Tommy Storm is the first novel by Irish author A.J. Healy. The protagonist is Tommy Storm, a boy, aged 11½, who experiences friendship and a love for his planet only when he is sent far away from Earth with four other Earth kids, to a school of sorts on the far side of the Milky Way, populated by "aliens". The year is 2096—a time when it is always 34˚C, birds are extinct and it's raining at all times everywhere on Earth due to "The Great Climate Enhancement". Only the very tops of mountains protrude above sea-level and everyone lives in floating cities.
The book follows Tommy's first adventure. A sequel, Tommy Storm and the Galactic Knights, was released in Ireland on 24 September 2009, with more to come.
Declan Kiberd, one of Ireland's foremost literary critics has said of Tommy Storm: "Brilliant. Hilarious. An intergalactic Gulliver's Travels.”
In December 2006, Tony Hickey said in Village magazine: “Tommy Storm is a knockout achievement that succeeds on so many levels and satirises so many cultural and literary genres that, to me, it reads as if Flann O'Brien had taken to writing science-fiction."
Plot summary
Earth's President (Guttly Randolph) and the Grand Council receive an invitation from the MilkyFed, a federation in the centre of the Milky Way. They want 5 Earth children (of the Grand Council's choice) to come across space to a training centre. The training will prepare the participants for a dangerous and secret mission. Elsorr Maudlin, Earth's Deputy President, believes the MilkyFed are up to no good, so he threatens to delay the decision until after the deadline. He agrees not to delay it on two conditions. One, he can choose the Grand Council Elder to accompany the Five children. Second, he can choose one of the five children. For his first condition, Maudlin chooses Randolph, so he can be the President, in full power. For his second condition, he chooses a boy who is thought by all a loser. The boy's name is Tommy Storm.
Meanwhile, at The Wilchester Academy for Younger Adults, Tommy Storm, a boy of 11, is being bullied by a stronger, more popular boy named Felkor Stagwitch. In self-defence, Tommy ends up being grounded to his room. Later, Mr Withers, the headmaster, announces that Felkor Stagwitch is going on to a training school far away in the centre of the Milky Way. Afterwards, in Tommy's room, Mr Withers tells Tommy privately that he was also chosen. After some tests, the Earthlings are ranked from 1 to 5, Felkor first, Tommy last. According to their rank, they're put in groups of 5 with other species from other planets.
During his time at the training school, Tommy Storm encounters many new things, and learns the history of his life.
-The 25 students at the training school soon learn they are here because the Milki Masters know of an appending apocalypse – the end of the universe, referring to the apocalypse only as the TFC (Terrible Future Calamity). At the end of the training schools period, one of the groups will be chosen to go on a mission to find out what will cause the TFC, and try to stop it. In order to win, the group must win competitions in different categories to earn points.
-Each time he meets one of the Milki Masters, they seem to recognise something about him. At the end of his stay, Lord Beardedmoustachedwiseface-oh (the leader of the Milki Masters) reveals that Tommy's parents had been abducted by the Milki Masters long ago because Lord Beardedmoustachedwiseface-oh had found out about a meteor heading towards Earth – one so big, it was set to destroy Earth. One of the Milki Masters then fires another meteor at the meteor going to Earth to try and destroy it. She misses and Earth is destroyed. Tommy's parents (who had said they're name's were Bonny and Clive) then allowed themselves to die so they could turn back time. A different Milki Master takes the shot this time – and hits. Each Milki Master had recognised him because he looks so like his parents.
-The winning group will be sent to learn about the TFC on a spaceship known as Swiggy. To get going Swiggy must leave the runway at SickoWarpo Speed (faster than the speed of light). They only have enough room for three courses – each course must go through a planet and destroy it. Earth is one of the planets that could be destroyed. Eventually, Earth is chosen to be obliterated.