Bruce John Riddell, landscape architect and author, has just released his second book entitled: “Seal Rock.” This book is his first foray into the Science Fiction Genre. In 2023 Riddell penned and released his first hardcover book entitled: “LandART- From Acadia to Zen,” printed by Friesens Press of Canada. LandART is an anthology of his landscape design philosophy and features plans and photographs of many of the gardens he has designed and built throughout Maine in his 40 year career. His newest paperback novel Seal Rock is a magical, mystical, historical mystery ride best described as having a Harry Potter-Stephen King sort of vibe.

The basic story line centers around a young boy named Skye who comes to stay with his great uncle at Seal Rock, in a decrepit sea captain’s cottage on the coast of Maine. As strange happenings unravel around him, Skye soon realizes that he is in a deadly fight with an unknown enemy. Who or what is he fighting? Strange lights in the bay confound local fishermen and biologists as albino lobsters and dead seals lay scattered along the shore. What is happening? Who are the perpetrators? And why are they in Maine? Are these phenomena a result of natural occurrences or some sort of sinister warning from alien pods or UFO’s?

Could the answer be contained in a mystical Orgone Box; or in historical accounts of mermaid sightings, or perhaps found within the local folklore or Native American legends from those that once lived along these same haunting shores. Perhaps the answer is buried somewhere in the history of Saint Croix Island, the very first European settlement in North America that holds an infamous history of death and despair. Or, it may be part of a nefarious family of drug smugglers who pose as fishermen. The great explorers: Champlain and Sieur de Mons knew that there was something strange going on...

Skye finds a ray of hope when he befriends Delia, a beautiful girl with a dark past. Together they join forces with his eccentric Uncle Ian, Nathan a lobster fisherman, Web, a computer scientist, and Delia’s grandfather Conrad, a learned shaman. These reluctant heroes join forces as they try to decipher who and what they are fighting. Together they search for clues and eventually confront their deepest fears-- face to face--on the open sea.

This mermaid’s tale is a magical smattering of historical, scientific, and literary musings artfully woven into a universal theme that will scare, inform, educate, and mystify the reader. “Seal Rock” is rich with quotes and poems about the sea as well as historical snippets and lesser-known facts about oceanography and cosmology.

Riddell not only wrote this strange and tantalizing tale he also included many illustrations of of mermaids that he painted over the years. Bruce started writing “Seal Rock” in the winter of 1994 where it sat unfinished until he recently rewrote a ‘more appropriate” ending to the story. “Seal Rock” may be found at all Sherman’s Bookstore locations throughout Maine and others as well.