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West Palm Beach, FL, - She was the
formidable creature that ever lived, a 70-foot, 50 ton shark
with a mouth filled with seven-inch teeth. Thirty-five years
after Steven Spielberg's blockbuster kept audiences out of the
water, the prehistoric cousin of the great white shark in JAWS
returns this summer in NY Times best-selling author Steve
Alten’s MEG: Hell's Aquarium (Tor/Forge) the latest
installment in his series about Carcharodon Megalodon (MEG for
short). And MEG is not the only monster to resurface, in Hell's
Aquarium we're introduced to some of the most terrifying sea
creatures of all time, all occupying a lost sea located seven
miles below the surface, hidden beneath the Philippine Sea
Plate. In Steve’s action-packed and fast moving novel, readers
share in heart-pounding adventures that are so vivid and real,
it’s hard to believe you are not in the next seat heading
towards the bottom of the ocean!
Alten, who read JAWS when he was a teen and soon after began
"devouring" every shark attack story he could find, penned his
first novel, MEG back in 1997 by Bantam Doubleday. Twenty-five
years earlier, Doubleday had published Peter Benchley's JAWS.
MEG also became a best-seller, sold in twenty-three other
countries, and was optioned for a movie deal -- twice. With a
new script, top producers, and $150 million in financing to
boot, Alten is hoping to hear good news soon. Watch the Hell's
Aquarium video trailer at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzfcpVuUBTc
and it's easy to see why moviegoers are excited to see another
shark movie.
The reluctant hero in MEG is Jonas Taylor, a former Navy
deep-sea submersible pilot who discovered Megalodon still alive
in the unexplored depths of the Mariana Trench. Attempting to
prove to the world the creatures are not extinct as once
believed, he returns to the abyss seven years later, causing one
of the sharks -- a pregnant female -- to surface. In the MEG
sequels, the storyline shifts to a surviving "pup." Angel is the
Angel of Death, a 76 foot, 100,000 pound Meg that is kept
captive at the Tanaka Institute, an ocean-side aquarium in
Monterey, California. In MEG: Hell's Aquarium, Angel
has birthed five female pups, already so aggressive they cannot
be kept together in one pen. (The novel's opening scene gives
one a new perspective on the recent Orca attack in Orlando's Sea
World.)
As accidents mount, one solution presents itself in a Dubai
royal prince who has built the world’s largest aquarium and
wants two of the pup’s ‘runts’ in it with one condition – that
Jonas’ son David must be their trainer. David agrees to do it
and moves to Dubai, unaware that he is being recruited for
another purpose. Under the Philippine Sea Plate lies a hidden
world of the most terrifying sea creatures in history and the
prince wants them all for his prized new aquarium – and that’s
where David comes in since he is the only man capable of
catching them!
Thirty-five years after reading JAWS as a teen, Steve Alten
is passing the baton to tens of thousands of teens across the
U.S. MEG: Hell’s Aquarium is part of Adopt-An-Author, a
nation-wide secondary school (free) reading program that gets
even the most reluctant teen to read. And the Meg novels are a
big reason why. Visit this incredibly creative author at:
www.stevealten.com
to see what makes Steve Alten a sought-after guest on
the Today Show, CNN and the Discovery Channel where he brings
this thrilling deep sea expedition to life.
Steve
Donoghue
Open Letters: Arts & Literature Review:
“The Moby Dick of
giant killer shark novels."
Andrew
Tallackson, Entertainment Editor, The
News-Dispatch:
“A knockout. Steve Alten’s imagination, his wicked wit, his
rip-roaring sense of adventure are on full display here. This
is Alten at his delicious best.”
Chip
Minemyer, Editor, The Tribune-Democrat:
“Steve Alten’s
monstrous Meg series grows more frightening, yet riveting, with
each installment. With Hell’s Aquarium, you’ll be tempted to
read ahead, but don’t you dare skip one terrifying turn on this
thrill ride!”
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