by Kim Antieau
Not yet available through ordinary means...Step lightly. Dance hard. Eat your vegetables.
-- Sister DeeDee Lightful Mermaid
Here's a first. I am going to deliberately tantalize you with a book that is not actually for sale. It was, but now it's not. But it will be again, soon. And I hope that you, my dear readers, will support the effort to make it successful.
Kim Antieau is one of the wisest, most authentic and joyful storytellers with whom you will ever fall in love. She has a lyrical cadence and an unerring eye for the "telling detail" that breathes her many novels and short stories to life.
But one of her very best works, possibly her masterpiece (so far!), has never found a publisher that understood it. No, it doesn't fit into any stock genre. No, it probably won't appeal to the action blockbuster set. And yes, it has a simplicity and charming sweetness.. at least on its surface. But like the sea itself, you will discover there are depths and mysteries within. The Church of the Old Mermaids is a story for the ages.
At its heart is Myla Alvarez, a woman who, after a devastating divorce, has found her calling by telling stories about the trinkets she finds in the desert wash near her home - a home she has turned into a sanctuary for lost and desperate souls.
. . . . .
Myla walked the wash looking for trash in the dirt. She looked for treasure too. One man’s trash was another woman’s treasure. And vice versa, she always said.
She carried two bags over her right shoulder. Into the plastic bag, she dropped garbage; into the ruby-colored cloth bag, she put those bits of refuse she believed she could sell on Fourth Avenue, at the Church of the Old Mermaids.
It was not a real church. At least not how most people defined that word. It was the space where she put her table, chair, and wares on Saturdays, shine or shine.
She called it the Church of Old Mermaids because her mother told her when she was a child that the desert had once been avast sea. She liked imagining that the mermaids had not dried up when the sea did; they merely changed their attitudes. And maybe their skin and fin-ware.
......
Kim has deftly woven together a story of magic, mermaids, exiles and refugees. You will be enchanted with the courage, sorrow, strength, and truth in each character. This is a story that is great fun to read, spiced with rollicking style, humor, and love.
Best of all, I happen to know that many of you will read The Church of the Old Mermaids and instantly recognize yourself. That's right - whether you've ever realized it before or not, you, too, may be a Mermaid Sister! And I'll bet that if you are, you will discover that you have been creating Old Mermaid Sanctuaries all along!
The Church of the Old Mermaids was originally available only as a downloadable PDF file, but in just the past week, Kim has announced that Ruby Rose's Fairy Tale Emporium is going to publish it. So it should be available on Amazon very soon.
To stay apprised of that big day, I suggest that you make regular visits to Kim's beautiful, soulful blog, aptly named, The Church of the Old Mermaids. There she is generously sharing her creative process, and inviting participation from her visitors.
Be inspired and remember:
"Laugh or weep. We swim in your tears."
-- Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid
