Dear Reader Letter-The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie
Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Dear Reader,
Today is a big day. April 11, 2023 is the release of my latest anthology, THE HITHERTO SECRET EXPERIMENTS OF MARIE CURIE (Blackstone Publishing), co-edited by Henry L. Herz (buy here) and we debuted at #1 in hardcover. It’s been a real whirlwind the past few years with COVID, among other things—an odd time, in some ways, to create books, but The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie was born. Fittingly, it tells fictionalized stories of the youth of one of the world’s most famous scientists, Marie Curie, whose own life was filled with tragedy and struggles—not just as a female pioneer in STEM, but with deaths in her family, oppression of her people, and more. Unlike COVID, Marie has left the world a much better place, however, and she did so at great cost. It is widely believed she died due to the effect of radiation exposure from her great discovery of radium. Marie was not one to let obstacles stop her. She pushed and she worked and she fought and she conquered time and again. She’s an inspiring and fascinating woman, and we hope our stories are inspiring too.
These stories are fictional. Although they are based on real characters in real situations and real history, but none of these events actually happened. Instead we invited 18 of the top Young Adult and horror writers (line-up here) working today to collaborate on fun misadventures filled with mischief, mystery, monsters, and yes, science, as they imagined what life might have been like for young teenage Marie. Marie’s life was largely shaped by the tragic loss of her mother and sister at a young age and so are these stories, but Marie conquered adversity time and again, and she does here too.
THE HITHERTO SECRET EXPERIMENTS OF MARIE CURIE won’t change the world but it can entertain and inspired. We hope these stories inspire you to face any obstacles you encounter with courage, drive, and determination. Women can change the world in STEM or anywhere else. We celebrate possibilities and great futures and wish the same for you.
Thank you for reading. The book is now available on hardcover, audiobook and CD and ebook here.
Luckily for humanity, scientist Marie Curie applied her brilliant mind and indomitable spirit to expanding the frontiers of science, but what if she had instead drifted toward the darkness?
At the cusp of between child- and adulthood, at the crossroads between science and superstition, a teen Marie Curie faces the factual and the fantastic in this fabulous collection of stories that inspire, delight, and ask the question: What if she had used her talents for diabolical purposes?
The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie includes twenty short stories and poems by award-winning writers including New York Times bestselling authors Seanan McGuire, Scott Sigler, Jane Yolen, Alethea Kontis, and Jonathan Maberry, plus Sarah Beth Durst, Lissa Price, Christine Taylor-Butler, Mylo Carbia, Jo Whittemore, Dee Leone, Susanne L. Lambdin, Steve Pantazis, Emily McCosh, Henry Herz, Bryan Thomas Schmidt & GP Charles.
