What's Next for The Pharm House & Nicholas Harding Novels

Evolution of “The Pharm House”

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Bill Powers

How did I come up with the story and title for The Pharm House? My first attempt at writing a novel length story was during graduate school. It was science fiction, about half-finished and is beyond awful. I still keep it as a painful reminder. I waited several years and was ready to start another novel length story. You always hear “Write what you know”. My choices were to write about something I was already knowledgeable about, or go off and do the research in order to become knowledgeable. Working full time in the pharmaceutical industry, doing research on a new topic wasn’t viable given the time required. That was when I decided to set my story inside a fictional pharmaceutical company – Marshall Pharmaceutical.

Several of todays pharmaceutical businesses started out as family concerns, in some cases family pharmacies, e.g., Merck, Pfizer, McNeil, etc. Some of these businesses were originally called the “House of…”

Big pharmaceutical companies are often referred to as Big Pharma. Using a play on words, I decided to title my book, The Pharm House.

Even though The Pharm House is set in a pharmaceutical company, it is really a story about family. It’s about Nicholas Harding, a young scientist/executive at Marshall Pharmaceutical. Nicholas is a regular guy – a single Dad trying to raise a precocious 11-year-old daughter while clawing his way up that ever so slippery middle management ladder.

But unknown to Nicholas, there are dark forces inside Marshall Pharmaceutical and he is about to be drawn into their plans and finds himself fighting for his career, his family and perhaps even his life.

The Pharm House is a suspense thriller novel set in today’s international pharmaceutical industry.

What if a young scientist, Dr. Nicholas Harding, working in a pharmaceutical company is just trying to take care of his family, but gets caught up in an international plot?

This is the basis for my story – The Pharm House, – a thriller set in a fictional New Jersey pharmaceutical company.

The protagonist, Nick Harding, is struggling to raise a young daughter as a single parent and climb the corporate ladder when he stumbles across a global plot to take over the company where he works, Marshall Pharmaceutical Corporation.

Mysterious deaths occur, including Nick’s mentor. Nick’s career, family and life are threatened. Nick is kind of like Alan Gregory in the Stephen White stories, just a guy trying to get through life and take his family, but things (bad people) keep getting in the way.

The Pharm House is the first in a series of three stories about the Harding Family.

I invite you to join me and see how events play out for Nick, his family and friends in The Pharm House.

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Medical Suspense/Thriller, The Pharm House, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Borgias

Posted on August 25, 2018 by Bill Powers

Speaking of Toxicologist (as in Nicholas Harding in The Pharm House), any aficionados of The Borgias out there? As a toxicologist, of course I knew who the Borgias were – early adaptors to the art of toxicology. Lucrezia and Cesare and their daddy Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo); one would want to be most careful when invited to dine at the Borgia manor. Lucrezia was rumored to be a notorious poisoner (toxicologist) and master of political intrigue; a strong independent woman no doubt.

I missed the first season of The Borgias, but stumbled across it On Demand, couldn’t get enough and was completely hooked. I mean really, what’s not to love about that family!

Lucrezia was born on April 18, 1480 near Rome. Her mother was Vannozza dei Cattanei, one of the mistresses of her father, Cardinal Rodrigo de Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI). At one time, she reigned as the Governor of Spoleto, a position usually held by cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.

She married three times, her family arranging marriages for her that advanced their own political positions.

Numerous rumors have persisted throughout the years of extravagant parties thrown by the Borgia family with allegations of incest, poisoning and murder on the part of Lucrezia.

It was whispered that she was in possession of a hollow ring that she used frequently to poison drinks.

After a long history of complicated pregnancies and miscarriages, on June 14, 1519, Lucrezia gave birth to her tenth child. She had become very weak during the pregnancy, fell seriously ill after the birth and died on June 24, 1519 at the age of 39.

Cesare was Lucrezia’s older brother. He was groomed for a career in the Roman Catholic Church from an early age. Both his great-uncle, Alphonso Borgia and Rodrigo Borgia served as Pope. Cesare was made Cardinal of the Church at the age of 18. Of course, his birth records needed a little modification, since he was the illegitimate son of Cardinal Rodrigo and his mistress, Vannozza dei Cattanei.

