Mermaids were never supposed to be my thing. I started writing a YA mermaid romance because I wanted a dark, Irish, salt-and-murder kind of story, and then I fell down the hole: how merfolk could possibly mate, why every mermaid book I bought was so tame, which myths the Little Mermaid was sanitizing. This page collects everything on Urban Epics about mermaids, sirens and the sea, from the article that still gets the most questions to the free chapters of my own mermaid novel.
Mermaid lore and biology
- How do mermaids have sex? The one everyone finds first. The anatomy problem, the shellfish solution I used in my own book, and why eggs are not sexy.
- My YA novel just went NA: how much darkness can teens handle? Most YA mermaid romance is light. Mine kept getting darker, and this is where I argue about how far a teen book can go.
Mermaid books worth reading (and the ones that let me down)
- 32 magical mermaid novels for young adult readers The big list: mermaids, sirens, merrow and other retellings of ocean folklore, most with a romance running through them.
- Where are all the great YA mermaid romance books? I bought a pile of bestselling mermaid books as research. Most of them sucked. Here is why, and what I wanted instead.
- The Siren by Kiera Cass (review) The book that marked the start of the mermaid epoch in YA, and what it gets right and wrong.
Shearwater, now titled Of Song and Tide
My mermaid romance went through a few names and a few covers. It is a dark YA mermaid fantasy set in Ireland, with a murder mystery underneath the love story. These posts follow it from first chapters to finished series.
- Shearwater (get the full book) What the story is about, and where to get the whole thing after Part One.
- Looking for part two of Shearwater? The teaser for the epic conclusion, with the full book link.
- 8 new chapters of Shearwater (Part 2 sneak peek) The chapters I released while finishing the book, slow parts and fast parts included.
- The Shearwater epilogue Spoilers. Only read this after the final chapter.
- A dark fantasy mermaid romance (death, magic, mayhem) The cover I redid again, and the version readers actually preferred.
- Cover reveal: Shearwater got a makeover Why I never felt the original cover was professional enough, and what replaced it.
- Shearwater reviews The early page from when this was my first ever novel and I was still finishing it.
If you want to read before you buy, the first chapters of the series are in the free samples, and the free starter library has the full starters.
More on Urban Epics: scary stories and monsters, mythology guides, ancient history, YA book lists, writing advice, my books and free chapters.
WORK IN PROGRESS...
