A Vancouver Island author has created a cheeky, sci-fi satire in which the town of Qualicum Beach gets overrun by flying jellyfish.
Brian Wilford is a retired print journalist who has delved into fiction with the release of his first novel, Rise of the Jellies.
According to a bio on his website, Wilford has been concerned about climate and environment issues. This, combined with his fascination of threats to marine ecosystems as jellyfish take advantage of warming waters to overwhelm other species, led to his book.
His bio notes his concern extends to peoples’ failure to take degradation of the planet seriously and he uses humour in the book to reflect this.
In the novel, jellyfish flying out of the ocean near Canada’s “oldest” community sets off a media circus.
“At first, the white-haired residents of ‘God’s Waiting Room’ are charmed by the sparkling wonders in the blue summer sky, but soon panic sets in as the jellies’ astonishing reproductive capacities and indiscriminate appetites become dangerously apparent,” noted a press release for the book.
A team consisting of a gardener, retired admiral, a spy and a jellyfish-loving marine biologist work to find the secret behind the invasion.
“Jellyfish are thriving in our polluted, acidic, overfished, warming oceans,” Wilford said in the news release. “But no one notices because they’re out of sight, out of mind. So I got to thinking: what if jellyfish could fly and started doing to the surface world what they’ve been doing for decades underwater?”
He describes the book as a fast-paced satire of corporate greed, media claptrap, international stupidity and small-town politics.
“Scientists identify the problem and propose a solution but is that what we do? No,” Wilford said. “Instead, attacks on the civic centre, the town hall, Second Avenue, the beach become market opportunities. It’s like our response to climate change.”
Links to purchase the book can be found at .
