Nomad Authors is excited to host Alice Renaud and her new book, A Merman’s Choice!
Buy links:
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An interview with Alice Renaud
How did you come up with the idea for your book?
Years ago, when I was still living with my parents in Brittany, I saw a group of men come out of the sea. They’d been swimming, and they were wearing full-body wetsuits, with palms on their feet. It made me imagine shape-shifting mermen who could switch between an aquatic shape (with legs but webbed hands and feet) and the human form.
What sort of research did you do to write this book?
The characters spend a lot of time on boats, so I did some research on the web on how you sail a small boat. My father used to take me out on his boat, Gwilan, when I was young, but I never learnt to sail, so I had to make sure that the characters looked like they knew what they were doing.
A fun fact about writing your book.
I actually started off with a rather complicated plot where the heroine’s boyfriend tried to kill her, then pretended to rescue her. After a few chapters I realized I wasn’t pulling it off, so I scrapped the beginning and started again. The heroine’s horrible ex-boyfriend remained, but minus the killer instincts.
What started you on the path to writing?
I blame Tolkien. When I read The Lord of the Rings, at age 12, I thought, “I want to write stories like that.” It only took me thirty years!
What do your friends and family think about your being a writer?
They’re all very supportive. Although I do have to put up with some teasing from colleagues at work about the “saucy books” I write. I keep trying to explain to them that there are only a couple of love scenes in my books, but to no avail. A few weeks ago I arrived at church on Sunday to be greeted by the vicar booming away: “So, Alice, I hear you’re writing an erotic novel?” Gee, thanks, vicar.
The biggest surprise you had after becoming a writer.
I am amazed by how supportive other authors are. It’s wonderful, I feel I have joined a community of friends and I am so grateful to all my author friends, especially the other BVS authors, like Dee and Jan!
Do you outline books ahead of time or are you more of a by-the-seat-of-your-pants writer?
I outline the book then write a detailed background for the two main characters. However I find that once I start to write, the characters sometimes have their own ideas about what they want to do. I often end up writing something different from what I had originally planned.
Which kind of scenes are the hardest for you to write? Action, dialogue, sex?
I find love scenes very hard to write. I spend three times as long on them as on any other scenes. I admire writers of erotic romance like Dee, I could never do it!
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Reading newspapers and books, and watching TV series with my husband. We love historical and fantasy series (Game of Thrones, Vikings, Dr Who…)
A pet peeve
I hate cyclists who ride on pavements. Especially when they ring their bell at me to get out of the way. I AM A PEDESTRIAN. I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE ON THE PAVEMENT. GET BACK ON THE ROAD WHERE YOU BELONG.
First thought when the alarm goes off in the morning?
How long can I afford to stay in bed before I’m late for work?
What famous person would you like to have dinner with?
Neil Gaiman, he’s one of my favourite authors and based on his interviews he sounds like he’d be an entertaining dinner companion. [I love Neil Gaiman, too!]
What are you working on now?
A Merman’s Choice is the first book in a trilogy about shape-shifting mermen. I am currently working with my wonderful editor/creative writing tutor, Laurie Sanders, to edit the second book in the series, Music for a Merman. I have just started writing the third book, Mermaids Marry in Green. I have also written the outline for a Christmas novella, “Santa and the Mermaid”, to complete the series. As Dory says in Finding Dory: “Keep on swimming!”
Book blurb:
For centuries the shape-shifting mermen of the Morvann Islands have lived incognito among humans. But one of them, Yann, has developed some bad habits. Like rescuing humans, even when doing so risks revealing his true nature. When he fishes Alex out of the sea, he doesn’t expect her to reappear eight months later, and turn his life upside down by asking him to be her guide.
Alex is determined to fulfil a promise to her dying grandmother, by gathering pictures and stories of the Morvanns. But she soon discovers that, on these remote Welsh islands, legends have a habit of becoming true!
Over the course of a few days, Yann and Alex grow close. But some mermen hate humans. Their hostility, and Yann’s secret, threaten to tear the couple apart just as they are discovering that they are soul mates. Can Yann overcome the obstacles in his path and make the right choice?
Excerpt:
The girl wasn’t swimming any more. Yann’s sonar gave him a clear picture of her distress. She was flailing. Sinking.
Fear punched him between the ribs. Just a few minutes earlier, she’d been splashing in the shallows, laughing and humming to herself. That music had rippled around him, brightening his journey. Now the sea was snuffing that light out. No! He wouldn’t let it happen. His webbed hands and feet churned the water, and he shot towards her like a torpedo.
Not this one, sea. Not this time.
She came in sight, slim and lovely, with long bronzed limbs and hair the colour of sunshine. But her eyes were closed, her movements slow, hesitant, as if she were falling asleep. His fear hardened into cold, sharp dread. He poured all his energy into the last powerful strokes. He’d almost reached her, when his eye caught the shadow, beyond the crystal surface, out there in the dry world. He sent a sound wave. It came back with an image, and the icy blade inside him twisted: two-legged shapes on the beach. Humans!
