The Light Speakers
He listens for radio at dawn—and hears light instead.
Ham operator and Gulf Coast tinkerer Tod Blackstone thinks he's built a sunrise-tracking antenna. What it actually hears are impossible pulses from Copano Bay—messages in Morse no human is sending. When a sudden squall pitches Tod overboard, he's saved by the source: a hidden colony of bioluminescent beings who call themselves Light Speakers. They breathe the deep, speak in light, and they're stranded in the bay—pushed inland by a storm and dying in the warm, shallow water unless someone can guide them home.
With only tide tables, a center-console boat, and a stubborn streak, Tod promises to lead the colony through treacherous channels to the open Gulf. But storms build fast, searchlights sweep the waves, and curious eyes—scientists, patrols, and the ever-watchful internet—close in on the glow beneath his hull. As the clock runs out, Tod must choose between secrecy and revelation, science and sanctuary, and decide how far he'll go to protect a new kind of neighbor.
Set along the Texas coast and steeped in radio craft, coastal weather, and wonder, The Light Speakers is a first-contact rescue thriller about trust, courage, and what "home" means—whether you walk on two legs or speak in living constellations.