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A LITERARY
BLOG ABOUT BOOKS How they affect us. How they shape our lives.
Note: Postings
made when muses strike. Watch for blog alert notices via email, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. "We read to know we are not alone." C.S. Lewis Copyright 2011-2018
Top
12 Reading Recommendations Please click a book image to purchase it on Amazon.
Novels, books, and musicals June has written and published: Click a book image to purchase it on www.amazon.com
"Meditations
for New Members is a beautifully written little book...a gem. The thoughts are striking and orginal--a
few are quite profound." --Fiona Hodgkin, author of The Tennis Player from Bermuda
Sponsored in part by Dani's Pantry Fine authentic Italian food. Cucina con Amore! https://amzn.to/2HdlA
B'Seti Pup Publishing Editorial
Services Proofreading, Editing, Rewites, Assistance with Self-publishing. "It's the write thing to do."
"I like what you've done with my
book. Makes me fall in love with it all over again." --Olajuwon Dare, author of Eleven Eleven
Contact
June at JuneJ@JuneJMcInerney.com on Facebook.com, or at www.BSetiPupPublising.com
Please support this Literary Blog by buying on Amazon. Thank you.
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Tuesday, May 15, 2018
The Mermaid
Handbook Had I known that Noah was a cohort of merpeople,
I would have included a character or two based upon these interesting aquatic creatures in my musical Noah’s Rainbow.
According the Carolyn Turgeon, the editor of The Mermaid Handbook: An Alluring Treasury of Literature, Lore, Art, Recipes, and Projects, he was worshipped as Oannes in Chaldea at Erech ‘the place of the ark’. She quotes naturalist Henry Lee
who, in 1883 in Sea Fables Explained, equates Noah with Oannes as “the sacred and intelligent fish-god, the
teacher of mankind, the god of science and knowledge.” [page 78]. Turgeon goes on to explain that a woodcut in a 1483
copy of the Nuremburg Bible depicts Noah in the ark with mermaids, mermen, and [of all things] merdog[s] swimming alongside
it. What a wonderful scene, replete with the appropriate song, that would
make! But probably not as wonderful as the HarperDesign book – just
released today – that relates this bit of information along with scales, er, scads of other scintillating stories, accounts,
reports, visions, and descriptions – as well as explanations – of and about mermaids. Now, I don’t know about you, but growing up “back in the day”, I was enchanted by The
Little Mermaid, the original story by Hans Christian Andersen upon which the Disney movie is very loosely based. I used
to play “mermaid” in the shallow kiddie pool in the backyard and convinced two of the kids on the block to act
out the story with me for our parents. [That was probably the beginning of my aspriations as a playwright.] As a much younger adult, I once had a martini or two at a “mermaid bar” in New Jersey watching
women – and the occasional man – in fish tails swim in an underwater lagoon. And I spent the major part of this
past rainy weekend doing nothing more than immersing [pun intended] myself in the Handbook that is, if nothing else, now the foremost authoritative compendium of all things mermaid. Beautifully
bound and illustrated – as all HarperDesign books are – The Mermaid Handbook includes, along with folklore,
myths, tales and crafts, mermaid cuisine and fashion. Did you know you can actually buy a custom-maid tail online? And did
you also know that there are professional mermaids out there? And if you’ve never visited Weeki Wachee in Florida…
Well, this is the second-best thing to being there. From a literary perspective, however, I was most intrigued by mermaid
history and literature. As well as the well-chosen poems that are delicately sprinkled throughout. It was this aspect –
especial the stories of famous mermaids – that kept me reading far into the deep dark swells of the night.
While this blue tome with its gilt-edge pages acknowledges that mermaids have had an understandably
bad rap through the centuries luring sailors on the high seas to their untimely deaths, it more than compensates this negative
by the more positive beguiling and enchanting aspects of the mysteries inherent in mermaid life. An enjoyable companion piece
to Turgeon’s The Faerie Handbook, it is a required adjunct to long summer afternoons at the beach or sitting
by the pool. Enjoy the read!
3:51 pm edt
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June
J. McInerney, the host of this Literary Blog, is
an author, poet, and librettist. Her currently published works include a novel, a book of spiritual inspirations,
two
volumes of poetry, stories
for children (of all ages) and
a variety of children's musicals. Her titles include: Miss Elmira's Secret Treasure:
A Novel of Phoenixville during the Early 1900s Colonial Theatre: A Novel of Phoenixville
during the Roarin' 20s Phoenix Hose, Hook & Ladder: A Novel of Phoenixville during
World War I Columbia Hotel: A Novel of Phoenixville during the Early 1900s the Schuylkill Monster: A Novel of Phoenixville in 1978
The Prisoner's
Portrait: A Novel of Phoenxville during World War II
Forty-Thirty Rainbow in the Sky Meditations for New Members
Adventures
of Oreigh Ogglefont The Basset Chronicles. Cats of Nine Tales Spinach
Water: A Collection of Poems Exodus Ending: A
Collection of More Spiritual Poems
We Three Kings Beauty and the Beast Bethlehem Noah's
Rainbow Peter, Wolf, and Red Riding
Hood
Originally from the New York metropolitan area, June currently lives near Valley Forge Park in Pennsylvania with her constant and loving companions, FrankieBernard and Sebastian Cat. She
is currently working on her sixth novel.
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