SENTINELS; a Florida mythos

SENTINELS; a Florida mythos

By Rich McKee. Venice, FL: Brookside Lit, 2017

Riddling eco-fiction collides with literary satire in Sentinels, a tale of two radical environmentalists, Sean McDuff and Jane Kowechobe, who get deeply involved in fringe government efforts to expand Everglades National Park after a catastrophic hurricane flattens and floods much of South Florida.  Of course many Sinshine State politicians are opposed to such Green shenanigans, and covertly hire hunters to seek out and kill endangered species in the proposed protected wilderness and wetlands, thus making it easier prey for their friends in development, industry, and agriculture. Then there is Sean and Jane’s occasional fishing buddy, Jules Karlov, a Nobel Prize winning author whose polemical views on environmentalism and world overpopulation make him unpopular with many Americans.  So they must keep Jules’ angling visit quiet.  But the greatest conundrum is upriver from the couple’s remote home: some very tall, hairy, bipedal hominids reside there.

Rich McKee has published three novels, a collection of satirical essays, and over seventy pieces of creative non-fiction.  He is a recently retired English professor from the State College of Florida.