But I got sick in December, and my writing slowed to a crawl. No worries, Craig said. We can publish early next year. January rolled around, and sick turned into hospital time. The book went on hold for almost a month while I recovered. Even when I was back in shape to write, the words came more slowly than I was used to. I didn't have the stamina for long writing sessions, either.
The nature of the book caused it to be especially challenging to write. It's way more literary than anything I'd written before. There's a lot of deep stuff in here. It meant stretching our writing craft more than a little.
As hard as it was to write, it was also a hell of a lot of fun! Working with Craig was awesome, and I look forward to cooperating with him on more books in the future. I think it's important for writers to push at the boundaries of our comfort zones. That’s how we learn and grow. "The Human Experiment" was an outstanding learning experience, and I think we've created something awesome here. I hope you've had as much fun reading it as we did writing it!
If you'd like to read more of my work, you can get a free short story when you sign up for my email list at www.KevinOMcLaughlin.com. I send out info about new releases and special deals on my books. It's a great way for me to reach out to readers.
I'm always glad to get direct emails from people who have read my work! You can reach me at Kevin@professionalnovelist.com. I try to respond to every email I receive. Craig already asked if you'd please leave a review - but I want to echo his request. Reviews are very important, especially right after release, so we'd both appreciate it a great deal!
Other Books by Kevin McLaughlin
Adventures of the Starship Satori (Space Opera blended with military SF)
Finding Satori - prequel short story, available only to email list fans!
Book 1 - Ad Astra: Book 2 - Stellar Legacy
Book 3 - Deep Waters
Book 4 - No Plan Survives Contact
Book 5 - Liberty
Book 6 - Satori’s Destiny
Book 7 - Ashes of War
Book 8 - Embers of War
Book 9 - Dust and Iron (May 2018)
Valhalla Online Series (GameLit SF/Fantasy)
Book 1 - Valhalla Online
Book 2 - Raiding Jotunheim
Book 3 - Vengeance Over Vanaheim
Book 4 - Hel Hath No Fury (Summer 2018)
Accord Series (Military SF)
Accord of Fire - Free prequel short story, available only to email list fans!
Book 1 - Accord of Honor
Book 2 - Accord of Mars
Book 3 - Accord of Valor
Blackwell Magic Series (Urban Fantasy)
Book 1 - By Darkness Revealed
Book 2 - Ashes Ascendant
Book 3 - Dead In Winter
Book 4 - Claws That Catch
Book 5 - Darkness Awakes
Book 6 - Spellbinding Entanglements
By A Whisker (short story)
The Raven and the Rose - Free novelette for email list fans!
Lost Planet Warriors (Military SF with light romance)
Book 1 - Desperate Times
Book 2 - Desperate Measures
Dead Brittania Series:
Dead Brittania (short prequel story)
Book 1 - King of the Dead
Book 2 - Queen of Demons
Raven’s Heart Series (Urban Fantasy)
Book 1 - Stolen Light
Book 2 - Webs in the Dark
Book 3 - Shades of Moonlight
Other Titles:
Over the Moon (SF romance)
Midnight Visitors (Steampunk Cat short story)
Demon Ex Machina (Steampunk Cat short story)
The Coffee Break Novelist (help for writers!)
You Must Write (Heinlein’s rules for writers)
Author Notes—Craig Martelle
Written March 30th, 2018
I can’t thank you enough for reading this book. It has been a personal project for a long time. I found an initial co-writer in the summer of last year, but that didn’t work out.
Kevin offered to come on board and give it a go and what you have here is the result of that collaboration. We are both science fiction authors, military sci-fi and space opera. This book was far different from our norm, but with a complete outline, we knuckled down, with Kevin doing the majority of the writing.
That’s not the hard part. Kevin was able to get it done even with an illness that put him into the hospital! He was sick as a dog for a rather lengthy period, and then, if you would believe it, I drag him to London for an indie author conference, right after he got out of the hospital. Although I may not be good for Kevin’s short term health, he was magnificent in both cases, in London and with The Human Experiment.
We explore the topic of whether it is better to live safely in a zoo or risk one’s life for freedom. What incentives will keep someone inside? What if they don’t know it’s a zoo? Will humanity’s desire for freedom (cue Mel Gibson with the blue face) ever be extinguished?
I hope you liked the story. If you could leave a review, we’d greatly appreciate it. It’s a testimonial to our continued work as authors.
That’s it—break’s over, back to writing the next book. Peace, fellow humans.
Please join my Newsletter (www.craigmartelle.com – please, please, please sign up!), or you can follow me on Facebook since you’ll get the same opportunity to pick up the books for only 99 cents on that first day they are published.
