{"id":1351,"date":"2011-03-06T07:12:35","date_gmt":"2011-03-06T15:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/?p=1351"},"modified":"2011-03-10T08:43:33","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T16:43:33","slug":"fairy-tale-week-guest-blog-jay-di-meo-dreams-of-mermen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/fairy-tale-week-guest-blog-jay-di-meo-dreams-of-mermen\/","title":{"rendered":"[GLBT Fairy Tale Week] Guest Blog: Jay Di Meo Dreams of Mermen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today’s guest is Jay Di Meo, author of “Merman’s Tail” which appears in Bedknobs & Beanstalks<\/strong><\/a><\/em> anthology of gay fairy tales. Visit her online at http:\/\/jaydimeo.wordpress.com\/published-stories\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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MERMAN\u2019S TAIL is based on the classic fairytale The Frog Prince. Karan nearly drowns in a storm when Tir, a merman, saves his life and demands a place in Karan\u2019s life for three days and three nights. Repelled by the merman\u2019s bestial form, yet drawn by the parts of Tir that are all man, Karan wavers between following through with his promise, or returning Tir to the water. Will Karan find the courage to break the spell over Tir, or will they both lose their chance at happily ever after?<\/span><\/p>\n

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As a child, I always loved mermaids. I\u2019m not entirely sure why, as I hate fish (slithering, scaly, silent creatures). But these lovely women, half fish and half human, sitting on rocks and combing their long hair, singing to the sailors who fell in love and to their deaths, fascinated me. Perhaps it was because of my love for the sea. Having been born not too far from the Mediterranean seaside, I connected the golden sand and the blue surf with a pure magic that had everything to do with fairytales and their timelessness. I half-expected to see mermaids behind the rocks I climbed, or inside the sea caves with their blue reflections and glistening walls.<\/p>\n

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Disappointed that I never saw one, I read tales of mermaids from around the world \u2013 how they dragged down to the depths of the ocean the pearl seekers and the fishermen, how they came to shore to observe the mortals\u2019 strange ways, how they lived in palaces of red coral underneath the waves.<\/p>\n

I think somewhere deep inside I wanted to be like them, as much at ease under the water as out of it, living on the threshold between worlds.<\/p>\n

Many years have passed since then. I became a writer, and an erotica writer at that \u2013 but when I saw the call for an m\/m anthology of fairytales, \u2018mermaids\u2019 was the first word that sprang to my mind.<\/p>\n

Now, as the word suggests, mermaids are women, and I wanted to tell a story between two men.<\/p>\n

Thank the gods of the sea that theirs is not a domain exclusive to women half-fish. Mermen also roam the oceans and feature in the tales of many cultures. I could see them in my mind\u2019s eye, handsome, long-haired men, gliding gracefully in the clear water, wearing pearls around their necks and coral pieces in their earlobes, jumping out of the waves like dolphins \u2013 but deep inside, they would yearn for land and its strange creatures, curious and afraid, ready to give anything to try standing on two legs and roaming the world<\/span><\/p>\n

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Read an excerpt:<\/a><\/div>\n

Karan took a deep breath, dreading the moment, yet knowing he could postpone it\u00a0no longer. He put away his bowl and carried the merman to his cot. He sat with his back to him, stiff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Glancing to his right, he saw a man so gorgeous his mouth went dry. To his left he saw the tail of a frigid fish.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLie down with me, Karan.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He lay with his back to Tir, shivering when the scales of the tail brushed the bare skin of his shins. A crisp scent of moss and wet pebbles wafted from Tir\u2019s skin. Karan took a deep breath. Tir\u2019s lwet hair drenched the bedclothes and trailed, silky, on Karan\u2019s arm. When a clammy hand touched Karan\u2019s cheek, he started and fought not to draw away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA kiss,\u201d whispered the merman, and Karan gulped, torn between the desire to taste him and to back away. \u201cYou promised.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Karan rolled onto his back. The merman\u2019s fantastically beautiful face approached his, and the cold lips caressed his, then pressed against his mouth, moving softly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Karan shuddered. <\/span>So cold<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tir pulled away, his eyes lost in shadow, his mouth a thin line. \u201cTwo more nights, Karan. Then I shall free you of your promise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

———<\/span><\/p>\n

Bedknobs & Beanstalks<\/em> is available from\u00a0Ravenous Romance<\/a>,\u00a0Fictionwise<\/a>,\u00a0ARe<\/a>,\u00a0Kindle <\/a>or\u00a0paperback<\/a> from Amazon<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s guest is Jay Di Meo, author of “Merman’s Tail” which appears in Bedknobs & Beanstalks anthology of gay fairy tales. Visit her online at http:\/\/jaydimeo.wordpress.com\/published-stories\/ MERMAN\u2019S TAIL is based on the classic fairytale The Frog Prince. Karan nearly drowns in a storm when Tir, a merman, saves his life and demands a place in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":1352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[52],"tags":[77,206,42,918,209],"class_list":["post-1351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event","tag-bedknobs-and-beanstalks","tag-fairy-tale-week","tag-glbt-fairy-tales","tag-guest-posting","tag-jay-di-meo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/1bodyZH100.jpg?fit=1020%2C780","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pzLgx-lN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}