Cesare eventually resigned as Cardinal and was appointed commander of the papal armies and ruler of his own state in northern Italy.

Leonardo da Vinci was briefly employed by Cesare as a military architect and engineer, between 1502 and 1503.

Upon the death of his father, Pope Alexander VI in 1503, Cesare’s power began to fade. In 1507, he was attacked by an enemy party of knights; trapped in an ambush where he received a fatal wound from a spear and died shortly after.

The Church fought over where to bury Cesare’s remains with the final resolution coming in 2007, 500 years after his death, when his remains were moved back into the Church of Santa María in Viana.

Enough, about the Borgias. But aren’t you a bit curious about what the toxicologists in The Pharm House are up to?

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, History, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Just what is a Toxicologist?

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Bill Powers

Nicholas Harding, the protagonist in my first novel, The Pharm House, is a toxicologist by training, like myself. When I inform most people that I’m a toxicologist, I often receive a puzzled look. So in the event you are one of the puzzled, here is the definition of toxicology according to Wikipedia:

“Toxicology (from the Greek words τοξικός – toxicos “poisonous” and logos) is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. It is the study of symptoms, mechanisms, treatments and detection of poisoning, especially the poisoning of people.”

Yes! It’s the study of poison! Isn’t that cool!

All pharmaceutical companies employ toxicologists. When you go to the drug store to purchase drug X to do whatever it is you and your doctor desire it to do, how do you know that it will not make your hair fall out, your heart palpitate, cause you to lose consciousness, have seizures or much, much worse? That’s where your toxicologist comes in. Before and during human clinical studies, we study new drugs looking for potential adverse effects or toxicities. It gets rather complicated, so I will avoid boring you with the details.

So, how did a “normal” guy like me get into studying poison? I majored in biology in undergrad and was trying to figure out what I was going to do with a degree in that field. The summer after my sophomore year, I got a part time job in a toxicology lab at the National Institute of Environmental Health and Sciences (NIEHS) in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

After being exposed to toxicology, to quote Nicholas Cage who played Stanley Goodspeed, a toxicologist in The Rock (one of the best Action/Adventure movies ever made and with a kickass soundtrack), “Got my first chemistry set when I was seven. Blew my eyebrows off. We never saw the cat again. Been into it ever since.”!

I worked in the NIEHS lab until I graduated, and then went on to get a M.S. and Ph.D. in toxicology – I was home! I got paid to work with poison – how cool is that? Well, in a nerdy sort of way, maybe.

With all my knowledge of toxicology and the pharmaceutical industry, I decided to make my protagonist a toxicologist. I think we kind of get looked over in entertainment. Check out The Pharm House and see what Nicholas is up to.

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Medical Suspense/Thriller, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Power of Poisons

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Bill Powers

A couple of years ago, when I saw that the American Museum of Natural History in New York, was running an exhibit entitled, “The Power of Poisons”, I just had to attend. Why you might ask. It all started when after my sophomore year of college; I took a part time job in a toxicology laboratory at the National Institute of Environmental Health and Sciences at the Research Triangle Park in the Raleigh-Durham, NC area. Well, it was love at first sight – toxicology; and me and we have been together ever since! In case you may not know, toxicology is a discipline incorporating biology, chemistry, pharmacology and medicine that involve the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms; i.e., the study of poisons. The word toxicology comes from the ancient Greeks and Byzantines, meaning poison and study of. I went on to the University of Cincinnati to get a Masters and Ph.D. in toxicology and then, you may not believe this, figured out a way to get paid to study poisons! Is America Great or what! How, you ask did I pull this off? Here’s the secret – technically, everything is a poison, it’s just a matter of the dose!

Where are poisons found?

Animal – For example, reptilian venoms are among nature’s deadliest innovations. Every year, these expensive weapons (because of the energy needed to produce the venom), delivered through the fangs of vipers, cobras and numerous others, kill up to 200,000 people.
Plant – Over millions of years of evolution, plants have developed an array of chemical defenses against insects, herbivores and even other plants.
Mineral – Some metals can be toxic. Arsenic and mercury are two well known examples.

