NeriSiren

#FinfolkFriday: Beach reads and prophecies

This is my personal offshoot of #FaeFriday, a book tag created by Kristy at Caffeinated Fae (y’all know how much I love my supernatural caffeine addicts 😉 ).  I do plan to do some of the regular Fae Friday posts, but today I’d like to put my own NeriSiren spin on the prompt.

Today’s prompt is:  What is your favorite book featuring a shapeshifter?

Now, if you’ve been following this blog for even just a few months, you probably already know my answer:  basically, ANY BOOK WITH SELKIES IN IT.  If I had to choose a favorite favorite, I’d go with my first and truest love:  Sylvia Peck’s Seal Child, which introduced me to the genre when I was in middle school.  For a more in-depth analysis of Juv/YA selkie literature, see The Great Selkie Post.

Now, being a devoted selkie student, I’d like to take this prompt one step beyond.  The October Daye series has taught me that the original seal faeries — the Roane — were not only shape-shifters, but also prophets.  They could see and predict the future.  In honor of the Roane, I would like to offer the following future prompt for #FaeFriday:

What books are you looking forward to reading in the near future?  (bonus points if they’re fae-related books and/or books involving prophecies/fortune telling/crystal balls).

For my part, I offer the following totally candid photos of NeriSiren in the middle of her own shape-shift while tackling a pile of potential 2020 summer/beach reads (at least, for the backyard beach).  A few of the books have already been covered (particularly in previous summers), but a few represent potential review subjects for the next few months.  If you’d like a few more hints, see my tags for this post.

Keep a weather eye on the horizon, Bookwyrms!  And for more #mermaidbeachreads photos, see my Instagram post.

A photo of a woman lying on her stomach on a beach towel, feet in the air, wearing a black tankini partially covered by a mermaid tail that is designed to look like the aurora borealis, with shifting shades of dark blue and bright neon green, with hints of pink and yellow at the waist. You can see a bit of the black bikini bottom peeking up at the waist. She's reading the latest Girls' Life magazine and, next to her, is a pile of other books and magazines. She is lying on a dark blue and red striped towel at the green, grassy edge of a small lake or pond. It's a mostly-clear day with a few white clouds.

A photo of a dark blue towel with bright red trim at the top, as well as a few bright red and paler blue stripes near the middle. You can also just see the top of the white outline of an anchor in the middle. At the top left edge of the towel is a light turquoise and violet ombre flip-flop with a scale pattern and the word MERMAID printed sideways, from the toe to the heel. On the grass next to the shoe is a pile of books, with a shadow falling over them and the flip-flop. From top to bottom, you see: a book with the face of a red-headed goddess, turned to the left; covering the bottom half of the face is a volume of the Lumberjanes comics; next are two issues of Girls' Life magazine; then a copy of Positivity Camp and Sweet Valley Kids #49 (Jessica's Mermaid); and, finally, a teen paperback romance with a young Jennifer Connolly on the cover, held by a teen guy with a mop of dark brown curls. The title reads: Once in California.

9 comments

  2. That’s a great backyard beach! I’m looking forward to the possibility that Robert Cargill will write a third in his fairy tale universe. I reviewed Dreams and Shadows and am about to review his second one. Now I want a third.

    Reply

  3. My brain has frozen. The second you asked what my favorite book is with shapeshifters, I couldn’t think of a single one, but I know I’ve read so many! Wait…wait! I think I’m remembering now. Oh, yes! The most recent one that I can recall having a shapeshifter is the Dragon and the George series by Gordon R. Dickson. The main shapeshifter is a human, but we do meet a selkie later on in the series, which is awesome! There’s another series I loved that was specifically about shapeshifters, but I’m having trouble remembering the title. Ah, and then there’s The Belgariad and Mallorean series, by David and Leigh Eddings. My first favorite series. I still can’t remember the name of the series I wanted to mention, though. Guess I’ll have to go find a book. Oh, darn 😉

    Reply

    • I looked up the Gordon Dickson series just now and the premise sounds pretty funny. I love that dragons decided to call all humans “george.” Like,

      “Oh, swell, here comes another George, looking for glory or whatever.”

      “I hope this one isn’t a ‘saint’…those give me the worst indigestion.”

      Reply

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