Newfoundland Tsunami of 1929 / Psycho Hose Beast from Outer Space by C.D. Gallant-King / Guest Post

 

Help me to welcome C.D. Gallant-King to my blog. He has an article perfect for this space.

I was trying to come up with an interesting topic for a guest article on Chrys Fey’s blog, and since Chrys is the author of the Disaster Crimes series, I figured a perfect choice would be the Newfoundland Tsunami of 1929. I’m a sucker for Canadian history (for lots of weird and quirky Canadian history, be sure to check out my Facebook page), and since the tsunami figures prominently in my new book PSYCHO HOSE BEAST FROM OUTER SPACE, everything coalesced nicely.

THE EARTHQUAKE

On November 18, 1929, an undersea earthquake measuring 7.2 magnitude struck the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) South of the island. At the time, Newfoundland was a self-governing Dominion, a mostly-autonomous state of the British Commonwealth. The Grand Banks is an area of undersea plateaus off the south shore of Newfoundland, that had been visited by Europeans for centuries for its rich fishing. The earthquake was felt as far away as New York City and Montreal, and caused Canada’s largest-ever submarine landslide. The landslide snapped twelve trans-Atlantic telegraph cables, effectively cutting off communication to the island.

THE TSUNAMI

The earthquake and landslide triggered a massive tsunami, with waves up to 13 meters (43 feet) tall striking the Burin Peninsula, on Newfoundland’s south shore. The waves were so strong they were recorded a few hours later in Portugal, over 4000 km away. In Burin, at least 27 people were killed and 1000 left homeless, which for the isolated and sparsely populated island was absolutely devastating. Entire coastal communities were wiped off the map.

AFTERMATH

The people living in these tiny communities, who had never experienced such disasters and didn’t even know they were possible in Newfoundland, were cut off from the rest of the world. Because of the broken cable lines, and because most of the boats were destroyed with the tsunami, communication in-and-out of the area was nearly impossible. A blizzard the next day further complicated rescue efforts. It wasn’t until three days later that the cargo ship SS Meigle responded to an SOS call with doctors, nurses, blankets and food. Donations from across Newfoundland, Canada, the United States and Great Britain raised over $250,000 ($4 million today).

The destruction of so much infrastructure, and the ecological changes caused by the earthquake, severely damaged the fishing industry on the island and led to long-term economic hardships, especially on the cusp of the Great Depression. Due to the financial hardships, Newfoundland dissolved its own government in 1933, and turned itself over to a British Commission, to be ruled by a governor appointed by the British Crown. This remained in effect until Newfoundland joined Canada as the 10th province in 1949.

If you want to know more about the Newfoundland Tsunami, there is plenty of information on line, including an episode of Disasters of the Century on YouTube, as well as a best-selling book that came out last year called The Wake, by Giller Award-winning author Linden MacIntyre.

Of course, you can also check out PSYCHO HOSE BEAST FROM OUTER SPACE. It’s not about the Tsunami, though it does figure pretty prominently in the prologue. And then of course, this being a book by yours truly, we quickly get into the otherworldly evils, magic, and dark humour. So don’t worry, it never gets too bleak.

BLURB:

Newfoundland, Canada, 1992.

Gale Harbour hasn’t seen any excitement since the military abandoned the base there thirty years ago, unless you count the Tuesday night 2-for-1 video rentals at Jerry's Video Shack. So when a dead body turns up floating in the town water supply, all evidence seems to point to a boring accident.

Niall, Pius and Harper are dealing with pre-teen awkwardness in the last days of summer before the start of high school. The same night the body is found, the three of them witness unusual lights in the sky over the bay.

Is it a coincidence? Are the lights connected to the rapidly-increasing string of mysterious deaths? And what does the creepy old lady at the nursing home have to do with it?

There is an evil older than time hidden deep beneath the waters of the North Atlantic. It is hungry, and vengeful, and it has its sights set on Gale Harbour to begin its path of destruction. All that stands in its way are a group of kids who would rather be playing Street Fighter II...

BUY LINKS:

AMAZON US / AMAZON CANADA / AMAZON UK

 

BIO:

C.D. Gallant-King writes comic horror and fantasy stories in a variety of settings and genres. He is a proud Newfoundlander and Canadian currently living in Ottawa, Ontario. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre. He lived in Toronto for 10 years and tried to be an actor and a rock star, but we don't talk about that. He is now a happy husband and father of two.

C.D. has previously published two novels, and a third book, PSYCHO HOSE BEAST FROM OUTER SPACE, is set to be released September 28. His book HELL COMES TO HOGTOWN was a semi-finalist in Mark Lawrence’s 2018 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. His work has also appeared four times in Mystery & Horror's STRANGELY FUNNY anthologies of comic horror stories, an upcoming issue of The Weird and Whatnot magazine, and in two anthologies from Dancing Lemur Press.

LINKS:

Website / Blog / Goodreads 

Twitter / Facebook

 

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