How do poisons work? Poisons are defined by the systems that they effect.

Neurotoxins like strychnine and mercury affect the signaling mechanisms of nerves.
Cytotoxins like ricin (from castor beans, remember you Breaking Bad fans?) and arsenic disrupt cell functions.
Hemotoxins, found in leech saliva and many snake venoms inhibit blood clotting.
Mycotoxins found in some vipers destroy muscle tissue.
Some viper venoms combine neurotoxins, mycotoxins and hemotoxins. A bite from some of these vipers can result in death in a matter of minutes!

Here are just a few other poisonous animals…

Golden Poison Frog: The golden poison frog is considered one of the most toxic animals on Earth. A single specimen measuring two inches has enough venom to kill ten grown men. The indigenous Emberá people of Colombia have used its powerful venom for centuries to tip their blowgun darts when hunting, hence the species’ name.

Scientists are unsure of the source of this frog’s amazing toxicity, but it is possible they assimilate plant poisons, which are carried by their prey. Poison dart frogs raised in captivity and isolated from insects in their native habitat never develop venom.

Wandering Spider or “Banana Spider: Remember those panicked reports of people finding deadly spiders-perhaps the deadliest on Earth-in bunches of bananas? Those reports referred to the Brazilian wandering spider, whose bite can cause severe burning, sweating, and goose bumps followed by high or low blood pressure, nausea, hypothermia, blurred vision, vertigo, and convulsions.

The Guinness Book of World Records considers the Brazilian wandering spider the most venomous in the world. Hundreds of bites are reported annually, but a powerful anti-venom prevents deaths in most cases.

The Giant Silkworm Moth Caterpillar (see the little cutie below) is a species of moths from South America. It is famous for its larval form, rather than the adult moth, primarily because of the caterpillar’s defense mechanism, spiny bristles that inject potentially deadly venom. The caterpillar has been responsible for many human deaths, especially in southern Brazil.

So, remember, everything is a poison; it’s just a matter of the dose! And before you pickup some cute little crawly thing; some poisons come in very cute packages…

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Medical Suspense/Thriller, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Cute and Venomous

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Bill Powers

“Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy.”

– Paracelsus

When most of us think of venomous animals, what most likely comes to mind are slithery reptiles, multi-legged spiders or anything living in Australia. But did you know that there are venomous mammals? In contemporary nature, venomous mammals are relatively rare. It is suggested by paleontologists that poisonous mammals were once more common.

What are some venomous mammals?

Well, you may be familiar with the Duck-Billed Platypus that odd Australian (surprise) egg-laying mammal that resembles a cross between a furry duck/beaver. While both male and female platypuses are born with ankle spurs, only the male’s spurs deliver venom from a gland in their thighs, which is potent enough to kill a mid-sized dog. While Platypus venom is not lethal to humans, it is potent enough to temporarily incapacitate a person.
Several species of shrew; the Eurasian water shrew, the Northern Short-tailed shrew and the Southern Short-tailed shrew, etc.
And my favorite – the Cuban Solenodon – they are so frigging cute!

The Cuban Solenodon is endemic to Cuba and related to the Hispaniolan Solenodon. It was previously thought to be extinct, but was recently sighted in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. It is a nocturnal burrower that lives underground, making it hard to find. The Solenodon weighs about 2 pounds and measures 16 – 22 inches from nose to tail with an extremely elongated snout and a long, naked, scaly tail. It resembles members of the Tenrecidae famile that include hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, mice and otters.

The Cuban Solenodon is found in dense, humid forest and around plantations. It is an insectivore and comes out at night to hunt insects and lizards. They have a long life span and low reproductive rate as a result of being among the dominant predators in their habitat before Europeans colonized the New World, bringing larger mammals.

Solenodons have venomous bites. Their venom is delivered from modified salivary glands via grooves in their lower incisors.

