Submitted by Pendrell Sound Press

“Lost Frequency, A Novel of Sound, Speed, Power and Greed,” by Barry Swanson, features the endangered Southern resident killer whales.

Swanson is a marine naturalist, a steward of the environment and a singer and songwriter. He lives with his family in the Pacific Northwest on the Salish Sea.

“Although this is a work of fiction, this story makes use, albeit fictitiously, of very real places that, in the course of my life, I have become intimately familiar with, the Salish Sea being the principle locale,” said Swanson. “I have also become intimately familiar with the beautiful and magnificent animals that make the Salish Sea their home: the orcas, the Southern resident killer whales in particular.”

A page-turning philosophical thriller, “Lost Frequency” confronts animal rights, human nature, artificial intelligence and the perils of technology turned loose.

When the owner of a multibillion-dollar tech company discovers, through killer whales, a technology that can render all prior forms of communication obsolete, a new age of human progress is made possible. But the technology has drawn the attention of a Russian conglomerate tied to the Kremlin that is seeking the research for its own nefarious purposes and which will stop at nothing to get it.

Swanson hopes the book can help the plight of the endangered orcas.

“The roundups of these whales by humans for display in marine parks have, sadly, been anything but fictitious,” he said. “Additionally, a decrease in Chinook Salmon, high levels of manmade contaminants and chemicals in the waters, and an increase in vessel traffic have all conspired to push the [orcas] towards extinction. If the publication of this book does anything to bolster awareness of the plight of the SRKW, I will consider it a success. Let us hope it is not too late to help return these intelligent, sentient, grand creatures to the glorious days in which they once thrived.”