A few hundred years from now, a sample of humans will be extracted from locations around the world. Captive, isolated and abused, they are forced to be a part of the Creatures' experiments.
In this new world, there is no such thing as human rights. The specimens must decide to live or to die. Choosing to stay alive means choosing which part of their humanity to keep and which to let go.
The Bad Specimens is a bold work of fiction, drawing from the worlds of sci-fi and horror.
Genre: FICTION / Science Fiction / General
I have not had a lot of English language sales. I am doing a book giveaway at the end of August, and I am hopeful that will spur sales. During a free promotion period of the book, I had 228 downloads.
Update: I have received two four-star reviews on goodreads.com and one four-star review on amazon.co.uk. The book has been reviewed by redcityreview.com, and they gave it four out of five stars.
CHAPTER 3
From the other side of the pool, the woman is throwing side-glances at us. She looks at her hands and arms, which are turning pinkish-red, and she grimaces.
A cover or something begins sliding out of the side of the wall where I am. The kid gets knocked off the wall, and I grab him and the cover, which is still moving. I let go of the cover– if I don’t, I’ll be crushed between the cover and the other side of the pool, where the woman is. This is a mistake, I had some time before any crushing would happen.
I start treading water as the cover goes over our heads, and the kid starts panicking in my arm. I go under with the kid and resurface. I try unsuccessfully to hold him away from me. The woman comes off the wall and floats on her back.
This kid is scratching me and pinching me, trying to latch onto me.
“On your back,” I hiss at the kid. “Like this...” He tried, but he’s not getting it. Now he’s staying as stiff and vertical as a table leg. I can’t keep this up: treading water, trying to keep this kid and my nose above water. The woman is not helping.
The pool is completely covered, maybe three or five inches over our heads. “Float!” I yell at the kid, half hoping the volume of my voice will force them to open the cover, even if it would be to punish me. I go under again, but gulp a bunch of this water, and feel it burn my tongue and throat. I can feel it travel down into my stomach, too.
The kid is trying to kick, but mostly trying to grab me. “On! Your! Back!” I command as loud as I can when I surface again. I bang on the covers and shout, trying to incite punishment, which means they’ll have to remove the cover.
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Tainá Galdino da Silva
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Author review: I have no knowledge whatsoever of the Portuguese language, Tainá asked questions that helped me understand that she was being thorough as to context and subtle nuances of the translation. She was very prompt replying as well. |
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by joel fernandez
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