Valentine's Day is only two days away so here is a romantic thought.

If I were to write a paleo-European romance between a Neanderthal beauty and a homo sapiens sapiens hero, I would have to make sure that their children are infertile, however, a Neanderthal groom and a homo sapiens sapiens bride will be blessed with many grand-children.  :-)

http://www.ted.com/talks/svante_paeaebo_dna_clues_to_our_inner_neanderth...

http://www.hypothesisjournal.com/?p=932

Unfortunately for this scenario, the Neanderthals never interbred with homo sapiens sapiens, according to the latest reports. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/04/neanderthals-modern-humans... http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/Neanderthals (Of course, this might turn out to be untrue if the archeologists unearth another evidence to the contrary in the future.)

But, I could set the story in contemporary times, since there is a way to bring back a Neanderthal man, through cloning and embryo implantation in the womb of a willing and courageous surrogate mom. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/9814620/I-can-create-Neanderthal-baby...

Then, the neo-Neanderthal baby boy grows up to be a handsome intelligent well-educated member of our society with a slightly higher-pitched-than-average voice, a slightly longer torso and shorter legs and, if all goes well, makes one lucky young woman very happy.

Would this neo-Neanderthal boy find love and happiness among the post-modern homo sapiens sapiens? Or would he suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune?

That is the question.