Story Details
Categories Fantasy Contemporary Fantasy
I was unsettled by the sight of a toy-sized mermaid dangling from the heron’s beak, her wild, piping cries lost to the wind as the bird winged toward the nearby shore. The other five mermaids leapt from the water to perch on the pond’s island rock, tiny arms yearning toward their lost sister. Their wordless song was the most heartbreaking sound I’ve ever heard, and the most beautiful.
Author Details
Elaine Cunningham is a New York Times bestselling fantasy author, best known for her work in licensed settings such as the Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, and Pathfinder Tales. Shadows in the Starlight, the second book in the urban fantasy series Changeling Detective, was included in the 2006 Kirkus list 10 Best SciFi Novels. Her publications include twenty novels, over 50 short stories, and many non-fiction articles. More information about her work can be found at www.ElaineCunningham.com. A former music and history teacher, Elaine was a full-time writer for twenty-five years before pursuing a third-act career in arts administration. She is the executive director of Providence Singers, a concert choir that performs with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and other area ensembles. These days, writing happens primarily in the early morning hours. When not working or writing, she is busy hiking, gardening, singing, playing strategy board and card games, playing the Celtic harp, and resisting the urge to get more Siamese cats. Story Notes: I read a lot of mysteries. In addition to simply loving the genre, every now and then I want to spend time with another woman who’s over the age of thirty (or fifty or sixty), and the mystery genre is where the older women hang out. There aren’t many fantasy books or stories about us, so I decided to start writing some. Mermaids in the Garden is set in a slightly altered version of my home town. I live in coastal Rhode Island in a town with an active garden club. I've only attended two meetings, but I came away with the seeds for this story: the camaraderie and competition, the silver tea sets and china cups, the lingering emotional impact of being in a roomful of perfectly nice and yet terrifying women in pastel sweater sets and pearls. Mermaids in the Garden turns everything up a few notches, tosses a few mermaids into the koi pond, and may well be the start of my first mystery series.
Mermaids in the Garden, by Elaine Cunningham
Author Details
Elaine Cunningham is a New York Times bestselling fantasy author, best known for her work in licensed settings such as the Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, and Pathfinder Tales. Shadows in the Starlight, the second book in the urban fantasy series Changeling Detective, was included in the 2006 Kirkus list 10 Best SciFi Novels. Her publications include twenty novels, over 50 short stories, and many non-fiction articles. More information about her work can be found at www.ElaineCunningham.com. A former music and history teacher, Elaine was a full-time writer for twenty-five years before pursuing a third-act career in arts administration. She is the executive director of Providence Singers, a concert choir that performs with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and other area ensembles. These days, writing happens primarily in the early morning hours. When not working or writing, she is busy hiking, gardening, singing, playing strategy board and card games, playing the Celtic harp, and resisting the urge to get more Siamese cats. Story Notes: I read a lot of mysteries. In addition to simply loving the genre, every now and then I want to spend time with another woman who’s over the age of thirty (or fifty or sixty), and the mystery genre is where the older women hang out. There aren’t many fantasy books or stories about us, so I decided to start writing some. Mermaids in the Garden is set in a slightly altered version of my home town. I live in coastal Rhode Island in a town with an active garden club. I've only attended two meetings, but I came away with the seeds for this story: the camaraderie and competition, the silver tea sets and china cups, the lingering emotional impact of being in a roomful of perfectly nice and yet terrifying women in pastel sweater sets and pearls. Mermaids in the Garden turns everything up a few notches, tosses a few mermaids into the koi pond, and may well be the start of my first mystery series.
