Human Trial

Posted By timothy on May 2, 2010

E. Joyce Moore, author of Rambling Through The Attic Of Thought (2008 SORMag Nest Poetry Book winner): “

“I like to read emerging authors. Human Trial by Timothy Stelly is an interesting read, not the normal genre that I usually pick up. I read a sample chapter that was so engaging that I had to get it and read it to the end. I’d read a couple of short stories by Stelly before so I had great expectations of this book and it delivered.”

Ken Weene, author of “Widow’s Walk”:

Human Trial by Timothy Stelly is science fiction, but it is much more. It is a study of average humans in the most desperate circumstances. Can they rise to the challenge? Can they maintain their group cohesion and their sanity in the face of the most cruel of conditions? Ultimately, what do they hold most dear, so dear that they are willing to put it ahead of self? These are the powerful questions that Stelly explores within the fast-paced action of this strongly written novel.

Set in modern California, Human Trial is based on a terrifying premise, that an alien race has taken control of the earth’s weather and magnetic field. The reason for this invasion is to test the small number of earthlings who survive a storm of microwaved destruction and paralyzing heat to see if they are worthy of having a future. The novel follows one small band of survivors as they struggle to live, to relate, and even to love.

This is a book that will make you think about what you can handle and about what you value most.

Claxton Graham, in “The Angry American” and amazon.com

4 out of 5 stars

Human Trial has echoes of other notable sci-fi works

In Human Trial, aliens launch a thermal war against the Earth.  A patchwork quilt of survivors in what’s left of urbanized California work against time to save themselves and to create a new generation of humanity before it all gets wiped out.  Reading Human Trial reminded me of another fine survival novel, Damnation Alley, written by the late Roger Zelazny in 1967 and made into a motion picture in 1977.

…I felt the echoes of other notable science fiction novels, including “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler, “Lucifer’s Hammer” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, and “Manhattan Transfer” by John E. Stith. It is an alien invasion novel, but it is also a disaster novel along the lines of “The Glass Inferno” by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson and a story of man’s sheer will to survive. Timothy Stelly creates a believable milieu of small-town America being turned upside down by forces beyond comprehension, and puts the reader right in the middle of the action.
I’m proud to recommend “Human Trial”. Instead of merely escaping, readers will be compelled to think and reflect about humanity in a different light.

Minnie Miller, in Goodreads.com:

Human Trial is a Sci-Fi story about humanity gone terribly wrong during an international thermal disaster, living in a ravaged terrain and learning, once again, how to survive. The characters run the gambit [sic] of all nationalities and races. The controlling leader, Daron Turner, starts out as a vicious, tough leader that causes fear among the small group of survivors.

Out of desperation to find a solution to their many problems, mayhem sets in and the group becomes unstable. The killings and anger is raw and not for the faint of heart. I had difficulty with the clinical descriptions of rebuilding their small community and feel it took away from the story too long. I would rather have had more fleshing out of the characters that were an interesting gathering of humanity. The story reminds me of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.

Brooklyn Darkchild (amazon.com book review):

4.0 out of 5 stars Too Hot To Handle???

Alien beings begin an attack on the Earth in which microwave radiation is used. The temperature soars to over 100 degrees daily. When the microwaves are turned up full force, most humans drop dead on the spot. A small pocket of survivors band together, first in a hardware store, then as their number begins to climb they upgrade to a small motel. Together they try to create a new society.
The cast of characters was ever changing, something you would expect in a post apocalyptic environment where one could succumb to either marauding wild men or wild beasts at any moment. At the center of this tight knit group Daron Turner and his pregnant soulmate Regina attempt to keep things together through a no nonsense plan which includes strict adherence to the rules and an it’s-all-about-the-group mentality. Naturally some late arrivals disagree with these methods and cause tension and rivalry within the sect. Many of the old society’s problems rear their ugly heads: most notably racism.
Then the aliens reverse the attack and it gets brutally cold.
Human Trial was a well written, well thought out book with plenty of biting, satirical social, religious and racial commentary interspersed within the dialogue. The drama, and the pathos, were nonstop, and I never knew what to expect next. I kept rooting for Daron, Regina, and most of the others in the group, and I was really afraid of what the aliens had in store for them. The story ended a bit abruptly for me, though it did set up Human Trial II: Adam’s War, which is the sequel.
Will I bite??? For sure.

