(Guest Post + Giveaway) How to be a Mermaid by Erin Hayes

          Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man pulling himself up and over the fence by me. At least, I thought it was a man—he was hidden by the shadows and I couldn't be sure. Curiosity overtook fear and I straightened from my kneeling position to get a closer look. Maybe it was a cleaner. Or a trespasser, in which case, I should be running.

          I walked towards the figure as it began crawling across the ground, recovered from its climb.

It was dark, so I could barely see the outline of a man's body stop and look at me. Then I saw the impossible, long, single fin on his lower half instead of two feet, and the scales cascading down from the man's waist.

          A mer tail. Not like the silicon kind I used for my performances. Even in the dark, I could see that it writhed and moved with a mind of its own, fully an extension of his body.

          Reflexes and survival instinct took over before my mind could react. I backpedaled, trying to get away from the mysterious figure, only I misjudged how far I was from the edge of the water. And how wet the ground was.

          My foot slipped and I fell head-over-heels backwards, plunging over the side of the fence and onto the rocky crags below. I screamed for help, but when my head struck solid rock and the rest of my body impacted with the ground, I fell into an unyielding darkness, one that was haunted by merman-shaped shadows emerging from the ocean.

          When I first started writing How to be a Mermaid, I knew next to nothing about professional mermaiding. I looked online, watched videos, and kept an eye on forums, but I didn’t think I’d get a chance to see a mermaid in real life. And if it wasn’t for the Georgia Aquarium’s Festival of the SEAson, I probably still wouldn’t have been able to.

          As part of the Georgia Aquarium’s Christmas celebrations, the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids did a special performance at the aquarium. I went to a meet and greet with one of the mermaids and watched them do a live show.

          It was one of those defining moments in my life. Watching these mermaids perform was like watching fantasies come true. Up until that point, mermaids were a thing of myth.

          The mermaids of Weeki Wachee brought them to life for me.

          While I was there, I also did a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium. My wonderful guide took me to areas where a lot of aquarium goers don’t venture. I got to see my favorite animals, the whale sharks, from a whole new perspective. I learned that they ship in food everyday from New Zealand for a particular animal’s diet. And I saw the inner workings of one of the world’s biggest aquariums.

          The mermaids were enchanting, but I found that the living, breathing aquarium was just as magical. There are far too many things on this earth that we take for granted. The beauty of the sea is one of them.

          The entire experience was eye-opening. A lot of conservation efforts are going on taking care of the animals and our oceans.

          If we don’t take care of our environment, there will be less opportunities for future generations to see the beautiful ocean and its creatures.

          Finn, Tara, King Oceanus, and King Leviathan may take care of the oceans in this book, but it is our responsibility to do more.
          We have a fantastical, magical world around us. We need to take care of it, too.

How to be a Mermaid Soundtrack:

Below is a list of songs that I listened to while writing How to be a Mermaid. Each of these songs helped to get me into the right mindset in order to pretend that I was a mermaid!
1. Go – Grimes featuring Blood Diamonds
2. Can’t Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
3. Never Let Me Go – Florence and the Machine
4. What the Water Gave Me – Florence and the Machine
5. Start a Riot – Jetta
6. Believe – Mumford and Sons
7. I Will Wait – Mumford and Sons
8. Dirty Paws – Of Monsters and Men
9. Anything Could Happen – Ellie Goulding
10. Part of Your World – Jodi Benson from The Little Mermaid  No mermaid soundtrack would be complete without that song!

About the author:

Sci-fi junkie, video game nerd, and wannabe manga artist Erin Hayes writes a lot of things. Sometimes she writes books, like the fantasy mystery novel Death is but a Dream, the sci-fi middle grade book Jacob Smith is Incredibly Average, and the Her Wolf paranormal series.

She works as an advertising copywriter during the day, and she moonlights as an author. She has lived in New Zealand, Texas, and now in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, cat, and a growing collection of geek paraphernalia.

You can reach her at erinhayesbooks@gmail.com and she'll be happy to chat. Especially if you want to debate Star Wars.

Author links:

Giveaway

A mermaid care package to help you be the best mermaid: a signed copy of How to be a Mermaid, tara's necklace, two Mermaid Mix soaks, a mermaid mirror compact, six starfish hairpins, a mermaid wallet, mermaid perfume, mermaid Tail Nail Polish, a mermaid makeup bag, four Little Mermaid Buttons, and one mermaid handbag to carry all your dinglehoppers (INTL) 07/16

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