Human Trial

Human Trial

Science Fiction, 388 Pp.

Published January 10, 2009

Allthingsthatmatterpress.com

This end-of-the-world tale focuses on race and group dynamics, as a small band of humans seeks to survive a thermal warfare attack by intergalactic invaders use. The results leaves the earth scorched and devoid of nearly all human and animal life. A scattershot group of survivors (who dub themselves “Mulholland’s Mad Dogs”), must work as one to not only endure the altered climate, but ward off marauders, rabid animals and overcome their own fears and prejudices.

The group discovers that they are test subjects in an alien experiment and that they must wrest the fate of mankind from the hands of otherworldly beings.  Following the fierce leadership of Daron Turner and his pregnant co-worker Regina Jackson, this eclectic mix of humanity struggles to find essentials such as food, shelter, defense and electrical power. The group includes Dan, a committed do-as-your-told type; gangbanger Melvin Hicks; Rocks and Ray Earl–escaped prison inmates; a Christian couple; Barbara–a tough-talking widow, and several others.

The final confrontation mandates that the earth residents fight to protect their future: Regina’s unborn child,

Reviews for Timothy Stelly’s sci-fi noir thriller, Human Trial, have been positive. Readers and critics from the U.S. and Canada have praised the book for its grittiness and frightening tenor.

Here’s what reviewers are saying about HUMAN TRIAL:..

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.—E. Joyce Moore, auhor of Ramblings Through The attic of Thought

“…superb. It’s as if I’m one of the 10 going through the same trials they are. I can hardly wait to read the next installment.”—T.C. Matthews, author oif What A Web We Weave

The book scares me because of the possibility of this happening in our future and how we will handle it. Scary. Deeply thought out…Timothy definitely has his own voice and it is powerful. —Minnie Miller, author of The Seduction of Mr. Bradley

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. –Brooklyn Darkchild, author of This Ain’t No Hearts and Flowers Love Story, Pt. I & II

[This] story has been haunting me-reminds me of Octavia Butler's 'Parable of the Sower’…I just love Stelly's work. (Human Trial) haunts me two years after I read it.

–Evelyn Palfrey, author of Dangerous Dilemma and The Price Of Passion

4 out of 5 stars. 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. 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.—Claxton Graham, Amazon.com review

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…It is an entertaining and intricate story that can be read and enjoyed along with the likes of Mitchener, King, or Peter Straub. Stelly intuitively knows what everyday people will do to survive and how their interactions with each other will sound.—Brian Barbeito, Columnist Useless-Knowledge.com and author of Fluoride And The Electric Light Queen

Gritty and intense, Human Trial will leave you stupefied and terrified, neither of which will protect your gut from wrenching.  The message finally revealed is not only horrifying, but real, as is the omen foretold.  Turning tables and unbalanced scales foster confusion and terror in an epic far greater than its words. – Brian L. Doe, Author, The Grace Note, Barley & Gold; Co-Author, Waking God Trilogy
Human trial is available from amazon.com and allthingsthatmatterpress.com. It is also available as an e-book and in kindle format at mobipocket.com and amazon.com.