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Black Tide
Miller, a university professor, and two of his students take a trip out to a spoil island in the middle of Santa Rosa Sound in the Florida Keys to study the effects of pollution on the flora and fauna. While they are there, a tide of black microbes is released into the river, and floods down and around them. They escape by burying themselves in the sand, but when they emerge, it is to a world which is strangely silent and changed. Before long, burning figures are glimpsed along the distant banks, dragging themselves into the water. Then the attacks start. With daylight their only weapon, Miller realises that time is running out as an army of the living dead, intent on feasting on their flesh, is gathering in the surrounding waters.
A classic tale of horror in the great tradition of 'Night of the Living Dead'.
A classic tale of horror in the great tradition of 'Night of the Living Dead'.
- GenresHorror
111 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 25, 2015
Another take on zombies, Black Tide adds an aquatic touch to the usual tropes of brain-sucking fiction.
Florida college professor Fred Miller is a marine biologist who decides to spend a few days on a tiny island investigating the deadly ‘Red Tide’ plankton. He’s infatuated with his research assistant Heather, and has invited her along for less than honourable reasons. But she has brought her boyfriend Scott to make sure Fred doesn’t try to teach her human biology as well. What already looks to be an embarrassing time for the randy professor goes beyond bad when a mysterious black liquid bubbles out of the sea and turns everyone in the vicinity into zombies with a touch of the vampire – light hitting their infected tissues makes the zombies burn like fireworks, and this causes them to seek refuge underwater.
Stone’s a writer still learning the ropes. On the plus side there’s atmosphere here, and the story pulls you along at pace to its slightly contrived, almost-a-twist ending. On the bad, the character interaction does not hold true – Fred and Scotty’s confrontation blows up too soon, and for such a spineless beggar prone to hearkening to his worse side, Fred appears to be remarkably self-aware. So much so that it’s as if the author is telling us what he thinks of Fred, rather than what Fred thinks of Fred… Throughout, there’s too much of this ‘tell’, but one chronic weakness of the first person style. In fact, I’ve always had an issue with this perspective, specially when a man who’s about to die narrates his own fate; I mean, who is he telling, the seagulls?
The book also has a surfeit of adjectives and adverbs. A ruthless cull of these could only strengthen the writing, but they are left free to scamper about, purpling up the place with unimpeded modification.
There are precious few paid avenues for writers learning their craft nowadays. That could perhaps be put down to the high expectations of the reading public – it is not as if SF is hard to come by any more – but the high price of small-press books like this doesn’t help. What this means for the genre is debateable, but I’d hazard a guess it’s no more serious than that many authors will have to take their baby steps out of sight in future.
As a fan of SF shorts, I’d say seek this out and encourage Stone, but it doesn’t have quite enough merit for me to recommend it as a consumer.
Florida college professor Fred Miller is a marine biologist who decides to spend a few days on a tiny island investigating the deadly ‘Red Tide’ plankton. He’s infatuated with his research assistant Heather, and has invited her along for less than honourable reasons. But she has brought her boyfriend Scott to make sure Fred doesn’t try to teach her human biology as well. What already looks to be an embarrassing time for the randy professor goes beyond bad when a mysterious black liquid bubbles out of the sea and turns everyone in the vicinity into zombies with a touch of the vampire – light hitting their infected tissues makes the zombies burn like fireworks, and this causes them to seek refuge underwater.
Stone’s a writer still learning the ropes. On the plus side there’s atmosphere here, and the story pulls you along at pace to its slightly contrived, almost-a-twist ending. On the bad, the character interaction does not hold true – Fred and Scotty’s confrontation blows up too soon, and for such a spineless beggar prone to hearkening to his worse side, Fred appears to be remarkably self-aware. So much so that it’s as if the author is telling us what he thinks of Fred, rather than what Fred thinks of Fred… Throughout, there’s too much of this ‘tell’, but one chronic weakness of the first person style. In fact, I’ve always had an issue with this perspective, specially when a man who’s about to die narrates his own fate; I mean, who is he telling, the seagulls?
