Controlled Experiment

Science Fiction novelette, first published Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2009. Translated into Russian for Russian SF magazine ESLI, 2010.

What do you do with criminals sentenced to life without parole when lifespans may last hundreds of years? Controlled Experiment combines science fiction with three of the classic styles of the mystery—the private eye, the police procedural, and the husband and wife detective team. Can a lifelong romance survive into a world where death is indefinitely postponed?

Length: about thirty hardcover pages in print editions. The novelette has been a popular form since science fiction magazines first appeared on the stands, but it's too short for convneitonal book publishing. Ereaders have opened up a new possibility—novelettes readers can buy as if they were small books you can read in less than an hour.