HAPPY RELEASE DAY (to an all around awesome lady)!
Blaire brings An Officer and a Mermaid to our Falling in DeepCollection. Make your fins happy, and order the novella here. She’s a talented author and an all-around lovely lady.
What is your favorite writing music?
It changes with the book. Strangely enough, with An Officer and A Mermaid, I started out with watery music, like Pachabel’s Canon in D, but my characters just weren’t that into it so most of it was written with Pink Floyd blasting in my ears. For longer books, I will develop a play list and listen to it while I work. Fergalicious was part of my playlist for a book I wrote in 2013 and I still know all the words. For better or worse. Ha. I also like to binge watch Netflix while I write. I need background noise. It’s hard for me to write when it’s too quiet.
Where is your favorite place to find inspiration?
I’m a hard core people watcher. I often get inspiration just from a phrase I overhear at the gas station. People are just plain fascinating. They say all sorts of things that just BEG to be explored and written. I’m also a bit of a Sporty Spice (nineties flashback, sorry) and I love to be outside. I hike and bike and walk a lot so I’d say nature is a big inspiration, too.
What was your inspiration for An Officer and A Mermaid? Tell me about your heroine.
When I was invited to write this novella, I found Mami Wata and I was hooked. For some reason, before I discovered the Afro-Caribbean version of a mermaid, I imagined all mermaids as being white, in cold water and somewhat passive. I have no idea where that perception came from but when I found Mami Wata, I knew immediately that she was a mermaid I could work with. The legends, most of which originated in Nigeria and moved to the Caribbean on ships and with slaves, cast as her a powerful force, totally in touch with and comfortable with her sexuality and gender. I like that in a girl. My heroine, Syreena, is the daughter of an eighteenth century sugar plantation owner. Because of imminent danger, a servant uses voodoo to transform her into a mermaid to save her life. In the two hundred and twenty plus years she’s forced to swim alone, she becomes her own sort of Mami Wata and the legend plays out in some expected ways. I like the idea of using legends that have been around for centuries to teach us things about our current world.
Any advice for new writers (like me)?
Write, write, write. Then repeat. For most writers, it takes thousands and thousands of words to find voice and style. Words on the page are never a waste. Even if the book is never published or ever seen by another human, we learn something every time we write. It’s okay to experiment, it’s okay to make a mess. Take constructive criticism graciously and use feedback as a way to get better and better.
Read Part One, and buy An Officer and a Mermaid.
An Officer and a Mermaid:
When a slave uprising threatens the life of Syreena, the daughter of an eighteenth century plantation owner, a servant uses voodoo to transform her into a mermaid. The spell will be only broken when she returns to the beach where it was cast. After three hundred years of swimming, she’s ready to trade fins for legs. The only problem is she can’t find her way.
Dylan, a twenty-first century Coast Guard Officer, has sworn off love for the sea. When a wave throws him overboard, Syreena uses her amulet to ward off the sharks and save his life.
With Syreena and Dylan stranded on a remote cay, Dylan has the know-how to build a raft and navigate but his near-drowning has made him terrified of the water. Syrenna will use every charm she has to convince Dylan to take her home.
Even if it means falling in love. . .
About Blaire:
Blaire Edens lives in the mountains of North Carolina on a farm that’s been in her family since 1790. When she’s not plotting, she’s busy knitting, running, or listening to the Blues. Blaire loves iced tea with mint, hand-stitched quilts, and yarn stores. She refuses to eat anything that mixes chocolate and peanut butter or apple and cinnamon. She’s generally nice to her mother, tries to remember not to smack her bubble gum, and only speeds when no one’s looking.
Meet Blaire:
Love mermaids? Looking for a great beach read? The Falling in Deep Collection, a collection of 15 unique tales of creatures of the deep, is rolling out the first novella in their collection at the end of May.
From mermaids to sirens, Miami to Athens, dark paranormal romance to contemporary stories with steam, the fifteen award-winning and best-selling authors of the Falling in Deep Collection are bringing you mermaid tales like you’ve never seen before.
Every week beginning May 26th, 2015, we’ll be releasing one unique, never-before-published novella! Each novella will feature our favorite creature of the deep: mermaids.
The Falling in Deep Collection (May – September Releases)
Scales by Pauline Creeden
Ink: A Mermaid Romance by Melanie Karsak
Of Ocean and Ash by A. R. Draeger
Deep Breath by J. M. Miller
At the Heart of the Deep by Carrie Wells
The Mermaid’s Den by Ella Malone
How to be a Mermaid by Erin Hayes
The Glass Mermaid by Poppy Lawless
An Officer & a Mermaid by Blaire Edens
The Water is Sweeter by Eli Constant
Cold Water Bridegroom by B. Brumley
A Beyond the Sea Prequel by Emily Goodwin
Immersed by Katie Hayoz
Siren’s Kiss by Margo Bond Collins
To Each His Own by Anna Albergucci
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hat authors do you like to read? Favorite saying about writing?
About the author: Melanie Karsak is the author of the Amazon best-selling The Airship Racing Chronicles, The Harvesting Series, and The Saga of Lady Macbeth. She grew up in rural northwestern Pennsylvania and earned a Master’s degree in English from Gannon University. A steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and zombie whisperer, the author currently lives in Florida with her husband and two children. She is an Instructor of English at Eastern Florida State College.
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