The book also has a surfeit of adjectives and adverbs. A ruthless cull of these could only strengthen the writing, but they are left free to scamper about, purpling up the place with unimpeded modification.
There are precious few paid avenues for writers learning their craft nowadays. That could perhaps be put down to the high expectations of the reading public – it is not as if SF is hard to come by any more – but the high price of small-press books like this doesn’t help. What this means for the genre is debateable, but I’d hazard a guess it’s no more serious than that many authors will have to take their baby steps out of sight in future.
As a fan of SF shorts, I’d say seek this out and encourage Stone, but it doesn’t have quite enough merit for me to recommend it as a consumer.
August 11, 2007
Fred Miller is a college professor who recently experienced a humiliating separation and divorce from his wife, who left him for a younger man. When the opportunity to conduct an environmental impact study in a deserted island comes his way, he decides to ask Heather, a nubile young assistant, to accompany him. To Dr. Miller's great dismay, she also brings her boyfriend, Scotty, along for the expedition.
The story opens with them taking a boat across Santa Rosa Sound to a spoil island by Okaloosa—a barrier island—to investigate a red tide outbreak in an area due to be flushed out by the opening of a new channel. When the three of them are alone on the island, Scotty decides he wants Heather to play Frisbee, rather than work: but when a toxic fog released by the irrigation threatens to overwhelm them, the quick-thinking professor uses the Frisbee to bury them all in the sand, until the fog rolls over and past them.
When the fog clears, they see people on the opposite shore combust, and walk into the water. They hear the havoc on the mainland. Apparently, everyone is either dead, or dying. The problem is worse than your run-of-the-mill red tide. It is a kind of black tide. It caused the fog which had earlier rolled over them.
The fog had turned the people on the mainland into photosensitive zombies, ones that burn at the slightest indication of unfiltered light. The three of them manage to incinerate a few with flashlights between dusk and dawn. In the daylight, Scotty decides to swim to the mainland in search of help. Not that he makes it...
BLACK TIDE sets the zombie mythos on its ear.
Del has zombies that can "live" underwater, filtered from the direct light of the sun. Starlight is too far removed to affect them, and sunlight filtered through the water, or if they are in shade, leaves them unaffected.
In a way, Fred gets what he wants at the end, Heather's undivided attention, though he does not really want it, by then. ;-)
The story is an interesting read, and throws an unlikely protagonist into an horrific situation. Can Fred and Heather make it out of this situation alive? Well, you'll have to read it BLACK TIDE find out. It's worth the journey.
Oh, and stock up on batteries, and candles. ;-) You never know...
The story opens with them taking a boat across Santa Rosa Sound to a spoil island by Okaloosa—a barrier island—to investigate a red tide outbreak in an area due to be flushed out by the opening of a new channel. When the three of them are alone on the island, Scotty decides he wants Heather to play Frisbee, rather than work: but when a toxic fog released by the irrigation threatens to overwhelm them, the quick-thinking professor uses the Frisbee to bury them all in the sand, until the fog rolls over and past them.
When the fog clears, they see people on the opposite shore combust, and walk into the water. They hear the havoc on the mainland. Apparently, everyone is either dead, or dying. The problem is worse than your run-of-the-mill red tide. It is a kind of black tide. It caused the fog which had earlier rolled over them.
The fog had turned the people on the mainland into photosensitive zombies, ones that burn at the slightest indication of unfiltered light. The three of them manage to incinerate a few with flashlights between dusk and dawn. In the daylight, Scotty decides to swim to the mainland in search of help. Not that he makes it...
BLACK TIDE sets the zombie mythos on its ear.
Del has zombies that can "live" underwater, filtered from the direct light of the sun. Starlight is too far removed to affect them, and sunlight filtered through the water, or if they are in shade, leaves them unaffected.
