A Dark Fantasy Mermaid Romance (death, magic, mayhem…)
I found a new image that I adore and redid the Shearwater cover (again). Personally I love it, but after posting on Facebook and Twitter a lot of people preferred a version of the original.
Shearwater is a dark fantasy mermaid story: a heroine with a fear of drowning, death and magic, and an Ophelia-like tragic mood. If that is the book you came looking for, here is what it is and where to read it, plus the cover versions I tried along the way.
What Shearwater is
It is a dark fantasy mermaid romance with death, magic and mayhem, and my protagonist has a fear of drowning. The story carries an Ophelia association: Shakespeare compares Ophelia to a mermaid in Hamlet, and I bring that up by planting in a few dead girls.
If you want more stories like this, the mermaid lore and mermaid books hub collects everything on the site. When you finish part one, part two of Shearwater picks the story back up, and you can start reading my dark fantasy books free on the Read Now page.
The cover most people liked best
This is the one most people liked best.
The earlier versions
These are some of the earlier versions.
Why the red dress cover is still my favorite
Someone said the girl in the red dress (on top, my favorite) was not great for the story because it had too much resemblance to Ophelia, but Shakespeare actually compares Ophelia to a mermaid in Hamlet, and I bring up the association by planting in a few dead girls.
I want it to be a beautifully tragic, heartbreaking dark fantasy (and my protagonist has a fear of drowning) so I like the red dress one the best. But I don’t want her to look like a victim, and maybe that’s why people like the pinkish dress one better: it looks like she’s struggling to stay above water, and there’s more action.
Shearwater is a dark fantasy mermaid story with death, a fear of drowning, and an Ophelia-like tragic mood, much like a fae prison romance. If you like ranking the women in these stories, see the best fantasy waifus. That is the cover problem: how do you suggest heartbreak without making the protagonist look helpless? A figure struggling to stay above water gives the danger some action, instead of showing only a victim.
