Good mermaid literature?

[Mermaid_Aryana]

So today I checked out two books from the library: "Sea Change" by Aimee Friedman and "Daughters of the Sea" by Kathryn Lasky. I was wondering if anyone here has read either of these novels. I found them in the teen section so I am a little iffy about them(not that all teen novels are bad), but I am mad about anything mermaid. I just hope these books deal with actual mermaids with tails and not "sea people" with legs who just happen to be able to breathe underwater. Also, I hope 90% of the story doesn't take place on land and they don't fall into the over-played theme of "mermaid is sick of living in the ocean-longs to be human and have legs-falls in love with human and takes to land permenantly." I would love if you guys could also recommend some good mermaid literature that you've enjoyed. Thanks:)

[Merrow Fair Isle]

I second this motion! Would love some reccomendations.

[Thalassa]

I've just started reading The Search for Delicious. I'll let you know what I think. ;-)

[Azurin Luna]

I have the Wattpad app on my ipad, but I know they have a website too, there are some nice stories on there about mermaids, some are still being written. The stories are written by all kinds of people all over the world so sometimes it's a little difficult to read. Edging Forward is on of the mermaid stories, well actually merman story that is pretty good, and still being written.

[Mermaid Jessica]

Have you heard of or read the Lost Voices books by Sarah Porter? It's a trilogy but the third one comes out next summer. The first 2 are called Lost Voices and Waking Storms. It's also from the teen section. But the concept is interesting I think. It's kind of depressing though. It's about girls who are treated like crap and when they're close to death, they transform into mermaids and become gorgeous and have awesome singing voices and they can use those as their weapons against the humans that hurt them when they were still humans. The main character's parents died and she's stuck with an abusive alcoholic uncle who one day tries to rape her and leaves her to die on a cliff in Alaska. So she turns into a mermaid and gets adopted into a mermaid tribe. And a bunch of crazy crap happens. There are some really annoying characters though. While reading I kept thinking, "Main character, why are you being so nice to them? Punch that brat in the boob! And drown that whiny anus! Please just beat the crap out of them already" except I used different words. But I actually enjoyed the books and can't wait for the third one to come out. You should give them a try :]

[SeaGlass Siren]

I read it. the descriptions were lovely, but it was just too much like "mean girls"..

I'm trying to look for some novels too. has anyone read the Sirens trilogy? so far i could only find 'undercurrent' and 'darkwater', but it's not all happy mermaids either. they kill people.

The Tempest series ('rising' and 'unleashed') is like twilight but roles are reversed. .__.

there's also selkie girl, ingo, vicious deep, ripple.... (sorry i'm a librarian haha)

but they're all young adult novels... very hard to find good literature these days...

[Nate Walis]

Hate to be a self-promoting pain in the rear, but I would recommend some of my own stuff:

http://nate-walis.deviantart.com/

It ranges from fantasy, to romance and even into erotica, but there's a wide variety to choose from.

[Alveric]

Let me be equally shameless and add my novel The Accidental Mermaid. It can be found on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's. It's about an ordinary young woman who finds herself transformed into a mermaid.

The first twelve chapters of the sequel, The Girl With the Sea-Green Eyes, can be found on DeviantArt under Alveric2.

[Seraphina Suds]

I have a few mermaid books on my shelf. I haven't read them all yet, but I'm most hopeful about Mermaid's Song (http://www.amazon.com/Mermaids-Song-Signet-Alida-Gores/dp/0451161130).

If anyone could suggest books that AREN'T romance, I would be forever grateful. I'm so sick of mermaid things being all about love and princes and the like. I want stories about mermaid lore and society and such. I don't mind a little love story on the side, but I can't read something that revolves around ~forbidden love~ and what have you.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Let me be equally shameless and add my novel The Accidental Mermaid. It can be found on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's. It's about an ordinary young woman who finds herself transformed into a mermaid.

The first twelve chapters of the sequel, The Girl With the Sea-Green Eyes, can be found on DeviantArt under Alveric2.
YOU WROTE THAT?!

[MerEmma]

I loved Ripple. It's a siren story rather than mermaids, but I thought it was written really well.

I've read all the Mer books in my library system. I particularly love the Fins series by Tera Lynn Childs, and I'm sure you all know of it, too. xD

[Nate Walis]

YOU WROTE THAT?!

Now there's a reaction to make me jealous as a writer!

[SeaGlass Siren]

I hear 'the last mermaid' was very good. I'm thinking of reading it.

Nate have you ever published any of your works?

[Nate Walis]

I hear 'the last mermaid' was very good. I'm thinking of reading it.

Nate have you ever published any of your works?

No, not so far.

It's the logical next step, but a terrifying one as well.

[SeaGlass Siren]

No, not so far.

It's the logical next step, but a terrifying one as well.

you should! :)

[Alveric]

YOU WROTE THAT?!

Gee, I don't think I've ever gotten a reaction like that before! I hope that means you liked it.

[Alveric]

I've been trying to talk Mr. Wallis into publishing for some time now. His work is more than ready.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Gee, I don't think I've ever gotten a reaction like that before! I hope that means you liked it.

Dobby is in the presence of an author. DOBBY IS UNWORTHY!

[Mermaid_Aryana]

Have you heard of or read the Lost Voices books by Sarah Porter? It's a trilogy but the third one comes out next summer. The first 2 are called Lost Voices and Waking Storms. It's also from the teen section. But the concept is interesting I think. It's kind of depressing though. It's about girls who are treated like crap and when they're close to death, they transform into mermaids and become gorgeous and have awesome singing voices and they can use those as their weapons against the humans that hurt them when they were still humans. The main character's parents died and she's stuck with an abusive alcoholic uncle who one day tries to rape her and leaves her to die on a cliff in Alaska. So she turns into a mermaid and gets adopted into a mermaid tribe. And a bunch of crazy crap happens. There are some really annoying characters though. While reading I kept thinking, "Main character, why are you being so nice to them? Punch that brat in the boob! And drown that whiny anus! Please just beat the crap out of them already" except I used different words. But I actually enjoyed the books and can't wait for the third one to come out. You should give them a try :]
OOh I have heard of the "Lost Voices" series. I thnk I will give those a read as well.

[Mermaid_Aryana]

If anyone could suggest books that AREN'T romance, I would be forever grateful. I'm so sick of mermaid things being all about love and princes and the like. I want stories about mermaid lore and society and such. I don't mind a little love story on the side, but I can't read something that revolves around ~forbidden love~ and what have you.

So with you on this

[Mermaid_Aryana]

Let me be equally shameless and add my novel The Accidental Mermaid. It can be found on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's. It's about an ordinary young woman who finds herself transformed into a mermaid.

The first twelve chapters of the sequel, The Girl With the Sea-Green Eyes, can be found on DeviantArt under Alveric2.

I will most definitely have to look into your's an Nate's work as well,:)

[Mermaid_Aryana]

I started "Daughters of the Sea" last night and it's actually pretty decent.

[Nate Walis]

I will most definitely have to look into your's an Nate's work as well,:)

Here you go:

http://nate-walis.deviantart.com/

[Mermaid Dottie]

I can vouch for "The Accidental Mermaid". I've only read one chapter so far, but it speaks to me as a double sci-fi/fantasy nerd.

[spottedcatfish]

I just started reading the Vicious Deep series, by Zoraida Cordova. It is a young adult series, and it can get a bit predictable at times, but it has a lot of action and suspense too. I recommend it. Also there is a mermaid series that is in the adult fiction section. Has anyone read Fish Out of Water, by Mary Janice Davidson? it's a series featuring a mermaid, written for adults.

[SeaGlass Siren]

At the moment i'm reading Gods of Atlantis. very cool, a bit slow at the beginning. Involves Nazi's, People of Atlantis... divers/explorers/archeologists... not very mermaidy at all, but it's a recommended read.

[Mermaid Azira]

Here: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3500.Best_mermaid_books

[Mermaid_Aryana]

So far i'm like the "Daughters of the Sea." Going to read the other books in that series as well.

[thelocalmermaid]

Great thread!!! If there is one thing I love as much as mermaids it's literature! I have 2 shells of my library for mermaids books only :) .. So my genres vary. "the last mermaid" was definitely an adult book. It had some mermaids-ness, but it also had some xxx-ness... Not one for the kids. The "daughters of the sea" series and "ripple" are definitely cute, mermaids books. "mermaid park" and "swim to me" are sort of weeki-wachee type books.. Swim to me, being literally a book based on a girls experience at weeki wachee. Great read! "home to the sea" was a really cute, short read.