In a way, Fred gets what he wants at the end, Heather's undivided attention, though he does not really want it, by then. ;-)
The story is an interesting read, and throws an unlikely protagonist into an horrific situation. Can Fred and Heather make it out of this situation alive? Well, you'll have to read it BLACK TIDE find out. It's worth the journey.
Oh, and stock up on batteries, and candles. ;-) You never know...
April 23, 2008
Title : Black Tide
Author: Del Stone Jr.
Publisher: Telos Publishing Ltd.
61 Elgar Avenue
Tolworth, Surrey, KT5 9JP, England
http://www.telos.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-84583-049-6
Award winning author, Del Stone Jr. delivers a fast-paced and horrifying disaster thriller in Black Tide that I found a fun quick read. Anyone who’s visited the Florida Keys will find the setting familiar, except, it’s not a lazy sunbathing day that entices the hero out onto one of the smaller mangrove clogged keys off a vegetation dense coastline far from a marina and next door to the military. Instead, duty and research call Professor Fred Miller out to study the effect of creating a passage through a key in Santa Rosa Sound to relieve a stagnant area and help out the fishing industry.
The premise for the story, a variety of red tide that looks black and kills everything in the water and air above it is well developed. The effects of its passage are quite stunning, rich with special effects that hint why this story and the reader is quickly caught up in the action as our hero has to think fast. The scientific gadgets are used and the science dealt with quickly without a lot of infodump heaviness. The reader believes in this horrific plant life and its powered-by-photosynthesis effects on the human body. Although this could be just another Zombie or vampire movie, it has a unique twist that will appeal.
The love triangle presented by the Professor’s crush on his student assistant, Heather, and her boyfriend, Scotty, makes for a great deal of conflict. That the triangle is an unwanted one by all members of the trio has good payback in emotional affects with some amount of tongue-in-cheek humor. The reader can well relate to the Professor’s middle-aged trauma over getting caught with his heart hanging on his sleeve for all to see.
The three are thwarted by their isolation on the small. Delivered by boat, the three have to use their heads to figure out how to get off. And every time they have an answer to their dilemma, Del Stone Jr. adds an interesting twist to the tale. Black Tide is a fun tale for fans of dark science fiction and horror genres.
Author: Del Stone Jr.
Publisher: Telos Publishing Ltd.
61 Elgar Avenue
Tolworth, Surrey, KT5 9JP, England
http://www.telos.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-84583-049-6
Award winning author, Del Stone Jr. delivers a fast-paced and horrifying disaster thriller in Black Tide that I found a fun quick read. Anyone who’s visited the Florida Keys will find the setting familiar, except, it’s not a lazy sunbathing day that entices the hero out onto one of the smaller mangrove clogged keys off a vegetation dense coastline far from a marina and next door to the military. Instead, duty and research call Professor Fred Miller out to study the effect of creating a passage through a key in Santa Rosa Sound to relieve a stagnant area and help out the fishing industry.
The premise for the story, a variety of red tide that looks black and kills everything in the water and air above it is well developed. The effects of its passage are quite stunning, rich with special effects that hint why this story and the reader is quickly caught up in the action as our hero has to think fast. The scientific gadgets are used and the science dealt with quickly without a lot of infodump heaviness. The reader believes in this horrific plant life and its powered-by-photosynthesis effects on the human body. Although this could be just another Zombie or vampire movie, it has a unique twist that will appeal.
The love triangle presented by the Professor’s crush on his student assistant, Heather, and her boyfriend, Scotty, makes for a great deal of conflict. That the triangle is an unwanted one by all members of the trio has good payback in emotional affects with some amount of tongue-in-cheek humor. The reader can well relate to the Professor’s middle-aged trauma over getting caught with his heart hanging on his sleeve for all to see.
The three are thwarted by their isolation on the small. Delivered by boat, the three have to use their heads to figure out how to get off. And every time they have an answer to their dilemma, Del Stone Jr. adds an interesting twist to the tale. Black Tide is a fun tale for fans of dark science fiction and horror genres.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews