Tag Archives: mermaid

Try a Spell to Play With Her Hair

Lita takes Gentle Reader to the world of Clockpunk Wizard today, with an excerpt from her story, Old Bony Blue Eyes.

Mermaids Ride in Water Pearls

Young Wizard Kadmeion, his assistant Sir Bright, and their three wee fairies are travelling on the wizard’s airship through a region called the Water Pearls.

These floating globes of seawater carry marine creatures far above the ocean surface, and the spheres often catch in airship sails. A mermaid’s Water Pearl has tangled in a mooring line on the cabin roof. The magic-ravenous mermaid lured the wizard’s fairies near her with a glamour spell. She tried to catch and eat the magic-befuddled fey-folk. Bright heard their cries, intervened, and saved their three tiny shipmates. He then summoned the wizard to join them on the cabin roof.

“I’ve wanted to speak with the merfolk for some time,” Kadmeion said to the mermaid. “But eating my fairies is not the way to win my regard.”

Eating My Fairies is Not the Way to Win My Regard

Bright felt the itch of the mermaid’s renewed attraction spell. Izlyesende gasped, pinched the narfleet’s ear, and relaxed when Bright’s natural glamour resistance protected the three fairies. Izlyesende kissed the squeezed spot in apology. Bright’s ear tingled from the fairy’s magic.

“Stop it, Madam Mermaid,” Kadmeion said. “Your trick will not work on me.”

Her glamour spell trickled away. This mermaid was a colorless, almost translucent being. She turned around once in her bubble, tried unsuccessfully to push her Water Pearl away from its mooring to the cabin roof, then curled into a waiting stance.

“Will you hold my hand, Sir Wizard?”

“You would surely bite me if I allowed that.”

Magic Too Long Denied Has Made Us Greedy

“Mer has poor magical fare,” she said.

“Is that why mermaids savage wizards that fall into the sea?”

“Magic too long denied has made us greedy.” She brushed away her floating cloud of white hair, and gave it an impatient glance.

If you want to woo her cooperation, Kadmeion, try a spell to play with her hair, Bright mind spoke.

Bright’s suggestion earned him a glance, then a nod from the wizard. Kadmeion turned back to the fussing mermaid, and sang this spell.

“Lovely mermaid encased in Water Pearl,
You grace my airship with hair unfurled.
Beautiful silver tresses
Replace land-lady’s dresses.
Your hair now obeys me. Undulate. Curl.”

Kadmeion lifted his hand and made a delicate swirling motion. The mermaid’s long hair lifted away from her face, and mimicked the wizard’s hand movement. He made her locks sway and swim to his whim. Kadmeion first twirled the long strands around her slim waist, and spun them atop her head in a confectionary arrangement of braids and sparkling magical bits.

By the time he finished the spell, the mermaid’s eyes glowed with pleasure. Her smile was now friendly instead of predatory.

Mermaid in a Bubble Trouble

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Following a string of floating water globes called The Water Pearls

Lita takes Gentle Reader to the land of Clockpunk Wizard today, with an excerpt from Old Bony Blue Eyes.

Wizard Kadmeion, Sir Bright, and the three fairies are on their airship and following a string of floating water globes called The Water Pearls to Sir Death’s island at the edge of their plate-shaped ocean world. A mermaid has taken a ride inside a large Water Pearl. Her globe has tangled in the airship’s rigging. Bright has just rescued their three fairies from the mermaid’s glamour spell. She is ravenous for magic, and tried to eat the fey-folk. Kadmeion has just climbed up to join them on the cabin roof. The mermaid tries her spell again, but this time focuses it on the young, magic-rich wizard.

Izlyesende kissed the squeezed spot in apology. Bright’s ear tingled from the fairy’s magic.

Bright felt the itch of the mermaid’s renewed attraction spell. Izlyesende gasped, pinched the narfleet’s ear, and then relaxed when Bright’s natural glamour resistance protected the three fairies. Izlyesende kissed the squeezed spot in apology. Bright’s ear tingled from the fairy’s magic.

“Stop it, Madam Mermaid,” Kadmeion said. “Your trick will not work on me.”

“Will you hold my hand, Sir Wizard?”

“You would surely bite me if I allowed that.”

“Will you hold my hand, Sir Wizard?”

“Mer has poor magical fare,” she said.

“Is that why mermaids savage wizards who fall into the sea?”

“Magic too long denied has made us greedy.” She brushed away her floating cloud of white hair and gave it an impatient glance.

