Y Negative by Kelly Haworth
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover art by Jay Aheer
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to welcome Kelly Haworth here today to talk to us about her latest novel Y Negative and give us a little insight into the inspiration and science inside the story. Welcome, Kelly.
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Hi guys! I’m Kelly Haworth here with my debut release Y NEGATIVE. At various stops on this book tour, I’ll be sharing with you what it’s like to live in Ember’s world: where mascs rule and a guy’s gotta fight for his right to live and love freely. Posts will range from what the difference between a masc and an andro is, to what on earth a guy does for fun in a dystopia. Hope you come along for this in-depth look. You’ll also have a chance to win a $20 Riptide voucher!
Please follow the tour to check out all the stops.
Counting all the little X’s – The Genetics of Y Negative by Kelly Haworth
Okay guys. Here’s the deal. I have a degree in genetics, and a big inspiration for Y Negative involved me completely geeking out over weird genetics and rare genetic disorders. I’ll be discussing those in this blog, and things get a bit technical. You have been warned!
Ember lives in a world that has been rebuilt from the ground up. Everyone knows something happened to mankind to make the world the way it is now, but only the scientists really care to investigate what that event may have been. Nuclear bombs? An asteroid? A volcanic eruption? Whatever happened, I figured that the human population dipped so low that there could be some truly science-fiction-esque changes. Essentially, the Y chromosome is gone. Instead, the genes that make a biological male fully functional, what I call the “Y-gene cluster,” have relocated to an X chromosome. What this means is that Y Negatives (biological females) have the genetic make-up of “XX”, and mascs (biological males) are “XXY”.
It turns out that “XXY” actually exists in our world. It is called Klinefelter syndrome, and is a genetic disorder that occurs randomly in the human population. These males are sterile, and only sometimes are there other symptoms, which can include weaker muscles and breast tissue. Occasionally, the symptoms are severe enough to warrant testosterone injections. You can read more about this disorder here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter_syndrome.
The variation of symptoms in Klinefelter syndrome is due to a process called “X-inactivation.” This is the same process that allows a female calico cat to have her distinct markings. In all individuals with two X chromosomes, each cell randomly turns off one of them. Cats happen to have fur color genes on their X chromosomes. So the patterns of a calico’s fur are due to different parts of her skin turning off different X chromosomes, and thus displaying different colors. Think of it like each part of her skin threw dice to determine which color fur it’d grow. All female humans also undergo X-inactivation, though there’s no convenient color difference for you to see it happening (thank god.). But in Ember’s world, all females and males have two X chromosomes, and as we just learned with Klinefelter syndrome, males have a hard time with two X chromosomes.
When I learned about Klinefelter syndrome, I knew it applied to my boys and that I wanted it in the book. Though, I did take liberties to fit my science fiction world, seeing as every male would be at least XXY. Namely, my males aren’t sterile, and fewer males show symptoms than we would expect to see. The guys who do show symptoms are called exins. Get it? “X-in”activation? Hah!
Exins are usually in the same social circles as mascs; they’re just one of the guys. But if they are known to have particularly severe symptoms, or if they need to inject testosterone, they will most likely be ridiculed by their peers. Also, in Ember’s world, exins tend to be shorter, though in the real world, Klinefelter males tend to be taller.
Now I want to look at the bigger picture. In Y Negative, homosexual relationships are the norm. Given the quirky genetics I mentioned above, this leads to a pivotal rebalancing of society. Technology exists that allows two biological males to father a child through the use of in-vitro fertilization. So when young Y negatives (biological females) have their eggs harvested, the genetic material in the eggs is discarded, so that the genetic material from two masc fathers is used instead. The resulting child is a biological descendent of both fathers (I actually call them “dad” and “father” because using the same name would have been totally confusing, right?). So let’s look at the percentages using a diagram called a Punnett Square:
Assuming each male has one regular X chromosome, and another that carries the Y-gene cluster, he has a 50% chance of passing either chromosome to his offspring. You may notice that only one of the above 4 boxes is going to be female (XX). That means there’s only a 25% chance of these two mascs having a female child.
What this means for Ember is that he’s living in a world where at the very most, only 1 in 4 people are female. And Ember points out to the reader that the percentage is a bit less—it’s closer to 20%. With so few females in this world, so few Y negatives and andros, is it any surprise that they have become second class citizens? That their voices have become so quiet as to not be heard? This gives you a glimpse at some of the prejudice that Ember faces as an andro, a biological female, in this male-dominated world. It’s a good thing that he is stubborn as hell and isn’t going to take that kind of shit lying down.
Thanks for joining me on this rather technical post, I hope to see you at the next stop of the tour!
About the Book
In the last surviving cities of a ruined world, the concept of “woman” has been forgotten to history. Those unfortunate enough to lack a Y chromosome live as second-class citizens in a world dominated by mascs.
Ember is Y negative. He is scorned, bullied, abused by every masc he encounters, at work and at the gym. Not even his Y negative roommate cuts him any slack. He wants so desperately to be accepted as a masc that he’d rather buy black market testosterone than food. Something’s gotta give—he needs a change in his life, but has no idea how to find it.
Jess is a masc with a passion for studying the recovery of their devastated world. His boyfriend is pressuring him for more commitment, and his father expects him to take over the family business. He can’t wait to get away from civilization for his seasonal research out in the wild.
When Jess offers Ember a job, their lives collide in the isolated wasteland, and their initial attraction turns into a relationship that horrifies those around them. Soon their struggle to stay together and to be who they are turns into a fight for their lives.
Buy It Here: “http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/y-negative“
About the Author
Kelly Haworth grew up in San Francisco and has been reading science fiction and fantasy classics since she was a kid. She developed way too active an imagination as a result, thus, she started writing. Being genderfluid and pansexual, she loves to write LGBTQ+ characters in genres such as science fiction with diverse aliens, and urban fantasies with shifters and fire sorcerers. With degrees in both genetics and psychology, she works as a project manager at a genetics lab. When not working or writing, she can be found wrangling her toddler, working on cosplay, or curled up on the couch with a good TV show or a good book.
Connect with Kelly:
The Giveaway
To celebrate the release of Y Negative, Kelly is giving away $20 in Riptide Publishing credit! Your first comment at each stop on this tour enters you in the drawing. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on November 21, 2015. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Follow the tour for more opportunities to enter the giveaway! Don’t forget to leave your email or method of contact so Riptide can reach you if you win! Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
In the last surviving cities of a ruined world, the concept of “woman” has been forgotten to history. Those unfortunate enough to lack a Y chromosome live as second-class citizens in a world dominated by mascs.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 