Currently the Cuban Solennodon is considered an endangered species because it only produces a single litter of one to three pups in a year and because of predation by species that were introduced by humans.

But wait, what if there was a cute, but deadly venomous primate? Impossible, you say? You’re wrong. The Slow Loris (genus Nycticebus) is accepted as the only known venomous primate! And check out cute it is. Look at that face!

There are at least nine recognized species of Slow Loris and they are relatively small, weighing approximately two pounds. They have a dual composite venom that consists of their specialized saliva and secretions from a specialized sweat gland on their forearm. The mixture, which is administered by a bite from an adapted toothcomb, is a potent toxin that in humans can produce necrotic wounds, anaphylactic shock and even death in some circumstances.

So, the next time you go to pet some cute little animal, just remember – “Deadly doesn’t have to be scary looking”.

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Toxicology of The Terror

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Bill Powers

Above – HMS Terror shipwreck

In my previous blog (The Terror of The Terror), I shared with you my minor obsession with the doomed saga of The Franklin Expedition in a 19^th century search for the Northwest Passage in the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus. Let’s go to the end of the story and work our way back. The British Admiralty launched several failed rescue missions starting in 1848 and some went on for 33 years.

In 2014, archaeologists and Inuit historians found the HMS Erebus in Victoria Strait. Two years later, the HMS Terror was found in Terror Bay on the southwestern coast of King William Island. But what happened to the crew? Some communications left by Captain Crozier and Commander James Fitzjames (Captain of the Erebus) and second in command of the expedition upon Franklin’s death was found in Cairns, but the official ships logs were never found. The wrecks of the Terror and Erebus are in relatively shallow water and in good shape, most likely due to the frigid water temperatures. The sites are protected and being preserved with artifacts being recovered.

But what happened? There are several theories. Imagine my glee when I stumbled across a paper by Zane Horowitz (Oregon Health & Science University) on “Polar Poisons: Did Botulism Doom the Franklin Expedition?”. I’m a toxicologist by training and now a mystery/thriller author. The story of The Terror combines mystery/suspense with history, a wee bit of the supernatural and toxicology. It is truly my perfect story!

Let’s unpack what we know.

The HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were state of the art and very well provisioned to feed 134 men for three years, including 32,224 pounds of salt beef, 36,487 pounds of biscuits, 20,463 pints of soup, 8900 pounds of preserved vegetables, 9260 pounds of lemon juice (to combat scurvy), 3684 gallons of concentrated spirits and 4980 gallons of ale and other alcohol beverages.
The provider of the canned goods for the expedition was Stephan Goldner (the lowest bidder), who a few years later would be caught in a scandal regarding his canned foods for naval ships going rancid. One theory is that the majority of the expedition’s canned food went bad, resulting in them loosing a significant portion of their food supply.
On May 19, 1845, Erebus and Terror left England and sailed for the west coast of Greenland, where five men were discharged due to illness, bringing the total crew number to 129. On July 26, the expedition met two British whaling ships, the Enterprise and the Prince of Whales – the last Europeans to see the Franklin expedition alive.
The Erebus and Terror continued west and wintered on Beechey Island where three crewmembers died and were buried in the permafrost. The bodies were exhumed (and reburied) in the 1980s for forensic testing in order to shed light on what may have happened.
On September 12, 1846, the sea froze around the Erebus and Terror just north of King William Island, signaling the start of winter. The crew left messages in a cairn detailing events to this point.
The sea in this region usually froze in late August or early September and then broke up the following spring, but in 1847, spring and summer never came and Erebus and Terror found themselves trapped and drifting helplessly with the pack ice.
By spring 1848, both ships remained stuck in the ice. Captain Franklin and several officers and crew had died of currently unknown causes. Crozier was now in command with Fitzjames as his second-in-command. The men were reaching the end of their original food supply. They decided to abandon Erebus and Terror in a desperate attempt at survival. They hoisted smaller boats on sledges, packed them full of provisions and set off in search of rescue. They returned to the cairn where they had left a note a year earlier; where Crozier and Fitzjames updated their status (see below). The remaining crew set off for Back’s Fish River, which led to a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, but this goal was hundreds of miles away over a vast artic wasteland.
In 1854, a Hudson’s Bay Company surveyor met with several Inuit near King William Island and asked if they had seen white men or ships. The Inuit told of seeing about 40 survivors marching south dragging a boat on a sledge. The Inuit also reported that later during the 1850 season they encountered the corpses of some 30 persons and some graves. The Hudson’s Bay Company report states, “From the mutilated state of many of the bodies, and contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched countrymen had been driven to the last dread alternative as a means of sustaining life.” Cannibalism
Forensics backs up this gruesome finding. In the 1980s and 1990s, bones of crewmembers were found and showed signs of heating and breakage and being cracked open to obtain the fat-rich bone marrow. The conclusion was undeniable evidence of cannibalism.
In 1859 a British search expedition found a trail of bones and other evidence along the southwestern coast of King William Island. A boat with two skeletons and supplies was found, along with the cairn where they retrieved Crozier’s and Fitzjames’ note – the sole piece of written evidence from the Franklin expedition.
The first explorer to navigate the Northwest Passage by ship, the goal of the Franklin expedition, was Roald Amundsen in 1903 – 1906.
In 2014, archaeologists and Inuit historians located the wreck of the Erebus in Victoria Strait and in 2016; a separate group located the wreck of the Terror in Terror Bay.

