Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep by Caitlin R. Kiernan

     So normally, I am not into a book of short stories.  Why when I love Stephen King stories so much?  Because I've come to love the full-length tales more- but with this book- I was not disappointed.  There's nothing more terrifying than the things that may or may not lurk beneath the glassy surface of our oceans.        In Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep, put together by editor, Paula Guran, popular authors like Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlin R. Kieran and so many more put together stories of sirens, nymphs, and various sea people.  From shy to seductive; from benevolent to beastly- all holding tight to the tales that make Disney's Little Mermaid look like a walk in the park.  No, my friends, these are more like the mer-folk of The Pirates of the Caribbean movie!  So before I give a few reviews, I first have to mention this book cover.

     I fell in love with this book cover the moment it popped up on my computer screen!  I had to have it.  Look at her eyes- doesn't she look real!?  Mystical?  Magical?  This is what book covers are all about!  I'd have been happy with this book on my shelf even without reading it, but then I'd lose the true treasures that make this so great.

     Her skin textures, her plica semilunaris (the pink corners of her eyes)- all of it screams to me.  What do you think?  Am I just crazy or is this book cover not amazing?  You know it is- just say so!      As for the actual stories, I wasn't that happy.  for some reason, many authors have taken on a sort of romance for gibber-jabber.  Many of these stories were just going on and on, like poetry, but they really weren't saying anything I was interested in.  In a few, the parts of the mermaids were so limited, they may as well have not even been there!

     I did like one titled: Letters on A Body On The Cusp of Drowning, by A. C. Wise.  If I understood it correctly (see what I'm saying?) it was about a girl who went by the name Kit.  She loved the sea so much, she ran from home, bound herself and pretended to be a boy.  She loved her life, but one day her mates pull a witch/mermaid from their nets.  The witch gives Kit a gift, but whenever she used this gift, she lost memories.  So she began to write letters to herself and the story goes from there.  It was mysterious but not quite what I was looking for.

     Each story was amazingly written, but not to my taste.  I am happy to move on from this book, with the hopes of a finding another mermaid title... a bit more contemporary though!  On to the next book!