The Mers Blog Stop

Since I will be away and at OhayoCon in Columbus, I figured it would be better to go ahead and post this blog stop ahead of time so I won't miss it.
I was given the chance to interview Ami Blackwater, Author of The Mers.
Before I get started let me give you a little bit of background on our Author and the Book.
Synopsis:

What lies beneath the surface?

One hundred years from now, the world has changed and brought with it, new forms of life.

Who are the Mers? Who is Mira?

Mira always knew she was different. Growing up with Mers, she never quite fit in. When Mira breaks the rules and takes Niren across the border that divides Ellis Island and New Jersey, a  border that divides two vastly different worlds, she thought the journey to find out who she really is would be an easy one.

But as the world in Jersey proves to be a convoluted mix of Aristocrats who hate the Mers, Pirates who want to sell them, and Magi who want to use them...finding her true identity will be a challenge, especially when her best friend Niren is a Mer willing to fight to the death.   

About the Author:

About The Author:

Ami Blackwelder is a forbidden romance writer in the paranormal, scifi, and historical genres. Growing up in Florida, she went to UCf and in 1997 received her BA in English and teaching credentials. She travelled overseas to teach in Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, China and Korea. Thailand is considered her second home now. She has always loved writing and wrote poems and short stores since childhood; however, her novels began when she was in Thailand. She also wrote three nonfiction spiritual books at this time. 

Acheivements:

  In university, having won the Best Fiction Award from the University of Central Florida (Yes, The Blair Witch Project University;), her fiction From Joy We Come, Unto Joy We Return was published in the on campus literary magazine: Cypress Dome and remains to this day in University libraries around the country. Later, she achieved the Semi-Finals in a Laurel Hemingway contest and published a few poems in the Thailand’s Expat magazine, and an article in the Thailand’s People newspaper. Additionally, she has published poetry in the Korea’s AIM magazine, the American Poetic Monthly magazine and Twisted Dreams Magazine.


Interview:
1.What was it like winning the Best Fiction Award while get your Bachelor of Arts in English?
 Winning was awesome, heck just to be included in the literary magazine was an honor, but winning really made me feel like I could do this...you know. Be a writer.

2.How does it feel knowing one of your books could be turning into a movie?
The Shifters of 2040 is a great book and from an action-packed, character driven shifter dystopian, romantic suspense series. A series many readers and viewers would enjoy. So, I'm very excited. It will take time though. Everything is slow in the movie business. Many authors get scripts picked up, but most don't make it to the movies. But this one so deserves it. Anyone who has read it will attest to that.

3. Out of all the places you have traveled, which has been your favorite?
Thailand.

4. What made you decide to write Mer's?
 After watching Water World I was inspired to write about a world that was flooded by waters...

5. In a time where Vampires, Werewolves and Angels seem to dominate the writing scene, why write about mermaids?
Because I love them and I write what I love.
6. How did you come up with the names for your characters?
The just come to me.
7.If you had to be any character from The Mer's, who would you be and why?
 Mira of course. Her adventure is pretty cool.
8.How do you get through writers block?
Do something else. Go outside. See something else, smell something else.
9. Do you have a particular song list that you found yourself listening to or thinking about while writing The Mers?
Nope. I usually write in the quiet with tea.
10. Any last words you would like to leave with our readers?
 I hope you enjoy the book THE MERS, a Mermaid Dystopian. It is part of a three-part saga. This book out now is the ARC and the final book will be available in FEB.


Review:
The myths surrounding the mermaid legends has always fascinated me, mermaids to be precise have always been one of my favorite legends. I can remember as a child playing pretend and becoming one of them as my imagination roamed free.

This was a unique twist on the well worn fin. When the earth became swallowed by the oceans. leaving dry land sparse, we do what humans do best, we evolve. Humans turned into Mers. Men and Women who can breath under water  and have webbed hands and feet so they can swim, along with a few other charachteristics that become enough to start a civil war and ending in exile.

As one young girl searches for the truth about her parentage and why she came to be, we get to tag along with what felt like a play by play diary. Through daring rescue, heart breaking goodbyes' , the battle of the pirates and having to save her people before they are wiped out for good, this book is a highly charged one that will keep you on the edge of your seat in preparation for what comes next.


Rating :
3.5 Stars.