What could have happened to the crews of the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus?

o High levels of lead were found in the tissue and bones of all three crew buried on Beechey Island. Some have suggested that the lead solder used to seal the expedition’s canned provisions had leached into the food resulting in neurological impairment and possibly death.

o Could Botulism, type E, which is endemic in the Arctic, have contributed to crew deaths? In theory the Botulism could have come from improperly prepared canned foods or from eating contaminated local fish and game.

o Or was the fate of the crew a combination of horrors; lead poisoning, botulism, scurvy, tuberculosis, zinc deficiency, Addison’s Disease, exposure, starvation, cannibalism?

One last tale persisted in some remote Inuit corners. That one white man, an ‘‘eshmuta,’’ was aided by the Inuk and survived. Romantics like to think that young, Captain Crozier, the ‘‘eshmuta’’ leader of that ﬁnal brave death march south, the most experienced Arctic explorer alive at that time, was that sole survivor. Will we ever know?

↓ Location of HMS Terror & HMS Erebus abandonment and shipwrecks

← Facsimile of Crozier & Fitzjames note found in cairn

For Further Reading:

The Terror by Dan Simmons – 2007
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie by John Geiger – 2017
Captain Francis Crozier: Last Man Standing? by Michael Smith – 2006
Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition: Lost and Found by Gillian Hutchinson – 2017
Polar Poisons: Did Botulism Doom the Franklin Expedition? A. Horowitz; Journal of Toxicology. Clinical Toxicology 41 (6): 841-847, February 2003

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Suspense/Thriller Novel, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Terror of The Terror

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Bill Powers

Have you ever experienced a story, be it a television show or series, a movie or novel that gets inside your head and just won’t let go even after you have finished the original story? Well The Terror did that for me. The Terror is a 2007 novel by Dan Simmons and a 2018 television series on AMC.

Warning: If you have not seen series or read the book, there are spoilers below.

Why did this story grab me? The Terror combines history with mystery/suspense with the supernatural and believe it or not with toxicology! It’s my perfect story!

In the early 19^th century the search for the Northwest Passage, a sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific was the equivalent of the mid-20^th century quest to put a man on the moon. The prevailing theory at the time was that the Arctic would be relatively ice-free during the summer months. A sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through northern Canada, would quickly become a trade route from Europe to Asia. The leader of this exploratory quest – the premier sea power of the 19^th century – the British Royal Navy.

On this particular expedition, two ships were outfitted, the HMS Terror, a retrofitted bomb vessel built in 1813. She participated in several battles in the War of 1812, including the Battle of Baltimore with the bombardment of Fort McHenry. “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” The “rockets” and “bombs” came from British naval bomb vessels that included HMS Terror. HMS Erebus was also a bomb vessel constructed by the Royal Navy in 1826. The vessel was named after the dark region in Hades of Greek mythology, called Erebus.

