Where Stalks...the Snakehead!

A couple years back, I posted a story that I did for McGraw-Hill that was used in a series of textbooks, with the promise that I'd soon post more. Well, here it is 19 months later and I'm finally getting around to it! Part of why I didn't post them earlier was because I wasn't exactly sure if I should, since I'd essentially be giving away for free what McGraw-Hill paid handsomely for. Thing is, I've been trying to locate the book where this and other stories I did appeared, and I'm finding it absolutely impossible..so I figure it oughta be seen by someone!

At any rate, the story...I was given the assignment to create a story about the snakehead, an aggressively carnivorous fish, native to China, that has been accidentally and ill-advisably introduced to the east coast of the US of A in recent years. Its effect on native ecosystems can be devastating...it eats everything, and can actually scoot up onto land and move from one body of water to another. It's pretty scary lookin', too.

I'd been reading a lot of Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown stories around the time I began this tale, so I decided to approach it from a 1950s-brilliant scientist vs. natural threat kind of angle. I also thought it'd be cool to have the characters think they are safe as the story ends, their short-sightedness obscuring the real danger. Anyway, it was a blast to work on...of all the stories I did for McGraw-Hill, it's probably my favorite. I really should color it and put it in a mini-comic sometime...

Enjoy!