But my all time favorite mermaid book so far, is " sirena" by Donna Jo Napoli. It's a great love story with a mermaid and her journey to retrieving her immortal soul, and how she strays from the norm in order to obtain it, and ultimately falls in love with a soldier. Set in ancient times...BEST mermaid read, in my opinion. Definitely look this one up!!!

[Jan Coffey]

I hope you'll give AQUARIAN by Jan Coffey a try...

[Jan Coffey]

Hope you'll try AQUARIAN, by Jan Coffey.

[Mermaid Celissa]

I read Sirena, it's AMAZING!
And I read Lost Voices and half of Waking Storms, also AMAZING! Really dramatic. And depressing.
Vicious Deep was great, not too many merman stories out there. It was a bit predictable, I have to admit...but overall, I recommend it.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Truthfully i kind of don't want to read waking storms. i just want to skip to the last novel.

Has anyone ever read Driftglass by Samuel R Delany? It's an SF story about surgically engineered human amphibians called "amphimen". Not really mermaids but if you're into science fiction and the ocean (honestly, who isn't on here haha), then it's a definite read.

[babsannee]

I really liked "Sleeping with the fishes" it's got some romance but it's not nearly as tweeny

[babsannee]

ALSO: @Jan coffey, I read tropical kiss a couple years back! I loved it! lol, I can't believe I'm chatting you up on mernetwork. Just bought aquarian on amazon

[azaiya]

There's so much great stuff in this thread! It would be nice if we could compile it somewhere.

Andrea — Driftglass sounds neat. I kind of with there were more mer stories with a sci-fi theme or setting. Lots of possibilities!

[AnnaAbyss]

The Ingo series by Helen Dunmore. I read a bit of the first one but I got bored of it.. XD But you guys might like it. I borrowed it from my school library.
http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Ingo.html?id=1FJ_jGBkfIAC&redir_esc=y

[SeaGlass Siren]

There's so much great stuff in this thread! It would be nice if we could compile it somewhere.

Andrea — Driftglass sounds neat. I kind of with there were more mer stories with a sci-fi theme or setting. Lots of possibilities!
It is! It's beautifully written. It's set in the near future along a beach of some sort. If I remember correctly it was on a beach and the main character had a deformity because of an accident that he had . It's not completely set in the future but because it involves evolution and genetic engineering it's considered SF . Such a good read!! My favourite. Unfortunately it's a short story...

[azaiya]

Aww, just a short-story? Do you know where I could find it?

I actually have an idea for a sort-of sci-fi based short story, and maybe I'll try write it and publish it on Wattpad (it looks like a neat site to share writing!).


It's set in the future on an aquatic planet. The planet was being mined for resources with these big man-made metal islands built over it water that housed all the workers and their families. One day, for an unknown reason, the company decides to evacuate, all ships leaving and all contact with the planet cut off. The only problem is there weren't enough ships for everyone, so a lot of people were left behind.

100 years later the humans left there learn how to survive, using the scraps of the technology left behind and their own smarts to survive. But a sickness is starting to spread. People are mutating, mostly younger children, and turning into aquatic-like beings. No one knows what causes it, or how one gets infected, but the sickness is curious in that humans seem to become immune to it after puberty.

For those that are infected, the mutation begins slowly, but eventually progresses so much that the afflicted must live in the sea or die. These outcast children leave their home and families behind, but also join a growing number of "Gillies" — other mutant children who have been cast out from their homes, learning how to survive in the sea. No one knows what becomes of them.

The main character of my story is a girl who lost one of her closest friends a few years before, when her friend caught the 'disease' and took to the sea a few months after. However, when she starts to change, she unwillingly is introduced to an entirely new world… discovering what does happen to those lost children, and why humans left the planet a century ago.

Whew! Didn't mean to write that much. I felt like I was writing a pitch for a book.:eek: What do you guys think of it? Would you want to read this story?

[Alveric]

I'd read it.

[Mermaid Caidence]

I"m currently reading THe Forbidden Sea. It's really good. :)

[Meridian Mer-Gyver]

Ok, its not a mermaid novel, but it does have an aquatic theme! "Jack Fish" by J. Milligan is a hilarious and ludacris novel, Jack Fish is a secret agent from Atlantis, it is just an insane book that is so some much to read! I highly recommend it! :)

[SeaGlass Siren]

Drift glass? Um... I know you can order it online on amazon .. It's part of an SF book with a collection of works from different authors ... It also contains literary criticism and essays...

