence when the word is broken into syllables and part remains on one line while the rest of the word goes into the following line.

Thus, hyphens only join words together and separate syllables.  When phrasing punctuation is needed, that’s when the other two, and longer, dashes are utilized.

The En Dash: This mark is used to express a range of values or a distance, and is often used in place of the word “to”.  We can express an age range (from 40 – 60) or a distance (from New York – California) by using such a dash.  It’s called the En dash because it takes the space of a lower case n in print.  Usually, your computer will convert double dashes to an En Dash when adding a space between the previous word and the dashes and a space before the next word.

The Em Dash: This punctuation mark is the most interesting because its use can create heightened drama.  For that reason it’s being used more often by modern fiction writers.  This type of dash is a mark of separation, not of words but of phrases and thoughts.  It’s used for three specific reasons—when something stronger than a comma is needed, when the writer wants punctuation less formal than a colon or when more relaxed punctuation than a set of parentheses is appropriate.  On most computers, it automatically comes up when double hyphens are used without spacing between the previous and following words.  It’s a longer dash and called the Em Dash because it takes up the spacing of a capital M in print.

This punctuation device is used when the writer wants extra emphasis on a phrase or part of a sentence.  The famous grammarian William Strunk, Jr. is credited with specifying the proper use of the Em Dash.  He said that it is used to indicate an abrupt stop or change in tone or thought (such as, “But I thought you’d—wait a minute, what are you doing?”), to insert a second thought, update or correction (such as, “I thought you’d be interested—but then you’re never interested in what I say.”) or to emphasize a dramatic pause (such as, “You said you’d come early—and you’re late!”).

In conclusion, the process of editing the written word is a painstaking process.  The proper use of punctuation is extremely important to enhancing your reputation as a GREAT WRITER.

Thoughts?  Comments?  I’d love to hear them!

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Writing, Hyphens, Hyphens and Dashes, Proper Punctuation in Writing, Punctuation Marks, Use of Dashes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments