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Life in a New World

"Stormworld" is a story of strangers in a strange land. Brought together apparently by chance or perhaps for a purpose by some strange power, all the denizens of Stormworld are "Access Crashers" — people from many worlds in many universes who have suddenly found themselves marooned in this world of endless oceans, barren islands, lethal storms and deadly sea-creatures.

It is a place where new arrivals start out only with what they happen to be wearing, holding or travelling in when they land in Stormworld. Survival is the first - and for some the only - imperative. They all devise their own strategies.

The Drogue are raiders and scavengers. Riding their solar-powered flybikes, they take what they need from others — but always leaving a margin for further raids.

The enigmatic Khelioz the Navigator is a loner who collects information and salvage for trade. He makes himself useful to everybody but is trusted by nobody.

Flees, a young girl from Earth, is also a loner, but for other reasons. She is on a personal quest to find her father, who was transported to Stormworld with her but later separated from her in a storm. She comes to understand that there are others who need her — and she needs them.

Werrolda has founded a community, on the coast of one of the larger islands, called the Settlement. She attracts a diverse group of Access Crashers from different worlds. She is trying to build a society with structures and aspirations designed to advance the common good.

On the other hand the Arkoddians came to Stormworld as a group and for them the first, and only, priority is always their community and family.

It is the latest Access Crasher, Jason, who develops an almost intuitive understanding of key aspects of this strange world. While at first Jason is preoccupied in trying to find a way out, slowly and painfully he comes to see that Stormworld could be his home. It's perhaps no accident that Jason and his best friend Lee bring a sense of humour and flippancy to a community that has been circumscribed by Werrolda's earnest endeavours and the constant dangers of Stormworld. Jason's character reflects optimism and an unconquerable zest that means he is the future. He is the one person who might create a community OF Stormworld, rather than a group of castaways ON Stormworld.