By: Elowen Gray
When Bill Yarborough first began writing Memories of MK-ULTRA, he wasn’t just penning fiction. He was revisiting a childhood fogged by half-formed memories, emotional fractures, and a suspicion that something terrible had happened—and that it had been buried deep on purpose.
Published in December 2024 by Manhattan Book Group, Memories of MK-ULTRA marks Yarborough’s debut novel. On its surface, it’s a taut psychological thriller about a child named Tommy who is lured into a mysterious government program in the late 1950s. But beneath the storytelling lies something far more unsettling: the novel is loosely based on what Yarborough and his siblings believe they experienced firsthand—being subjected to experiments under the real-life CIA mind control initiative known as MK-ULTRA.
“My sister, brother, and I spent the summer of 1958 in an MK-ULTRA program,” Yarborough writes in his book. “We repressed our memories for over 25 years, but beginning in the late 1980s, we started to recall our buried past.”
Yarborough is careful to frame the book as fiction, acknowledging the blurred lines between trauma, memory, and imagination. Still, much of what he recounts—drug use, hypnosis, isolation, psychological and physical manipulation—matches disturbing accounts from declassified government documents and testimonies before the U.S. Senate’s Church Committee in the 1970s.
What sets Memories of MK-ULTRA apart from other fiction rooted in historical horror is its deeply personal tone. It’s not written from a safe emotional distance. Tommy, the book’s protagonist, doesn’t just experience trauma—he tries to understand it. He grasps for meaning in fragments, and the reader is pulled into that uncertain, often surreal, emotional terrain right alongside him.
Yarborough’s storytelling is both vivid and restrained. The book opens with a seemingly innocent museum visit and quickly spirals into a world of secrecy, shadows, and mind control. There’s an emotional realism to the scenes that makes the speculative elements—such as paranormal experiences and psychological fragmentation—all the more plausible. It’s a novel that haunts you not just because of what happens, but because it feels like it could have happened.
Though new to the literary scene, Yarborough has long been involved in writing. His short story “Night Mother” appeared in Jitter (Issue #8), and he’s co-authored several emotional health articles in The Diablo Gazette Magazine alongside his wife and collaborator, Inge. The couple are certified hypnotherapists, EFT practitioners, and Reiki Masters, currently working on a book titled EFT on Steroids – The Extraordinary Benefit of Communal Tapping. Healing, it seems, is as much a mission for Yarborough as storytelling.
Born from recovered memory, personal inquiry, and a fair amount of pain, Memories of MK-ULTRA doesn’t wrap up in a neat bow. Instead, it invites readers to sit with discomfort—and to consider what it means to unearth a past that was never meant to be remembered.
Now living in Northern California, Yarborough continues to write and is already deep into the sequel to Memories of MK-ULTRA. When he’s not at his desk, he enjoys traveling and spending time with Inge and their extended family, which includes three children from her first marriage whom he helped raise.
If Memories of MK-ULTRA is any indication, Yarborough isn’t just revisiting the past—he’s rewriting it, reframing it, and daring to speak the unspeakable through the language of fiction.
About the Author
Bill Yarborough is a novelist based in Northern California whose literary work blurs the lines between history, memory, and personal revelation. His debut novel, Memories of MK-ULTRA, is informed by long-repressed childhood memories of alleged CIA experimentation during the Cold War. Before turning to fiction, Yarborough led a career in finance and nonprofit leadership. He now writes and works alongside his wife, Inge, a fellow healer and practitioner. Together, they co-author wellness articles and are co-writing EFT on Steroids – The Extraordinary Benefit of Communal Tapping, a book focused on communal trauma recovery. Yarborough is currently writing the sequel to his debut novel.
The book is available on Amazon and other digital platforms. For further information and exciting updates, follow the channels listed below:
