Tangleshock: Everything On Earth Is Floating

By Steve Games

Can adults be expected to take interest in a story about fish with hands, languages, weapons and civilizations existing 12,000 feet undersea? Can serious readers entertain a sense of verisimilitude about a Godzilla-sized jellyfish with electric energy that happens to be the oldest living intelligent creature on Earth? Can any educated person buy the idea that there's so much going on around us that we don't know, it's enough to make their head swim? The first chapter gives us a taste of what to expect. We meet Benjamin Benthos, off to find his lost father somewhere in the wastes of Greenland. And we meet two young "tadpoles" at play with Romeo and Juliet circumstances who grow up to be critical leaders of opposing undersea factions as their societies experience the first harrowing encounters with humanity. We also meet Targo, one of the ocean's largest predators, a multi-tentacled ancient who has taken to hunting the relative newcomers to the scene, the "hot shells" (submarines). Giant Targo is the idol of all the smaller members of his kind called "tangleshocks," a begrudging involuntary provider and protector for a bustling entourage that he can never shake for long. His annoyed reactions to his followers are a source of consistent amusement. The humans in the story range from Jack the helicopter tour pilot and some colorful natives of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland's actual name) to the submarine crews searching the seas for the mysterious menace that attacked a French sub. It also involves the U.S. president, only referred to here as POTUS to avoid identifying the character as male or female, who doesn't believe in "fish people'' any more than the next rational conformist- until shown convincing evidence by the navy. Much of the early story involves the arrival of Benthos in Greenland and the machinations he has to go through to find someone who can supply answers to the question of what happened to his dad, which involve a UFO-spotting helicopter ride, a night sleeping beside a frozen seal, a dogsled journey into the wild, and a daring spelunking into the cave of an underground river in search of the mysterious Panniqoq, described as a native "witch woman." There's more than undersea civilization to discover, as we along with Benthos find out what happened to the Vikings that vanished in Greenland in the mid 1400's. If it all sounds fishy, don't forget: humans are relative newcomers compared to lifeforms found in the darkest depths, where the territory is less familiar to us than the surfaces of Mars and the Moon. And under great pressures in the blackest of hideaways the most delicate forms of life have been found. We may not have to go into space to meet aliens.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1521810176
• ISBN13: 9781521810170
• Release Date: June 2023
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.0"