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328th Friday Blog Roundup

Came across this little upcoming book description in Publisher’s Weekly, and call me crazy, but I don’t think I’ll be reading it:

Sold his horror debut, Breed … which follows a group of very desperate New York parents in an infertility support group.

When I am queen of the world, I’m going to ban the pairing of “desperate” and “infertile.”  In my world, treating a disease or trying to circumvent a problem doesn’t equal desperation.  Google the two words together and you get over 800,000 hits.  You’re a writer; you can stretch farther than this cliche.  But I’m really glad to see that infertility is entering into the horror genre.  I’ve always found infertility terrifying so I’m glad to see the literary world in agreement.

And I hope there are zombies.  Zombie reproductive endocrinologists.

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The Weekly What If: What if the best reproductive endocrinologist with a nearly 100% success rate was a zombie.  Would you go to him?  What if he was local and inexpensive with a great shared risk program?  Had a warm bedside manner and always called you with test results himself?  Literally the only thing out of place was that he was part of the undead and wanted to eat your brains.

Just wondering — you know, if horror infertility books are the next big thing, I want to do my research and stay ahead of the curve.

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Write Mind Open Heart has kicked off her annual Limerick Chicks contest.  She is taking entries until February 28th, and I have decided to get mine in early this year.  I have chosen to pick on Forever Reaching because I’ve read her forever and she has been quiet this month.  She’s not the only one, so this limerick is dedicated to all who feel that they are in a writing slump.  And NYCPhoenix — I hope knowing there are people out there cheering for you will give you the energy you need to write again.

Forever Reaching has been quiet
She tweets as if on a blog diet
She’s looking to be inspired
She’s written out; tired
Hoping like a phoenix she’ll rise up and riot

Vote for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

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And now the blogs…

The first one goes off the beaten track because it’s an image rather than words (I think this is the first time I’ve done this?).  But once I saw it, I couldn’t stop thinking about Bionic Mamas’ painting “Baby is Gravid.”  It defies being described (though I will give you the heads up that it’s a nude and features her pregnancy), so I implore you to click over and just marvel at the skill.

Park Slope Purgatory has a post about that limbo place between optimism and pessimism where she can’t really wrap her mind around the pregnancy.  She describes that space perfectly — where you want to believe and yet she explains she is living more in a place of “if” than a place of “when.”  And I love this: “But I’m doing my best not to grieve a potentially devastating day before I absolutely have to.”  Please hold her hand today as she goes in for the ultrasound.

Knocked Up By Another Man has a post looking back a year into the past.  I love this way of looking at the scars of infertility: “The scars of the journey remain on my heart. But instead of being something bad, they are mixed with the love of Fairyegg’s gift and the pride of our determination. Instead of marring our hearts as parents, I think the scars add to the character of our love for E.”  Isn’t that beautiful?

Lastly, Sesame-Seed-Sized Dreams has a heartbreaking post about a vivid dream that ties in with the loss of their daughter.  The description of the dream — in and of itself — is interesting as you try to interpret it, but it’s the final lines that really squeezed my heart: “Trying to make babies is a big game of uncertainty. I know all that but I still find this so hard.”  Such a beautiful post — please read the whole thing and give her comfort since the cycle is over.

Actually, really lastly, I thought Songs for My Unborn Children is a really cool idea — a blog where she is telling a story in poems.  She already knows the ending (which sort of reminded me of Drama 2B Mama, where you start the story already knowing how it ends).

The roundup to the Roundup: Zombie reproductive endocrinologists are all the rage.  Answer the Weekly What If (would you let a zombie near your girlie parts or man sack?).  What do you think of my limerick?  And lots of great posts to read.

12 comments

1 N { 02.18.11 at 8:47 am }

I think I would. But I’d probably bring a shotgun with me. (Would his staff be zombies?)

My RE would probably make an AWESOME zombie.

2 Annie { 02.18.11 at 11:16 am }

Oh sure, a zombie reproductive endocrinologist would have been fine. He wouldn’t have realized until too late that infertility already ate my brains!

3 Marissa { 02.18.11 at 11:40 am }

No prob with a zombie RE. Is the embryologist also a zombie? My only concern is the scent. When it comes to ER and ET, my current, zombie-free clinic has very strict rules on no scented lotions, shampoos, etc. So I would worry that the stench of rotting corpses might imact my embryos. But with such a high success rate, probably not.

4 Natalie { 02.18.11 at 3:21 pm }

I think I would say no to the zombie RE. It is hard enough to get through all these appointments. I have so many things to worry about, I don’t want to worry about him eating my brains too!

5 NotTheMama { 02.18.11 at 5:30 pm }

I dunno… But the dude in front of me in an incredibly long line at the dollar store looked at me like I had lost it when I laughed out loud just then. Thanks for the laugh on a very frustrating Friday!

6 a { 02.18.11 at 6:32 pm }

I think I’ll pass on all zombies, thanks.

7 Kristin { 02.18.11 at 6:48 pm }

I could absolutely handle a zombie RE if it guaranteed success.

Love the limerick but I’m still gonna try and beat you.

8 MrsH { 02.19.11 at 3:13 am }

No way for the zombie RE. Any man who sees me naked has to look somewhat good. And if I didn’t love my RE I would not have gone back for more abuse.

9 Manapan { 02.19.11 at 4:25 am }

Wow, there would be hordes of infertile undead following the sedation for egg retrieval! “Braaaaaaains… baby braaaaaaaains!” I would totally read that book. 🙂

10 Orodemniades { 02.19.11 at 10:23 pm }

Oh yes, infertility is The Big New Thing in fiction. Thankfully not Science Fiction (can you say Uterine Replicator? Yes you can!), but Yet Another Book came in to work today featuring not only infertility, but foster care, oh, and murder. And abuse. And low IQ. Because we know those things all go together like tomatoes and olive oil.

Last week’s novel featured Humor and Infertility stemming from Radioactive Experimentation, Pregnancy Loss and Sterilization and Revenge! And you know nothing is as funny as unwanted sterilization, huzzah! Great cover, though.

Anyway, moving right along…horror does seem to be the most appropriate genre.

11 gingerandlime { 02.20.11 at 8:15 am }

I actually kind of love the idea of infertility stories in the horror genre. I like the idea of taking what we’re feeling and painting it bigger–like in Joss Whedon, where normal situations are amplified because hello, vampires. But I’m also kinda afraid that the “desperate” infertile people would not exactly be painted sympathetically in the book. It’s all about perspective, and there’s a difference between portraying our fears with monsters, and portraying infertile people as monsters.

12 TasIVFer { 02.20.11 at 5:49 pm }

I would totally go to the zombie RE! My RE is tall and scrawny and wears the most horrid floral shirts. Plus is downright incompetent in my opinion. So what if I have to wear a crash helmet or something to keep the RE from getting to my brains; is that really worse than having half the population of my city familiar with my ‘private’ parts?

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