As I work on "Lovefall" from Ashland's Asylum, I find myself hooked on the main character's ability to predict death. For Robert Strife, seeing death is rarely a gift. He sees it when it is near--and at times he can prevent or alter it--but there aren't too many patterns. It's not like he can see death exactly 5-10 minutes before it happens or anything--it can actually be days out. 

When you create a character with a special gift--or a dark power for the more nefarious--you wonder if the heart of the character's concept is believable. Quite honestly, if Lovefall suspends too much disbelief, to the point it's no longer enjoyable, then it's only my fault as the writer. However, I feel a little bit better after doing some research about 3 other folks who have claimed to have insight into death.

Ever notice one of those red and white spinning polls at a barber shop (more commonly red, white & blue in the U.S. now)? It gained fame from barber-surgeons, who often recommended bloodletting as a treatment, if not cure, for any medical ailment ranging from acne to cancer to insanity. The red stripes represented the blood and the white resembled a tourniquet. 

Bloodletting is kind of what it sounds like. The idea is that blood can humor certain responses, so naturally, removing some of a person's blood should help treat and him or her. Seems totally logical, right? Oh, you have cancer. Let's remove around 4 quarts of blood!