One Man...One Woman...One Soul

The correct term for identical twins is monozygotic.  Monozygotic twins form when a single (mono) fertilized egg (zygote) splits into two parts after conception.  The result is two individual embryos. Since the two embryos are the result of a single egg/sperm combination, they have the same DNA.

An interesting fact I discovered while researching twins:  “For twin pairs where schizophrenia occurs, in 50% of cases both identical twins in a pair develop the disease, while only 10-15% of cases in fraternal twins show this pattern. This is evidence for a strong genetic component in susceptibility to schizophrenia. However, the fact that both identical twins in a pair don't develop the disease 100% of the time indicates that there are other factors involved.”

In Gemini Rising, my monozygotic twins, Alain and Alina, are male/female, which is biologically impossible.  But not in the imagination of a writer, right?  They are a bit androgynous but the male looks more male, and the female feminine.  I was asked on one blog what they looked like.  I saw them as tall, slender with pale blonde hair and tawny gold eyes.

Gemini Rising was released in print this month by Double Dragon Publishing and is available through their website.  The ebook is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Please visit my website for Vampyre Hunt, a spicy free read.

The trailer for Gemini Rising:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08IGfFxPCWQ

Excerpt:

Alain tucked the in-flight magazine into the seat pocket and gazed out the scratched window of the 747.  Distance vanished on clouds fleeing beneath the silver wings, carrying him from a dark-eyed beauty to a fair-haired princess locked in an island castle.  From one life in the sun to a score of problems.

Someone was going to get hurt.

Already he hurt—a low throbbing like a toothache.  If he returned to Portugal, Alina would be devastated.  His father would disown him.  If he picked up his discarded heritage, a part of him would die and Maritza would grieve.  For a time.  He wasn’t vain enough to think the black-haired beauty would die without him.

The choice lay in his hands.

Damn life got complicated when he tried to declare independence from The Keep.  He shifted his long legs cramped beneath the airline seat.  He preferred not to think, but fragments of memory plagued the corners of his eyes.

A vivid picture of Alina supplanted images of recent days drenched white-hot by a Portuguese sun.  His twin’s presence was more corporeal than the woman sitting to his left.  Welcome or not, Alina was there inside him, the mere thought of her a compulsion.  He sensed her anticipation mounting as the miles melted.  Excitement tingled over him.  In self defense, he grasped at a memory of riding the splendid Lusitano stallions.  As he pictured Maritza framed in an arbor of roses, his heart dived.