If you want to woo her cooperation, Kadmeion, try a spell to play with her hair, Bright mind spoke.

Bright’s suggestion earned him a glance and a nod from the wizard. Kadmeion turned back to the fussing mermaid and sang this spell.

“Lovely mermaid encased in Water Pearl,
You grace my airship with hair unfurled.
Beautiful silver tresses
Replace land-lady’s dresses.
Your hair now obeys me. Undulate. Curl.”

The wizard made her locks sway and swim to his whim.

Kadmeion lifted his hand and made a delicate swirling motion. The mermaid’s long hair lifted away from her face and mimicked the motion of the wizard’s hand.

He made her locks sway and swim to his whim. Kadmeion first twirled the long strands around her slim waist, and then spun them atop her head in a confectionary arrangement of braids and sparkling magical bits. By the time he finished the spell, the mermaid’s eyes glowed with pleasure.

Read Chapter 1 of Old Bony Blue Eyes for FREE

Old Bony Blue Eyes on Amazon US

Old Bony Blue Eyes on Amazon UK

Old Bony Blue Eyes on Smashwords

Old Bony Blue Eyes on Barnes & Noble

Bestiarum Vocabulum: Mermaid

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The Bestiarum Vocabulum is the wizard’s encyclopedia of faerie beasties and mundane crossovers living in the lake and forest near Lita’s castle.

Mermaid

mermaid [ˈmər-ˌmād] noun, c.1300-1450; OE merewif (see wife) < ME mermayde from mere “sea, lake” + maid; c.1600 merman; also siren, merman (male equivalent), and merfolk (both sexes).

Denizen of the Clockpunk Wizard world.
A saltwater creature with the upper body of a human woman and the lower body of a fish. Generally magic starved. To gain magical power, merfolk will tear apart and consume wizards that fall into their inhabited waters.
Personages: mermaids under Nottinghamshire Isle in Forever Boy who loved Kadmeion’s mentor to death; merfolk riding the Water Pearls in Old Bony Blue Eyes on the way to Rim’s End Island.
See “3 Naughty Ladies of Fantasy Fiction” and “Lita’s Magic Show: Mermaid Fare and a Dragon”

Lita’s Magic Show: Mermaid Fare and a Dragon

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Mermaids Love Wizards to Death

Welcome to the forest near Lita’s castle. Travelling wizards have camped here all night in their colorful carts and put on magic shows.

Dawn approaches, and morning birdsong surrounds us. We have time for one more wonder before we must break camp and go on our way.

A half-breed elf stands and tugs his immaculate magic worker’s tunic to rights. His azure eyes dazzle and he holds us breathless with a mere glance. This son of a prince whistles his spell, and the enchantment echoes as if we sit in the canyon lands and not the forest. We lean in to listen.

“How horrible and lovely mermaids be,” the elf-kind says. “Why do love-struck merfolk tear an unlucky wizard’s flesh from his very bones? And a mage’s promise is no small matter. When we mix it with a dragon’s enchantment and Lady Luck’s kiss, wizardry might even persuade Sir Death.”

A wizard finds out–the hard way–about mermaids’ affection when he faces a dangerous journey to Sir Death’s castle to win a powerful spell book for a love-starved dragon.

The elf begins his tale.

See the other magic shows:

A sorceress relayed a tale about Desire and a Spell Book
A talking dog told us about Mandrakes and Minor Demons
A wizardling spun a yarn on Harsh Words and a Familiar
A mage spoke of a Dire Secret and a Dragonette

Review: Echo of a Siren

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A Siren Rises from the Water and Saves a Foolish Young Man

Lita was busy the past few weeks with drafting the next Clockpunk Wizard story, Glitter Ponies. There were also some wonderful reads, so here is the first of three reviews for those stories.

Echo of a Siren by Sonya C. Dodd is a fantasy romance about a young man named Greg who is rescued from drowning by a revengeful mermaid. It is also an unusual courtship between two loners swirling in tragic circumstances.

Greg accompanies his foolish friend Jake on an ill-advised boat ride into a ferocious storm. The waves capsize the craft and plunge the men into the unforgiving sea. The lovely siren Rachel, who gave up her human life to instead seduce and kill men floundering in the ocean’s embrace, feels a twinge for the near-dead Greg. Following the faintest urging in her once-human heart, Rachel rescues him instead of devouring his life force.