Brian Barbeito (From amazon.com and useless-knowledge.com)

Timothy Stelly Sr. has written a wonderful book with his Human Trial, the first in a trilogy of books that detail the adventures of earth survivors after an extra-terrestrial assault on the planet. Human Trial is at once a sci-fi story, a look at the psychology of survival, and a timely cautionary tale regarding current environmental woes; our individual and collective responsibility to one another and to the planet.
An alien race far more advanced than our own uses their technology to heat up the planet and kill off the majority of its inhabitants in one fell swoop. Renegade groups of human survivors have to band together in order to survive. Included in the alien agenda, and this is interesting in that it does not differ much from many theories expressed by modern ufology, – is a hybrid program where the visitors from afar have a plan to breed out the worst in us and maintain the best, adding much of their own mind stuff along the way. The story is told in a straightforward way, and when dealing with out-of-the-box ideas this usually bodes well for writer and reader. This is writing that the likes of Whitley Strieber, Jim Sparks, Jim Marrs and others from the alien neck of the neighborhood would surely enjoy reading.
Human Trial is not only for alien lovers, – far from it. It is an entertaining and intricate story that can be read and enjoyed along with the likes of Mitchener, King, or Peter Straub. One of the best aspects of is the dialogue. It resonates as real and when it needs to be gritty it does not shy away. If the world as you know it had ended, you wouldn’t necessarily worry about pleasantries and small talk. Stelly intuitively knows what everyday people will do to survive and how their interactions with each other will sound. As the book weaves the tale of people struggling for a future, the reader will flip the pages and take the journey with them. There is not a lot of time for reminiscing, for speculation, for hesitation in their world, and the writer has not hesitated but rather put down on the pages what is happening in the moment. The dialogue is so alive and present that someone involved in cinema would do well to make a treatment of the novel and put it to film.
But for all the action and immediate rhythm, there are inclusions of tenderness and brutality both. Stelly does not shy away from mention of rape, the brutal beheading of a character, – the cinematic violence of 1970′s directing icon Sam Pekinpah came to mind. Stelly also understands the difficult nuances of the relationship between Daron, the hero, and Regina. Regina is carrying a child that comes from unorthodox beginnings to say the least, and Daron is willing to discard accepted norms and mores in order to be the man Regina and her unborn child need him to be.
Curious thought processes happen in Human Trial. Or are they curious? Thoughts can be strange things, but how strange? When a female character becomes sexually aroused at the thought of being intimate amidst the end of the world, the reader is challenged to make up one’s own mind as concerns how they feel about what is happening, though it is only a character’s thought process. Here is one of the places the writing in Human Trial shows that it can describe a battle for human survival, but also shift gears and look out at the world from its characters’ secret and sometimes embarrassing feelings. Another way Human Trial is multidimensional is because the characters are morally ambiguous. They have to make their own rules in a post-apocalyptic world. For instance, it is decided that heavy drugs and alcohol are banned, but an alcohol restriction is lifted during one celebration.
And what of the aliens? What are they up to as the rag-tag group of survivors tries to live through a veritable Armageddon? This brings into question a third and timely aspect of the book. The extraterrestrial intelligence speaks clearly near the end of the novel. It outlines the whys and wherefores of its actions, – to a point at least. To paraphrase, we are told that we are not responsible custodians of one another or the planet; that this human trial action will be better for those involved, considering the way we treat our world and one another. It seems that they took a long look and saw that we are still involved in tribalism albeit a more sophisticated one than in times gone past, and have not come to see each other as one and the same in time to save ourselves and the planet.
Give Human Trial a try. Involved are a modern action packed adventure story, a look at human psychology, and perhaps a warning about current earth changes and environmental woes. As we continue on with our decadent and secular habits, many environmentalists, economists, spiritualists, scientists, and even ufologists agree that we are in the midst of some paradigm altering upheavals and changes. Join Tim Stelly’s characters in Human Trial. They are a few chapters ahead.

K. Mohr, excerpted from amazon.cpm

4 out of 5 stars

…{Human Trial]  captures you and almost makes you feel as if you are a part of this rag-tag group of survivors; the author did what many authors can only hope to do, and that’s emotionally involve the readers. There were times I almost swore I was going to either cry or yell, and at times even laughed out loud.  The characters develop very nicely and smoothly, albeit there are times it seems a bit forced, BUT, not so much that a recreational reader can’t see past that and still find plenty of enjoyment.
All in all, it is definitely a great read, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good, energetic read. I can’t wait for the next installment of this series. You can be sure I will be the first in line!

Categories: on writing
Tags: