MERMAIDS RISING: Why Fins Are the New Fangs is a companion book to my YA novel THE DROWNING WORLD, with its half-dolphin and half-human shape shifters. Mermaids are rising up in our pop culture—from singers like Lady Gaga and Madonna, to movie stars who pose in glittering tail flukes, to authors whose 21st century mermaids are sassy, sexy, and strong. MERMAIDS RISING chronicles why mermaids are edging out vampires and what this means, especially for girls and women. To mermaids, ours is not a dying world, but one worth falling in love with—and saving.

So this is a book of what? Essays?
MERMAIDS RISING gathers together my Huffington Post articles and interviews with professional mermaids, like Hannah Fraser, whose photo graces this book cover. The new book also offers two of my favourite chapters from THE DROWNING WORLD, including Chapter 7 “Cave Dancing,” which is a very stylish and secret party in my underwater cosmos.

What genre is this book?
While THE DROWNING WORLD is YA paranormal romance and fantasy, MERMAIDS RISING is a mostly non-fiction, tracing this mermaid mania and how it is changing our imaginations and our sense of what’s possible.

What kind of reader will it appeal to?
Anyone who enjoys how fantasy and real-life come together to shape our realities. All readers who enjoy imagined worlds, unusual love stories, mythology, and adventure.

We loved The Drowning World, but can you tell us of any other mermaid novels out there?
I really admire Carolyn Turgeon’s Mermaid: A Classic Twist on an Old Tale. In MERMAIDS RISING, Carolyn and I interview each other about why both men and woman have always been mesmerized by mermaids.

Our readers love vampires. Convince them that they need to pay attention to mermaids.
When pop culture evolves from vampires to mermaids, it suggests a more romantic, regenerative, and hopeful trend. In this MERMAIDS RISING book, there’s my Huffington Post article, The New Wave for Girls and Women: IN Mermaids, OUT Vampires, I argue that, “Mermaids practice more feminine power than most vampires. Like many female wild animals, mermaids choose their own mates. So mermaids are action heroes in their own rights; they are not just acted upon by dashing male vampires who recreate women in their undead image. . . And unlike the vampire stories in which death or war are the main themes, mermaid myths focus most on romance and struggling to fit in—or not. For girls and women, adapting to our ever-changing roles and societal expectations, our focus on relationships is like shape-shifting. We are always in moral and romantic dilemmas. Mermaids don’t fall in love with eternal death. They fall in love with flawed and complicated real life—specifically us humans.

Convinced?

Quite possibly.
Sounds like today’s mermaids are different from Disney’s.
Mermaids in the 21st century are certainly not the tragic, self-destructive “Little Mermaid” of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale or Disney, who must give up her voice and soul for a prince’s love. Today’s mermaids are really hip, complicated, and independent. They have real power and amazing skills.

You promised us a sequel to The Drowning World. We’re still waiting.
I’m diving deep into the sequel of THE DROWNING WORLD and very excited about answering readers’ questions: What happened to Marina, the High Priestess? Is Lukas still addicted to her Warrior sister, Pandora? And does Lukas ever find his father in a sinking Cuba? With all this “global weirding,” and floods and monster storms, maybe our future is more amphibious and we’ll all also have to learn to shape-shift into our powerful tail flukes. Stay tuned for the sequel.

What other books have you written?
I’m the author of 17 books, including a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year,” DUCK AND COVER and the recent memoir, I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth, which was named as a “Top Ten Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year” by The Christian Science Monitor.

Tell us about yourself.
When I’m not underwater or on boats studying whales and dolphins as I did for my National Geographic book Sightings: The Gray Whale’s Mysterious Journey or sitting on the shores with seal pups for my children’s book Leopard and Silkie: One Boy’s Quest to Save Seal Pups, I’m singing in my local chorale, teaching, and trying not to drown in my own home, which is so close to the Salish Sea that storms are a little iffy.

Do you have a website?
www.BrendaPetersonBooks.com

How can we follow you on Facebook and/or Twitter?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brenda.peterson.5623?ref=tn_tnmn
Twitter: @BrendaSPeterson