If they saw him, they’d know him for what he was. His people’s secret, kept for thousands of years, would be out.
The girl’s head vanished under the waves. To hell with that. He couldn’t let her drown.
He grabbed her and dragged her back to the surface. She thrashed in his arms and coughed up seawater. Intense relief swept through him as he hugged her to his chest. He’d sworn he’d never again swim by and let a human drown, and he’d kept his promise. If the young woman’s eyes remained closed, he might even get away with it. He wanted her to breathe, not scream in horror at the sight of his dark grey face.
He looked up. The shapes on the beach had gone. Another miracle, or perhaps he’d only imagined them. What if they came back? A fresh stab of anxiety propelled him through the surf. He lay the girl down on the sand, cushioning her head on his arm. Her round breasts, encased in the turquoise bikini top, rose and fell in a regular rhythm, but her skin felt clammy under his hands. He scanned the beach in vain for something to cover her with, and saw the motorbike. A sleek, sporty number, well camouflaged among the grass-covered dunes.
Shit. He retracted the webs between his fingers and toes, but his body would take at least twenty minutes to shift from the aquatic shape to the human form. And even when it did, what would the humans think, if they found him naked next to an unconscious girl?
They’d arrest him for indecent exposure, or worse. He touched the girl’s face with a tentative finger. The thought of leaving her sickened him. But he couldn’t stay.
Her eyelids fluttered and she muttered a name. “Boris?”
As if in answer, a male voice tore through the air, from behind the dunes. “Alex!”
Yann flew towards the waves. Help was coming for the girl. She’d be fine.
He sped into the open sea, leaving the human world and human fears behind. He’d saved her. That knowledge glowed inside him as he plunged into the depths. She was safe, and his people would remain safe too. He sang as he rode the riptide, a song full of triumph and laughter. Far away, the humpback whales heard him and picked up the tune. He’d got away with it.
For now. His euphoria abated. No humans had seen him, but his people had sharper eyes and ears. He shouldn’t even have been hanging around, in full merman shape, so close to an inhabited island, but he’d thought he’d be OK. In late September so few tourists were around, and locals had better things to do than go swimming in cold water. He sniffed the current and tuned his sonar towards the Clans’ Islands. Nothing. With luck, no one would notice that he’d broken the merpeople’s rules.
Again.
A little about Alice:
I was born and brought up in Brittany, Western France. My father was French and my mother British (from Wales). I moved to London, UK, in 1997, where I now live with my husband and son. I work full time as a compliance specialist in a pharmaceutical company. I have been writing in my free time since I was 14. I got quite a few short stories published in UK magazines, before moving to longer fiction. I wrote three contemporary romance books, but didn’t find a publisher for them. I then realized that mermen, sea witches and water demons were a lot more fun than sheikhs and billionaires! My first two paranormal romances did not find a publisher either, then I wrote A Merman’s Choice, which was accepted for publication this year by Black Velvet Seductions. It is the first book in a fantasy romance trilogy inspired by the landscapes and legends of Brittany and Wales. I love reading and writing stories, and sharing them with anyone who’s interested!
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For those who remember that TV show from decades ago, you know that everyone who arrived on Fantasy Island always left happier than when their flight landed. If they were lonely, they left with a love by their side; if they arrived to take advantage of someone, they were caught but their supposed victims were saved; if they came despairing, they left with newfound hope. Fantasy Island cured all ills. So what better fantasy vacation than Fantasy Island? Except, I’ve been to the LA arboretum that served as the outdoor FI set and know that it was after all, just a show. My real fantasy island, and where I’d go back if I could, is Great Britain.
magazine to read about a country I had no working knowledge of. So much of what I saw in the magazines I wanted to see for real but of course there was no way. Still, I had a good idea of what was available and sights that might interest me but not my mom and aunt. Nothing disappointed!
and then, when you reach your Golden Years, pick the right numbers and be set up for the rest of time. How great would that be?? Unfortunately, life rarely happens like that. Still, it’s fun to imagine…
foot in Wales or Ireland, so I could probably spend a year or more on just those two islands. And Italy is a place I’d like to spend more time. I’d like to go on a safari to southern Africa, and see the Maldives. If I had the money to spread the trip out (with stops in Hawaii and Tahiti, for example), I’d hop on a plane to New Zealand and visit my pal Jan in Australia—someplace I’ve always wanted to go (despite their poisonous snakes and spiders). Closer to home, I’d like to revisit western Canada, and points here in the U.S. Sounds like so much fun!
yacht, island, wardrobe, and expensive jewelry? Nope. Best off not having any of that stuff. It would be nice, though, to see new places and share the adventure with those I love, which really means spending time with those I love, and we can do that with very little cash at all.