Hope everyone had a great weekend and an easy Monday! Not much to update today...The Army of the Man is still coming along nicely. But I found this picture and had to share :).
One tiny request though...PREORDER!! Please please please! It would mean the world to me to put this book in the top three of the Geek and Sundry Hard Science Contest, and I need your help to make it happen. Preorder, recommend, send a friend over to check it out...all would be so appreciated!
NEW CHAPTERS POSTED! I have received several messages from followers that they would like to read more before they pre-order The Army of the Man. I was waiting until I got to 20 pre-orders to post more, but I think I should follow some of their advice and let you guys see what I’m working on. All of this is a work in progress, and I welcome feedback. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me so far and helped me figure out this amazing community we call Inkshares. Please read the new chapters I posted. If you are connecting with the story so far, pre-order The Army of the Man and recommend it to others. I would love the chance to see this story hit the top of the Hard Science Contest leader board and get published!
In other news, I was interviewed by the Inkshares blog staff for a post that featured the top 10 books in the Geek and Sundry Hard Science Contest! Super happy to be a part of it. Check it out!
Since The Army of the Man is in the Hard Science Contest, I thought it might be time to discuss some of the hard science behind the book! Get ready y’all...it’s time to SCIENCE.
As discussed on my project page, The Army of the Man involves a shadow group using the parasite Toxoplasma gondii to their advantage. How? They use its behavior altering properties to change humans into super humans, unafraid of consequence and the perfect soldier.
At a base level, this is exactly what the parasite T.gondii does to mice. Mice infected with the parasite (by eating contaminated food/cat feces) are noted to be more active, the first ones to enter traps, and unaffected by the presence of cats and their smells. Some evidence exists that the mice may even become sexually aroused by the smell of cats! The result? A mouse that runs right up to a cat to be eaten. To the parasite, this is important because it reproduces ONLY inside feline gut.
The specific mechanism for this behavior is thought to be a dramatic increase in the infected organisms’ dopamine and hormone levels. Interestingly, similar impulsive behaviors can be found in humans who are infected by T.gondii. Humans with the infection are more likely to be involved in car accidents. Infections have been linked to schizophrenia and other mental health diseases. The length of time a human has been infected also seems to have an effect. One study found that men who had been infected for many years are less conscientious of others. Huh...
What if science could harness T.gondii? Use it to alter behavior of humans? Make them more impulsive, less afraid, and more aggressive. Access specific personality traits that might make, let’s say, a super soldier. Then, my friends, you would have the beginnings of The Army of the Man.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has pre-ordered The Army of the Man. I’m blown away by the support I’m finding here on Inkshares. If you haven’t pre-ordered already, please do so!
Only 4 more pre-orders to go and then I will release the next chapter of The Army of the Man for viewing! Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered and sent me encouraging messages. Let’s keep it rolling! https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-army-of-the-man-9944?referral_code=5a05dec5
THANK YOU to everyone who has pre-ordered The Army of the Man so far! I have moved up the leader board in the Hard Science Contest to 7th place thanks to you. I am so excited about this project, and it is awesome to see others get excited about it too.
I was interviewed by TheWarblerBooks.com about this project. The blog post is now up and ready for viewing. Huge thanks to Elan Samuel for giving me an Author Feature. Go check out his site, and look him up on Inkshares while you’re at it!
If you haven’t pre-ordered, take a second and do so! I’m only 8 pre-orders away from releasing the next chapter of The Army of the Man for everyone to view!
Thank you to everyone who has already pre-ordered! I’m really excited about this project and am loving the feed back and support here on Inkshares. If you haven’t already, definitely pre-order your copy and recommend this project to others. A lot of time and research is going into the development of the "science" part of this story, and the things I am learning about parasites, particularly Toxoplasma gondii, are SCARY! But, man, it’s going to make a great story! As an incentive to pre-order, when I hit 20 pre-orders, I will release the next chapter for viewing. Let’s do this!
Hope everyone had a great weekend and an easy Monday! Not much to update today...The Army of the Man is still coming along nicely. But I found this picture and had to share :).