Several early 19^th century attempts by the British navy to find and traverse the Northwest Passage had failed when in 1845; Captain John Franklin led a British Royal Navy expedition consisting of the HMS Erebus (his flag ship) and HMS Terror (captained by Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier), the expedition’s second-in-command.

The Franklin Expedition left England in 1845 with sufficient provisions to last for 3 years (5 with rationing). Both vessels had been retrofitted with extra timbers and iron plating to the fore and aft hull to withstand the pressures of the ice; along with a 40 horsepower steam engine.

The novel and AMC series have both added a very scary supernatural aspect to the story, but the story of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus is plenty scary enough.

Captains Franklin and Crozier both were experienced Arctic and Antarctica sea captains. Crozier appears to have been the more experienced and better of the two; unfortunately Franklin was the leader of the expedition.

The expedition left England on 19 May 1845 and was last seen entering Baffin Bay, located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland. By September 1846, the two ships became trapped in ice off Canada’s King William Island and never moved again. Or did they?

The British Admiralty was not initially concerned, thinking the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus had enough food and supplies for three years. The Admiralty did eventually launch a rescue mission in 1848 and offer a 20,000 British Pounds reward for finding the Franklin Expedition. Rescue missions went on for 33 years.

But by 1848, when the first rescue expedition was launched, it was too late. Franklin died in June 1847 and 23 other men had died before 1848. Communications that the Captains left in Cairns describing their situation were later found. The rest of the crew under Captain Crozier stayed on the boats, alive for two full winters and eventually abandoned the boats in 1848 and attempted to walk toward an outpost. During these two winters at times the temperature dropped to -100 degrees F and the ice up to 15 feet thick! Try to imagine those conditions on two sailing ships of the early 19^th century for three years!

Cairn

They all died during the trek. Or did they?

Next blog, I will talk about what we know and about what could have happened and how toxicology comes into the story.

For Further Reading:

The Terror by Dan Simmons – 2007
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie by John Geiger – 2017
Captain Francis Crozier: Last Man Standing? by Michael Smith – 2006
Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition: Lost and Found by Gillian Hutchinson – 2017

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Book, Suspense/Thriller Novel, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What Is Strauss-Howe Generational Theory?

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Bill Powers

Strauss-Howe Generational Theory is another esoteric concept that I stumbled across while doing research for a storyline. It’s a little complicated, so stick with me.

The theory was created by authors William Strauss and Neil Howe and refers to what they describe as a recurring generational cycle in American history. In their 1997 book, The Fourth Turning, the authors expanded the theory to focus on a fourfold cycle of generational types and recurring mood eras in American history. The theory was developed to describe the history of the United States, the 13 colonies and their British antecedents, but has since been expanded to generational trends elsewhere in the world and identified similar cycles in other developed countries.

With that said – it is a theory. Take what you want from it.

Historical cycles, according to Strauss-Howe, consist of four turnings that repeat for each cycle. Each cycle has thematically similar turnings, which they typify as:

The High (which follows the crisis that ended the previous cycle). Strong institutions and social collectivism, and weak individualism typify this period.
The Awakening. This period is typified by increasing personal and spiritual autonomy of people. During this period social institutions may be attacked, impeding public progress.
The Unraveling. Weak institutions that are distrusted typify this period. During this period, individualism is strong and flourishing.
The Crisis. This is an era of societal destruction, e.g. through war, where institutional life is destroyed. However, as this period ends, institutions will be rebuilt. Society will rediscover the benefits of being part of a collective, and community purpose will take precedence again.

A single historical cycle of “four turnings” is believed to take roughly 80-90 years. Strauss-Howe define this period as a “Saeculum”, which is a Latin word translated into English as “century”, but which originally meant “the span of a long human life”.

