“History as you think you understand it does not exist, Griff. The world you think you know is actually a construct fashioned from the fears of the human race.”

With Earth’s natural energy reserves in serious decline, newspaper promises of a new energy source were falling on deaf ears. Humanity was used to empty promises. Dr. Arthel Vermund was the one scientist who could possibly solve the world’s energy crisis, but his niece and research assistant, Asha, had just called his retired military bodyguard, Griff, to report that Vermund was dead.

It appeared the death was from natural causes, and Griff would have preferred to stay home, but the need for answers and the request of a pretty girl brought him to Dr. Vermund’s laboratory-in-residence. Here he would find answers, though the incredible and unbelievable answers he would find were not those that he expected.

Mark Schultz’s illustrated novella taps into our dreams and fears to produce a story that both shows and tells while enveloping the reader in old school wonder.

I suspect readers are familiar with the typical “illustrated novel”. Pages of prose are broken up by illustrations that typically provide a visual representation of a character or scene that had been painted with the author’s words. Mark Schultz’s novella certainly starts that way, with each page of prose fronted by a full-page, richly detailed pencil illustration that introduces the characters and sets up the noir-ish feel of the world in the story’s present timeline.

What soon follows are illustrations that give the reader additional detail to what is being revealed in words. It is something special when you realize that Schultz has added an additional dimension to the storytelling experience.

Both prose and illustrations tap into the vein of storytelling created by greats like H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The brand of imagination and invention gifted to readers by those authors is echoed in both the words and the drawings of Mark Scultz as he puts his own unique spin on this time-spanning adventure.

Storms at Sea honors classic storytelling in several ways, not the least of which being the story-within-a-story device. The author and illustrator of the tale is approached in a bar in an unnamed port city and asked to preserve the story of our narrator, who himself tells a story that is largely revealed in Griff’s reactions to the unbelievable information revealed by Asha. I am inordinately fond of this story device, thus I was primed for an immersive reading experience from page one. In spite of my predisposition to enjoy the story, I found myself being drawn even more deeply into Schultz’s tale near the mid-point of the story by a certain illustration and the prose that accompanied it. No spoilers here. I will only say that it subtly references an early twentieth century cultural icon, and when it dawned on me I was thrilled in the extreme.

Mark Schultz is the creator of the comic book series, Xenozoic Tales, which is set in a far distant future in which humanity emerges from 600 years underground to find that Earth has returned to a more savage state. I was impressed by the way in which Schultz weaves the story line of Xenozoic Tales into Storms at Sea. It was not overt, and is not something readers unfamiliar with the comic series would even notice, but for those who are fans of the comic, Storms at Sea will allow you to re-read the entire series in a new light.

Storms at Sea taps into conspiracy theories and our paranoia about world events being controlled by an all-powerful cabal. It references the things we imagined we would find when we were young and daydreamed of finding a hidden world beneath the surface of Earth, or life on the planets within our solar system. It encapsulates the best of what it meant to be a child, when books and films truly transported us to other worlds, and it adds to it the opportunity to appreciate the artistic talent of a creator in top form.

Storms at Sea is published by Flesk Publications, and the book itself is beautiful. With large, full-page illustrations and high-quality printing, Flesk Publications offers an affordable, quality work of art that brings with it the added dimension of telling an engaging story.

Purchase a copy for those on your Christmas list who love good art and enjoy classic science fantasy storytelling. They will not be disappointed.

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I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Mark Schultz several times at various Spectrum Fantastic Art Live events here in Kansas City, Missouri. I can say without fear of contradiction that he is one of the nicest, and most humble, men you will ever meet. His talent is enormous, and it would be understandable if he had an ego to match…he does not. He is very approachable, and if you ever have an opportunity to attend a convention at which he is present, don’t miss it. This photo of Mark Schultz truly captures his personality. It is the work of Greg Preston, and Sampsel Preston Photography.

At Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 4 this past Memorial Day weekend, Storms at Sea debuted. I was concerned that there would be a limited number of copies present, and so the very first order of business I took care of during the show opening was to pick up my copy. Mark asked if I would like it to be personalized, which I did, and this is what he wrote. It makes me smile whenever I see it. Sorry it took so long to get to reading Storms at Sea, Mark. I am happy to have waited until I could give it the reading it deserved. Well done, sir.