A new science fiction novel, Shadow of the Storm, has been released by independent publisher Foolscap & Quill. The book, co-authored by the late Robert Edward Graham and C. S. Fuqua, is set in a dystopian future where environmental damage has allowed a giant corporation, Nattech, Inc., to control Earth. The story follows Jim Pleasant Wolfshadow, a Cheyenne former Navy SEAL and retired Nattech operative, who comes out of retirement to find his missing friend Max. After meeting with The Seven, a group of top physicists, Wolfshadow himself disappears.
He finds himself in Earth's dismal future, accompanied by a shapeshifter. Together, they embark on a quest to return Max to Earth and to stop Mahu, a godlike entity from another dimension that feeds on chaos. Mahu has sent a monster called Briareus to destroy humanity, but its actions threaten to destroy time and space throughout the universe. Wolfshadow battles Mahu on his home world, and when all hope seems lost, a surprising ally arises. The novel's backdrop includes a mysterious rock found on Mars, a ship returning it to Earth that malfunctions and leaves its crew in comas, and a surge in civil unrest and natural disasters as people begin to disappear.
Beyond the plot, the story behind the book is one of determination. Writing a novel was Robert Edward Graham's lifelong ambition, repeatedly thwarted by fate. In the 1990s, he was paired with instructor C. S. Fuqua through the Writer's Digest school. After the course ended, Graham enlisted Fuqua as his co-author. Their progress was sidelined for long periods by cancer and addiction, but Graham returned to the project on his deathbed, dictating the ending to his brother David. The first draft was completed just days before he succumbed to cancer.
Graham was a stage and film actor, model, and a founding member, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the 1960s band The Penthouse Five. His co-author, C. S. Fuqua, has been widely published in non-fiction, science fiction, dark fantasy, mainstream and literary fiction, poetry, and mystery/suspense. His books include The Crosses (with Bonnie Lynne Del Aguila), Walking after Midnight: Collected Stories, Big Daddy's Fast-Past Gadget, White Trash & Southern: Collected Poems, and Native American Flute: A Comprehensive Guide, among others. His short work has appeared in publications such as Cemetery Dance, The Christian Science Monitor, Naval History, Main Street Rag, and Year's Best Horror Stories. Fuqua currently lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
This publication highlights the potential for independent publishers to bring deeply personal and genre-bending works to market. For readers, it offers a classic battle between good and evil set against a cautionary tale of environmental and corporate control. For the industry, it demonstrates how a manuscript can survive against the odds, and how co-authorship can bridge generations and circumstances. The novel's themes of chaos, sacrifice, and unexpected alliances resonate in a world facing its own uncertainties.