If you look at the definition of “Saeculum”, it is defined as a length of time roughly equal to the potential lifetime of a person or the equivalent of the complete renewal of human population or the span of living human memory. Originally it meant the period of time from the moment that something happened (for example war) until the point in time that all people who had lived at the first moment had died. At that point a new saeculum would begin. A saeculum is not normally used for a fixed amount of time, in common usage it stands for about 90 years. It can be divided into four “seasons” of approximately 22 years each; these seasons represent youth, rising adulthood, midlife, and old age.

The following table shows the last Four Saeculum and the Turnings for the last two:

Generation (years)	Type	Birth Years	Formative Era
Revolutionary Saeculum (90) 1701-1791
Civil War Saeculum (67) 1792-1859
Great Power Saeculum (85) 1860-1942
Missionary Generation	Prophet (Idealist)	1860-1882 (22)	High: Reconstruction/Gilded Age
Lost Generation	Nomad (Reactive)	1883-1900 (17)	Awakening: Missionary Awakening
GI Generation	Hero (Civic)	1901-1924 (23)	Unraveling: World War I Prohibition
Silent Generation	Artist (Adaptive)	1925-1942 (17)	Crisis: Great Depression/World War II
Millennial Saeculum (69+) Now
Baby Boom Generation	Prophet (Idealist)	1943-1960 (17)	High: Superpower America
Generation X	Nomad (Reactive)	1961-1981 (20)	Awakening: Consciousness Revolution
Millennial Generation	Hero (Civic)	1982-2004 (22)	Unraveling: Culture Wars, Postmodernism
Homeland Generation	Artist (Adaptive)	2005-present	Crisis: Great Recession, War on Terror

According to Strauss-Howe, America is now in a Crisis Cycle, where institutions will be destroyed and rebuilt. Sound familiar?

I find Strauss-Howe fascinating and will give you a list for further reading if you choose. But why was I interested?

What if certain aspects of a significant historical event of the mid 20^th century occurred very differently than that historically portrayed? We are nearing the end of the Saeculum after which historical memory will began to die. That “what if”, is part of a storyline and began my fascination with Saeculum and Strauss-Howe Generational Theory.

References:

Howe, Neil; Strauss, William (1997). The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny. New York: Broadway Books.
Howe, Neil; Strauss, William (1991). Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069. New York: William Morrow & Company.
Howe, Neil; Strauss, William (2000). Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Psychology | Leave a comment

What Is Ericksonian Hypnosis?

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Bill Powers

Under conditions of traditional hypnosis, the client is fully aware that they are being hypnotized. You have all see the movie or television scene where the powerful, authoritative hypnotist implants suggestions in his subject, along the lines of “you are getting sleepy, your eyelids are getting heavier and heavier. You will stop smoking…”. Traditional hypnosis is authoritative, direct and forceful.

But there is another method of hypnosis; an indirect method that is named after Dr. Milton Erickson, a prominent 20^th century American psychiatrist and psychologist who is widely regarded as the “father of hypnotherapy”. Ericksonian hypnotherapy uses more of what is called indirect suggestions. Indirect suggestions are much harder to resist because they are often not even recognized as suggestions by the conscious mind, since they can disguise themselves as stories, metaphors or symbols.

The Ericksonian Hypnosis model focuses on three aspects:

1.Rapport – Building an empathetic connection with the client. In addition to verbal communication, this may include “mirroring” the subject’s body language (not mimicking, which could be off-putting.
2.Overloading conscious attention – By distracting the conscious mind with vagueness and ambiguity, one is able to open the unconscious to change. Erickson developed very specific techniques that he called “the confusion technique^*” and the “handshake induction^**”.
3.Indirect Communication – Subjects can only meet a direct order in two ways; with acceptance or dismissal (the latter being more likely). Indirect suggestion, being more subtle and elusive, can be a more productive way to invoke change.

^* Confusion Technique – A confused person has their conscious mind busy and occupied or distracted, and therefore more open to unconscious learning. A confused state is actually a trance in itself and confused people are more susceptible to going into a trance state. Confusion may be created by ambiguous words, complex or endless sentences, pattern interruptions, etc.

