In the 1900s, William Guillory builds a home for his wife and two sons on a small island off the New England coast. It’s an idyllic existence at first, but then they lose one of their sons to the sea. William’s wife, in particular, is devastated by the event and it is not until a few years later that she recovers and bears William a daughter. Tragedy strikes again when both wife and daughter disappear into the ocean.
What William doesn’t know for many years is that his lost loved ones aren’t dead, they’ve just been taken to become part of an ancient race of mermen and mermaids who live in the sea off the island. But for William and his remaining son, time marches on. They are approached by a group of entertainers who want to build a summer carnival on the island. Both father and son find escape in the new venture, as well as romance.
Years later, in the present day, William’s descendent Mike Guillory is enjoying his quiet life on the island with his wife, son, and dog Travis. His step-mother also lives on the island in a nearby house, as well as a Dutch uncle Ned, who is also descended from one of the carnival troupe. The family is enjoying an eccentric tradition one night when there is a freakish storm raining some form of green slime from the sky as well as a strange hot mist from the sea. By morning, everything is beginning to change, and it will never be the same again.
“The Green Storm” is a relatively fresh departure from the current trend of vampires, zombies, shape-shifters and other assorted mutants in sci-fi. It’s not that the story is completely original. In some ways, it is reminiscent of 1950s B-movies such as the “Creature From the Black Lagoon”, but it’s not a topic you see much of today. The author has a very nice descriptive style which is heavy on narrative. Some readers don’t like that, but it does rather suit this century-spanning tale, and unfortunately what little dialog there is comes across as stilted at best, and sometimes downright clumsy.
For most of the story, the narrative sets up a quite believable scenario for how and why mer-creatures exist. It’s still fantasy, but the verisimilitude is very strong, which helps carry you along. However, towards the end another element is introduced which rather takes away from the realism. For me, the ending was less satisfying than I was hoping for, based on where things seemed to be headed before the plot twist. After that, things become a little trite and forced.
Despite its shortcomings, “The Green Storm” is a decent read by a first-time author. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with next.
“The Green Storm” is available from Amazon
