Louise Cusack: Wicked Mermaid

"The Wicked Little Mermaid" is the first in my Modern Fairytales suite, inspired by my love of the original Hans Christian Anderson tale (which is far more exciting and vivid than the Disney version), my fear/fascination with the ocean, and my curiosity about what would happen if a female of a non-human species could clothe herself in our form and infiltrate an isolated family for the purpose of gaining pleasure  - nothing more devious than that.  Yet as Venus discovers, sex is never simple, and poor Balthazar (the hapless recipient of her fixation) also has to grapple with the arrival of a marriage-minded female colleague, a demented father, a street-kid intent on stealing his inheritance, and a police officer who thinks his new housekeeper (the ex-mermaid) might just be a murderer...

Of course, she could well be, but you and I will both have to wait until I finish writing the novel to be absolutely sure. In the meantime, there's comedy/tragedy/comedy happening at the ramshackle Saltwood estate, not to mention a whole lot of heavy breathing!  Watch this space for more details as they come to hand...

UPDATE JAN 2006:  Well, for those who have waited and wondered what I was up to, I'm pleased to say my mermaid novel is completed in draft and that I'm in the process of editing her up now!  I've had such fun with this story.  And it's changed so much since I started, yet as I re-read what I've written above, the bones of the story is still the same, which is great.  The flesh of the story, however, is quite different to my original idea (which I never fail to be excited and surprised about), and so much more.

I can't wait until this one hits the shelves, because I know you'll love it.  But of course by then I'll be deep into writing Beauty and Mr Beast, which is just now stirring inside my mind and causing me to pull out my notepad at odd hours to jot down notes.  My mermaid is funny and surprising with the odd scary moment, but Mr Beast is shaping up as a skin-crawling scare read, which I am SO looking forward to writing (despite the fact that I'm the biggest wimp when it comes to scary movies).

STOP PRESS (JUNE 2007): At last my mermaid is finished and with my agent for sale.  The finished version is even funnier and I'm thrilled with it.  So I'm moving on to write Beauty IS the Beast, which is shaping up to be even funnier!