^**Handshake Induction – One of Erickson’s most famous hypnosis techniques is the handshake induction. Erickson demonstrated that it was a subtle way to change the subject’s accepted behavior. When someone performs a handshake you may have never realized it’s a trance. It is the most widespread social norm in the world to shake hands at the beginning of a meeting; we don’t even think about it. By interrupting this subconscious process, Erickson was able to open the mind for suggestion. This is a classic example of “pattern interruption.”

Erickson’s handshake technique is well documented in his books and by those that have met him. He began with a strong, normal shake to begin the induction. Then he would interrupt the process by loosening the strength of the grip and brushing specific fingers against the subject’s hand. It’s quite complicated to learn, but a powerful induction.

Why did I learn about Ericksonian Hypnosis? In my last novel, “The Torch is Passed”, Deirdre Southington is a forensic psychologist who works for the National Security Agency. She uses Ericksonian hypnosis to get another character to admit to their involvement in a crime. Deirdre does this by having several conversations with the other character over several encounters and implanting indirect suggestions.

I stumbled across Ericksonian hypnosis while doing research for The Torch is Passed and found it fascinating. Look into it. Learn it if you dare…

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Medical Mystery, Psychology | Leave a comment

Dark, Malevolent Personality Traits

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Bill Powers

Let’s hope that you don’t know any of these “dark” types, unless you are a mystery/thriller author, in which case you need to get to know them intimately. You will need them to create fascinating, interesting antagonist – bad guys (“guy” being gender neutral in this case). The type of bad guys that you love to hate! You can’t look away from what they are doing.

Dark or malevolent personality refers to those with less empathic or more negative personalities perhaps even sociopathic behaviors.

The Dark Triad is made up of three negative traits, i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.

Narcissists have exaggerated self-esteem. Everyone has self-esteem, but narcissists have more than needed. They tend to be “grandiose self-promoters who crave attention.”
Machiavellian personalities are extremely manipulative, but usually are not psychopathic, but some can be narcissistic. These tend to be “master manipulators”. Bernie Madoff, the confessed operator of the largest Ponzi scheme in world history, and the largest financial fraud in U.S. history, is a text book example of a Machiavellian.
Psychopaths display harmful behaviors towards others because they have distinct brain differences. Several studies show that a psychopath’s brain may show damage to the frontal lobe, which regulates a person’s ethics. Psychopaths are the most malevolent of this group. They show little concern for who gets hurt as they seek thrills. Their impulsiveness makes them less adept at white collar crime like Madoff, and more inclined towards violence – think Charles Manson and Whitey Bulger.

But there are numerous classifications of malevolent personalities.

Sociopaths are products of their environment. Perhaps they have gone through some kind of trauma and their sociopathic behavior serves as a coping mechanism.
Sadists display an enjoyment of inflicting cruelty on others.
Cynics have a jaded view of the world and tend to put down attempts at progress.

Now how to you create a realistic, believable bad guy? I like to create a villain that the reader will still care about what happens to them. Even if the antagonist is odious, they are still human. You will need to allow their human side to show.

Do a backstory on your antagonist. Allow their past to explain what motivates them. Very few people are evil just for the sake of being evil. Do they have a family? In real life many do.
Find a sympathy factor. If you can make the reader feel this, they will be hooked on finding out what happens to the antagonist. Make the character multi-dimensional.
Justify the bad guy’s position. Show his thinking. No matter how bad he or she seems to you, the bad guy thinks they are in the right. Let that thinking come out. You want the reader to be slightly conflicted about the antagonist.
In a mystery/thriller, you will likely want your villain to be a realistic and believable, yet darkly motivated character vs some sort of “super-villain”.
Dark personalities are not favorable, yet in real life these people often attract partners. Why do people with malevolent personalities seem to attract partners so easily? Studies suggest that dark personality traits are attractive because they are unconventional. A rebellious man or an impulsive, mysterious woman may seem sexy.

Keep all these malevolent, dark traits in mind when creating your antagonists – make them dark, yet alluring. You’ll get your reader hooked.

Posted in Author Bill Powers, Bill Powers, Literary Links, Medical Mystery, Psychology | Leave a comment