If you liked this story, you might like some of my other books. You can join my mailing list by dropping by my website www.craigmartelle.com or if you have any comments, shoot me a note at craig@craigmartelle.com. I am always happy to hear from people who’ve read my work. I try to answer every email I receive.
If you liked the story, please write a short review for me on Amazon. I greatly appreciate any kind words; even one or two sentences go a long way. The number of reviews an ebook receives greatly improves how well it does on Amazon.
Amazon – www.amazon.com/author/craigmartelle
Facebook – www.facebook.com/authorcraigmartelle
My web page – www.craigmartelle.com
BookBub – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/craig-martelle
Other Books by Craig Martelle
The Terry Henry Walton Chronicles, a Kurtherian Gambit Series, co-written with Michael Anderle
World's Worst Day Ever—a prequel
Book 1—Nomad Found (also on Audible)
Book 2—Nomad Redeemed (also on Audible)
Book 3—Nomad Unleashed (also on Audible)
Book 4—Nomad Supreme (also on Audible)
Book 5—Nomad's Fury (also on Audible)
Book 7—Nomad Avenged (also on Audible)
Book 8—Nomad Mortis (also on Audible)
Book 9—Nomad's Force (also on Audible)
Book 10—Nomad's Galaxy (also on Audible)
Book 11—Nomad's Journal—a collection of Terry Henry Walton Short Stories
The Bad Company, a Kurtherian Gambit Age of Expansion Series, co-written with Michael Anderle
Book 0: Gateway to the Universe (Book 0 for multiple series within the Age of Expansion)
Book 1: The Bad Company (also on Audible)
Book 2: Blockade
Book 3: Price of Freedom
Book 4: Liberation
Books 5-8: TBD
Free Trader Series
Book 1—The Free Trader of Warren Deep
Book 2—The Free Trader of Planet Vii
Book 3—Adventures on RV Traveler
Book 4—Battle for the Amazon
Book 5—Free the North!
Book 6—Free Trader on the High Seas
Book 7—Southern Discontent
Book 8—The Great 'Cat Rebellion (Coming)
Book 9—Return to the Traveler (Coming)
Cygnus Space Opera—set
in the Free Trader Universe
Book 1—Cygnus Rising
Book 2—Cygnus Expanding
Book 3—Cygnus Arrives
Cygnus Omnibus Books 1-3 (also on audible in a single package)
Darklanding – a serial space western (Firefly meets Tombstone) co-written with Scott Moon
Book 1 – Assignment: Darklanding
Book 2 – Ike Shot the Sheriff
Book 3 – Outlaws
Darklanding Omni 1 (contains books 1-3, also on audio)
Book 4 – Runaway
Book 5 – An Unglok Murder
Book 6 – SAGCON
Book 7 – Race to the Finish
Book 8 – Boomtown (coming April Apr 20)
Book 9 – A Warrior’s Home (coming May 8)
Book 10 – TBD
Book 11 – TBD
Book 12 – TBD
End Times Alaska Series, a Permuted Press publication
Book 1: Endure (also on Audible)
Book 2: Run (also on Audible)
Book 3: Return (also on Audible)
Book 4: Fury (also on Audible)
Rick Banik Thrillers
People Raged and the Sky Was on Fire (also on Audible)
Paranoid in Paradise—a short story
The Human Experiment – A Novel, co-written with Kevin McLaughlin
Become a Successful Indie Author – Non-Fiction Self-Help
Short Stories (and where you can find them)
Earth Prime Anthology, Volume 1 (Stephen Lee & James M. Ward)
Apocalyptic Space Short Story Collection (Stephen Lee & James M. Ward)
Lunar Resorts Anthology, Volume 2 (Stephen Lee & James M. Ward)
Just One More Fight (published as a novella standalone)
Wisdom's Journey (published as a novella standalone):
Fear Peace (published as a novella standalone)
The Trenches of Centauri Prime (in Galactic Frontiers, edited by Charles Ekeke)
The Misadventures of Jacob Wild McKilljoy (with Michael-Scott Earle)
The Outcast (in Through the Never anthology): Mystically Engineered (in Tales from the Void, a Chris Fox Anthology)
A Language Barrier (in The Expanding Universe, Volume 3)
Box Sets & Anthologies
Trader, Cygnus, & People Raged—Martelle Starter Library
The Expanding Universe, Volume 1 (edited by Craig Martelle)
The Expanding Universe, Volume 2 (edited by Craig Martelle)
The Expanding Universe, Volume 3 (edited by Craig Martelle)
Metamorphosis Alpha—Chronicles from the Warden Vol 1 (with James M. Ward, edited by Craig Martelle)
Metamorphosis Alpha—Chronicles from the Warden Vol 2 (with James M. Ward, edited by Craig Martelle)