Tommy Storm - A.J. Healy

In the year 2096 Earth is sent an invitation by Wisebeardyface, head of the MilkyFed, that will change the course of its history. "We, the MilkyFed, are delighted to invite 5 children to a training school...in the centre of the Milky Way." Earthling and loser Tommy Storm, aged 11, is chosen for the secret mission for all the wrong reasons. Travelling in the 'BigLongThingy III' spaceship and wearing the NUTS (Nations Undertaking Travel into Space) space outfit, a polka-dot skin-tight ski-suit with 'E' for Earth imprinted on the back, he's convinced he will fail. Yet could it be that Tommy, and his newly spiked and trendy hair, is the only hope for the Earth and the Universe itself?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."