A Romantic Interlude for a Siren and a Merman in the Ocean Depths

For Lita, who lives in the middle of the continent, Echo of a Siren wove a vivid world about living next to that harshest of mistresses, the sea. Water’s chill, the rotten fish reek in the tangy ocean air, and love’s desperation between Greg and Rachel made Lita shiver and reach for her coat.

Greg’s guilt, plus the mistreatment from the bullies grieving for drowned friends, was heartbreaking. Loved ones can lash out at survivors, and survivors punish themselves for making it through.

Rachel had good reasons to hate men when she was alive. Her backstory was wrenching, yet her kind treatment of Greg was a compassionate touch. Even as an undying mermaid, she too was subjected to heartless treatment from her siren kin. Dodd’s story plunges Gentle Reader into a chilly fantasy world and watery heartbreaker.

Echo of a Siren on Amazon US
Echo of a Siren on Amazon UK
Echo of a Siren on Goodreads
Sonya C. Dodd on Goodreads

3 Naughty Ladies of Fantasy Fiction

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A manatee’s smile lured love-starved sailors

A warning today for the gentlemen. In some Fantasy Worlds, you will find lascivious females. Guard your virtue!

While Lita was researching her next book, Old Bony Blue Eyes, she found several kinds of mer females in fantasy and folklore stories. An alarming pattern emerged. The mermaid tales combined two dangerous mysteries for menfolk–women and the ocean.

Could this all be mistaken identity? Lonely sailors long at sea might mistake sightings of manatees and dugongs for our aqua princesses. Perhaps the manatee’s seductive smile is an irresistible lure, and sailors will shipwreck in their haste to meet this lovely gal. But wait. These gentle, large water mammals look nothing like a shapely human woman. Must be water mirages. Let’s stick with fantasy artistry for our sea girls and not spoil the mood.

Sea nymph and water birds

Nymph

A Greek water Nymph is a minor female deity, and she inhabits a specific water site. Nymphs are lovely maidens who enjoy amorous freedom, which separates them from the other chaste women of the Greeks. The nymph’s sexual forwardness is especially dangerous for male travelers far away from home.

There are many types of nymphs, classified by their preference of watery haunts. Where exactly is the risk? Here are the places to find, er, avoid, these dangerous ladies:

Oceanids (any salty water)
Haliae (sea and seashores)
Nereids (more than 50 nymphs in the Mediterranean Sea)
Naiads/Limnades/Limnatides (fresh water ladies)
Eleionomae (wetlands)
Kathybates (hot tubs and whirlpools)
Pegaeae (springs)
Potameides (rivers and rills)
Crinaeae (fountains and wells)

Golden Mermaid

Mermaid

Unlike the human form of the nymph, a Mermaid is a water creature with the upper body of a beautiful human woman and the lower body of a fish. She is a powerful swimmer, and loves to sun herself on rocky shores.

We usually see her long hair undulating in the ocean currents. Fish scales begin at her shapely mid-torso and extend downward not into legs, but a glorious and glimmering tail. She can breathe underwater, but the gills are not visible.

Mermaids are associated with dangerous events like storms, shipwrecks and drownings. But in other legends, they are kindly and fall in love with humans. Problem is, a mermaid will pull her eager lover into the ocean depths for a romantic tryst, forget that he cannot breathe underwater, and drown him. So guys, take an extra scuba tank and stop fussing about how the air regulator in your mouth hampers your technique.

A sailor and a siren plan date night activities

Siren

Greek myth brings us another water gal, the Siren. Fantasy stories are unclear as to her appearance. Sometimes she is a human-bird hybrid (like a beautiful harpy), other times a mermaid with flowing tail and hair, or just a fetching human form. Whatever her appearance, the siren is a dangerous date.

Our siren is a femme fatale (another warning–we also find this loose lady in the Film Noir Fantasy World) who sings to sailors and lures them with her sweet propositions to run their ships aground on rocky shores. Once ashore, her dates are so beguiled by her appearance, they forget to eat. The siren’s trophies are the heaps of decaying bodies of the men who starve to death while enjoying her womanly delights. Perhaps, guys, you might tie a string around a certain body part to remind you to eat something during your siren date (of course Lita means your finger–don’t blame the siren for your naughty thoughts).

Gentlemen, the risks are clear. When journeying in Fantasy Worlds, avoid travelling to the sea, inland lakes, and taking showers at the Bates Motel. Do not even go near the water, or these naughty ladies will sully your reputation.