One tiny request though...PREORDER!! Please please please! It would mean the world to me to put this book in the top three of the Geek and Sundry Hard Science Contest, and I need your help to make it happen. Preorder, recommend, send a friend over to check it out...all would be so appreciated!
Looking forward to this one.
NEW CHAPTERS POSTED! I have received several messages from followers that they would like to read more before they pre-order The Army of the Man. I was waiting until I got to 20 pre-orders to post more, but I think I should follow some of their advice and let you guys see what I’m working on. All of this is a work in progress, and I welcome feedback. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me so far and helped me figure out this amazing community we call Inkshares. Please read the new chapters I posted. If you are connecting with the story so far, pre-order The Army of the Man and recommend it to others. I would love the chance to see this story hit the top of the Hard Science Contest leader board and get published!
In other news, I was interviewed by the Inkshares blog staff for a post that featured the top 10 books in the Geek and Sundry Hard Science Contest! Super happy to be a part of it. Check it out!
http://blog.inkshares.com/post/142855395110/top-10-authors-in-geek-sundry-hard-sci-fi
Since The Army of the Man is in the Hard Science Contest, I thought it might be time to discuss some of the hard science behind the book! Get ready y’all...it’s time to SCIENCE.
As discussed on my project page, The Army of the Man involves a shadow group using the parasite Toxoplasma gondii to their advantage. How? They use its behavior altering properties to change humans into super humans, unafraid of consequence and the perfect soldier.
At a base level, this is exactly what the parasite T.gondii does to mice. Mice infected with the parasite (by eating contaminated food/cat feces) are noted to be more active, the first ones to enter traps, and unaffected by the presence of cats and their smells. Some evidence exists that the mice may even become sexually aroused by the smell of cats! The result? A mouse that runs right up to a cat to be eaten. To the parasite, this is important because it reproduces ONLY inside feline gut.
The specific mechanism for this behavior is thought to be a dramatic increase in the infected organisms’ dopamine and hormone levels. Interestingly, similar impulsive behaviors can be found in humans who are infected by T.gondii. Humans with the infection are more likely to be involved in car accidents. Infections have been linked to schizophrenia and other mental health diseases. The length of time a human has been infected also seems to have an effect. One study found that men who had been infected for many years are less conscientious of others. Huh...
What if science could harness T.gondii? Use it to alter behavior of humans? Make them more impulsive, less afraid, and more aggressive. Access specific personality traits that might make, let’s say, a super soldier. Then, my friends, you would have the beginnings of The Army of the Man.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/common-parasite-linked-to-personality-changes/
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has pre-ordered The Army of the Man. I’m blown away by the support I’m finding here on Inkshares. If you haven’t pre-ordered already, please do so!
Only 4 more pre-orders to go and then I will release the next chapter of The Army of the Man for viewing! Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered and sent me encouraging messages. Let’s keep it rolling! https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-army-of-the-man-9944?referral_code=5a05dec5
THANK YOU to everyone who has pre-ordered The Army of the Man so far! I have moved up the leader board in the Hard Science Contest to 7th place thanks to you. I am so excited about this project, and it is awesome to see others get excited about it too.
I was interviewed by TheWarblerBooks.com about this project. The blog post is now up and ready for viewing. Huge thanks to Elan Samuel for giving me an Author Feature. Go check out his site, and look him up on Inkshares while you’re at it!
http://www.thewarblerbooks.com/featured-author-john-carter/
If you haven’t pre-ordered, take a second and do so! I’m only 8 pre-orders away from releasing the next chapter of The Army of the Man for everyone to view!
Thank you to everyone who has already pre-ordered! I’m really excited about this project and am loving the feed back and support here on Inkshares. If you haven’t already, definitely pre-order your copy and recommend this project to others. A lot of time and research is going into the development of the "science" part of this story, and the things I am learning about parasites, particularly Toxoplasma gondii, are SCARY! But, man, it’s going to make a great story! As an incentive to pre-order, when I hit 20 pre-orders, I will release the next chapter for viewing. Let’s do this!
Finally got my cover artwork up and I love it! Wrote another chapter today and I’m excited to share with everyone soon. Thanks for following my work!