Heredity

Heredity is the passing of traits from parents to their offspring, either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction. This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through heredity, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause some species to evolve through the natural selection of specific phenotype traits. The study of heredity in biology is called genetics, which includes the field of epigenetics.

Overview

In humans, eye color is an example of an inherited characteristic: an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of the parents. Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the complete set of genes within an organism's genome is called its genotype.

The complete set of observable traits of the structure and behavior of an organism is called its phenotype. These traits arise from the interaction of its genotype with the environment. As a result, many aspects of an organism's phenotype are not inherited. For example, suntanned skin comes from the interaction between a person's phenotype and sunlight; thus, suntans are not passed on to people's children. However, some people tan more easily than others, due to differences in their genotype: a striking example is people with the inherited trait of albinism, who do not tan at all and are very sensitive to sunburn.

Bloodline (Cary novel)

Bloodline is a 2005 novel written by Kate Cary. It is an unofficial sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula. Like the original novel, Bloodline is an epistolary novel written entirely in letters, diary entries and news articles. A second novel, titled Bloodline: Reckoning was later released.

Plot summary

Bloodline takes place during World War I. John Shaw, a nineteen-year-old, joins the British Army and is sent to the front lines, in the trenches. He works as a communications officer who listens to German radio feeds and translates what he hears. His regiment commander is a man named Quincey Harker, who is the son of Jonathan Harker and Mina Murray from the original Dracula novel.

Harker is famous for going on raids in the enemy trenches alone at night, and shows several feats of superhuman strength that seem impossible. He is also shown to be cruel to his men. One night a soldier named Private Smith falls asleep on his watch, and Germans invade the trench. As punishment, Harker orders him to be tied to a wagon wheel on no man's land. Private Smith does not die from being shot or shelled, but appears to die of fear.

Bloodline (Repairman Jack novel)

Bloodline is the eleventh volume in a series of Repairman Jack books written by American author F. Paul Wilson. The book was first published by Gauntlet Press in a signed limited first edition (May 2007) and later as a trade hardcover from Forge (September 2007).

Plot summary

Crime

In ordinary language, the term crime denotes an unlawful act punishable by a state. The term "crime" does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition, though statutory definitions have been provided for certain purposes. The most popular view is that crime is a category created by law; in other words, something is a crime if declared as such by the relevant and applicable law. One proposed definition is that a crime or offence (or criminal offence) is an act harmful not only to some individual or individuals but also to a community, society or the state ("a public wrong"). Such acts are forbidden and punishable by law.

The notion that acts such as murder, rape and theft are to be prohibited exists worldwide. What precisely is a criminal offence is defined by criminal law of each country. While many have a catalogue of crimes called the criminal code, in some common law countries no such comprehensive statute exists.

The state (government) has the power to severely restrict one's liberty for committing a crime. In modern societies, there are procedures to which investigations and trials must adhere. If found guilty, an offender may be sentenced to a form of reparation such as a community sentence, or, depending on the nature of their offence, to undergo imprisonment, life imprisonment or, in some jurisdictions, execution.

Crime (novel)

Crime is a 2008 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is the sequel to his earlier novel, Filth.

Plot summary

The main protagonist is Ray Lennox; a Detective Inspector with the Lothian and Borders Police who attempts to recover from a mental breakdown induced by stress, cocaine and alcohol abuse and a child murder case in Edinburgh in which he was the lead investigating officer by taking a holiday in Florida with his fiancée, Trudi. The pair meet up with Eddie 'Ginger' Rodgers, one of Lennox's retired former colleagues, and his wife Delores, and they all drink into the early hours of the morning. The next morning Lennox finds himself craving more alcohol and goes to a bar with Trudi where they have an argument which causes Trudi to angrily leave the bar. Lennox continues drinking heavily. Soon afterwards he meets two women, Starry and Robyn, in a different bar and they all go back Robyn's apartment where they drink more alcohol and take cocaine. They are soon joined by two men, Lance Dearing and Johnnie, and a fight breaks out a short time later when Lennox sees Johnnie is sexually assaulting Tianna, Robyn's ten-year-old daughter. Lennox incapacitates Johnnie and struggles with Dearing who ultimately leaves the apartment with everyone except Lennox and Tianna, who have locked themselves in a bathroom. After a fight Lennox is left in the apartment with Tianna, the 10-year-old daughter of one of the women.

Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalises crimes, their detection, criminals, and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as historical fiction or science fiction, but the boundaries are indistinct. Crime fiction has multiple sub-genres, including detective fiction (such as the whodunit), courtroom drama, hard-boiled fiction and legal thrillers. Suspense and mystery are key elements that are nearly ubiquitous to the genre.

In Italy people commonly call a story about detectives or crimes giallo (English: yellow), because books of crime fiction have usually had a yellow cover since the 1930s.

History of crime fiction

The earliest known crime fiction is Thomas Skinner Sturr's anonymous Richmond, or stories in the life of a Bow Street officer (1827); the earliest full-length novel in the genre is The Rector of Veilbye by the Danish author Steen Steensen Blicher, published in 1829. Better known are the earlier dark works of Edgar Allan Poe (e.g., "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (1842), and "The Purloined Letter" (1844)). Wilkie Collins' epistolary novel The Woman in White was published in 1860, while The Moonstone (1868) is often thought to be his masterpiece. French author Émile Gaboriau's Monsieur Lecoq (1868) laid the groundwork for the methodical, scientifically minded detective. The evolution of locked room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime fiction. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries of Arthur Conan Doyle are said to have been singularly responsible for the huge popularity in this genre. A precursor was Paul Féval, whose series Les Habits Noirs (1862–67) features Scotland Yard detectives and criminal conspiracies. The best-selling crime novel of the nineteenth century was Fergus Hume's The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), set in Melbourne, Australia.

Honest (film)

Honest is a black comedy crime film released in 2000. The film was the directorial debut of ex-Eurythmics member Dave Stewart and starred Peter Facinelli and three members of the British/Canadian girl group All Saints: Melanie Blatt and sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton.

Plot

The plot follows the antics of three gun-toting, streetwise, saucy sisters in Swinging London in the late 1960s. The film is most notable for the topless scenes by the Appleton sisters. Blatt and the Appletons also contributed to three songs on the film's soundtrack.

Reception

Honest received unfavourable reviews with one critic remarking, "It is the worst kind of rubbish, the kind that makes you angry you have wasted 105 minutes of your life."Peter Bradshaw noted Honest "subscribes to the usual credulous fictions about the charm, glamour and wit of violent criminals, and leaves out these qualities in spades" and added "However silly and implausible, it would be all right if there was the slightest hint of brio or fun in the script, written by comedy giants Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. But there isn't". The Scottish Daily Record went so far as to state that "This turgid tale of Sixties London isn't just bad - it's quite probably the worst film ever" and added "And Honest is being tipped for a slot in Hollywood's hall of shame, ranked alongside duffs like Waterworld and The Avengers". However, the Sunday Times gave it 4 stars and called it a "cult classic" à la Amazon Women on the Moon. The film was screened out of competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.