[Mermaid Saphira]

"Lies Beneath" is a book that shows the darker side of mers;)

[Jan Coffey]

@pearl bae

Thanks so much!! Tropical Kiss is still one of the top favorite books that we've written...that research trip to Aruba was a BLAST! (-:

Thanks for buying Aquarian, too. Hope you enjoy it!

Jim/Jan

[theMerFanc]

I am currently reading Farslayer's Story of Fred Saberhagen's Book of Swords series. I think the history and the lore on his mermaids is absolutely amazing and fantastic! Other then my mother and grandfather who told me about the books, I have never met another living soul who even knows these books exist! So please please tell me there is someone out there who likes Saberhagen's masterful works :(

[Ciriun]

I haven't read any mer related books yet. I'm so picky about what I like that it can be hard to find a book in any genre that will actually leave me feeling good about it by the end. So if anyone knows a mermaid-y book or series that doesn't involve killing off main characters, sex, excessive violence, killing off minor characters, or anything that could potentially be described as horror, please let me know. Basically a good PG mermaid book. That doesn't kill main characters. Because even children's books do that and it makes me sad and I don't really like reading stuff that could leave me crying for hours. Fantasy or scifi settings are preferred if possible.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Whoever revived this thread I love you so much!! Now I have more titles for the online merlibrary

[SeaGlass Siren]

Ciriun, check out seaGlass's mermaid library ;)

[theMerFanc]

I had no idea it was an old thread xD. Oops but yay!


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[Keiris]

Ciriun, I just finished a fun book I think you might enjoy called MERMAIDS IN PARADISE. It's a novel by Lydia Millet. :D

[Ciriun]

Ciriun, I just finished a fun book I think you might enjoy called MERMAIDS IN PARADISE. It's a novel by Lydia Millet. :D
Thanks for the suggestion, but I read through some of the preview pages on Amazon and I don't think it's quite what I'm looking for. And I wouldn't really call it PG, at least not some of the parts I read.

[Keiris]

I can't imagine why. There's no sex or violence in it and it has a happy ending. What more do you want?

[mersheep]

While a bit dated, I sometimes enjoy the Edwardian books, Wet Magic, by Edith Nesbit, And the Sea Fairies by L. Frank Baum.

These books are available through Project Gutenberg and archive.org. I have them on my phone.

L. Frank Baum is best known for the Wizard of Oz. Sea Fairies was an attempt to break free from the land of Oz. Later Oz books recycled these characters; why waste a good franchise when you have one.

It was actually Wet Magic that lead me to find this site. I was searching to see if I could find more or better illustrations from it. I dearly love the cover illustration which show the characters putting on their tails.

E. Nesbit, is best known for the Railway Children. Her books were the inspiration for the likes of C.S Lewis, J.R.R Tolken, and more recently J.K. Rowling. All whom, besides using their initials to write under, credited E. Nesbit with the inspiration to write similar stories.

Enchanted castle is one of my favorite of her books. In that one a group of Edwardian children get a hold of THE ring of power. Sadly Nesbit never got a Multi-billion dollar Franchise to promote her works. So all there are, apart from Railway Children are a bunch of B rated low budget films, that often have nothing to do with the books, which sometimes show up on Netflix.

[Ciriun]

I can't imagine why. There's no sex or violence in it and it has a happy ending. What more do you want?
Maybe I found the wrong book? I stopped skimming when it got to the fetish club scene. I don't think there was any actual sex in that bit, but it seemed pretty sexual in tone. And even before that it just seemed very cynical.

As for what I'm looking for, basically YA fluff with mermaids. I'm a big fan of Terry Pratchett and Rick Riordan. Lately I've also been reading some Heinlein and Asimov. I've tried some Neil Gaiman books but they're just too dark and pessimistic for me. Most of what I've been reading recently is old superhero comic books, like mid to late 80s.


Ciriun, check out seaGlass's mermaid library ;)
I think I did, but the descriptions lack sufficient spoilers for me to feel "safe" picking from there. That's why I try to ask for book recs, that way people can tell me ahead of time if anyone I'm going to get attached to dies horribly or if there is anything else that might set me off somewhere in it.

[Keiris]

There's always "Mary Poppins." :p

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