Shadows in the surf

In the summer of 1999, during the last total solar eclipse of the millennium, something ancient awakens beneath the waters of Penmere Cove, a sleepy Cornish town cradled by sea and cliff. The world holds its breath as the light dims… and the sea pulses.

Fifteen-year-old Tyler Trevelyan, a science-obsessed outsider with a mind for patterns, records an impossible event during the eclipse—a beam of silver light piercing the cove and leaving the water forever changed. Alongside his loyal but skeptical friend Dan, fiercely independent Molly, and thoughtful Matthew, Tyler begins uncovering strange anomalies: scorched seaweed, dead fish that appear flash-boiled, and a spiral symbol appearing across tide pools and burned into soil.

As the tides shift unnaturally and marine life begins washing ashore in grotesque patterns, the group realizes this is no ordinary natural disaster. Something is surfacing—an intelligence, or perhaps a memory, from deep beneath the seabed. When townspeople begin vanishing, replaced by eerily perfect imitations—starting with the beloved Miss Steph Trethewey—the kids are thrust into a terrifying mystery that stretches far beyond their quiet coastal home.

Told with the rich atmosphere of Stranger Things, the character intimacy of Harry Potter, and the mythic undertones of The Lord of the Rings, Shadows in the Surf blends small-town horror, cosmic terror, and a coming-of-age tale into a page-turning saga of trust, transformation, and survival.

As the sky bleeds light and the sea begins to breathe, four teenagers must confront what it means to remember, to resist—and to become more than human.

The pulse has started.
The sea is listening.
And something is coming back.

Alien Tides: Shadows in the Surf
Book One of the Alien Tides trilogy.
You'll never look at the ocean the same way again.