Shadow in the Sea
by Sheila A. Nielson
Publication date: July 15th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
When sixteen-year-old Sadelyn Hanson washes up on the
shores of Windwaithe Island, her beauty and the strange marks on her wrist make
superstitious locals suspect she is a mermaid. Feigning amnesia, Sade hides a
far worse secret: she was sailing to her own murder trial when she was thrown
overboard by the real killer, the cunning and cruel Captain Westwood.
Sade’s quiet effort to rebuild her life on the island is
threatened when she meets an actual young merman. Unable to speak his language,
Sade still longs for the warm companionship he offers, despite the locals’ dire
legends about merfolk and their dark magic. But her confused feelings for the
impossible boy become the least of her problems when Captain Westwood’s ship
docks at Windwaithe. With nowhere to escape, Sade must trust in the one person
who doesn’t fear the merfolk. A woman who had dealings with them herself—years
ago.
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Your
newest book, Shadow in the Sea is a
follow-up to the mermaid novel, Forbidden
Sea, published by Scholastic Press. Do you have to read Forbidden Sea first in order to enjoy Shadow in the Sea?
Shadow
in the Sea is more of a companion novel
rather than a true sequel to Forbidden
Sea. I knew this book would be the first
time visiting Windwaithe Island for many readers—so I wrote Shadow in the Sea as a stand-alone. If
readers decide they like Shadow in the
Sea, they can always go back and read Forbidden
Sea to find out what happened before.
Why
mermaids? Or should I say, mermaids and mermen—since
one of the main characters in Shadow in
the Sea is a handsome merprince.
I was first introduced to Hans Christian Andersen’s
classic fairytale, The Little Mermaid, as a child. My family had an illustrated
version of the story and I used to look at the pictures in it again and again. I
hated the whole lose-the-guy-and-turn-into-sea-foam-ending—so I would imagine
my own mermaid stories to go along with the pictures. Ones with much better
endings.
After I became a children’s librarian, I noticed that many
girls who came in asked for mermaid books. We didn’t have a lot of them so the kids
left looking very disappointed. I
thought to myself, Someone needs to write
more mermaid stories. That’s when I realized that person could be me. When I
finally got around to writing my mermaid stories, I found myself revisiting
some of the things I’d first imagined about mermaids back in my elementary
school days.
Do
you think there are real mermaids out there in the ocean somewhere?
You would be surprised how often I get asked that
question. I, myself, am a complete skeptic, though, nothing would make me
happier than to be proven wrong. I will say this—while doing my research for Shadow in the Sea I discovered there are
a lot of people who strongly believe in mermaids—both in present day and
historically. In fact, the Orkney
Islands have an extensive history when it comes to mermaid sightings. (Try
Googling “Deerness Mermaid” sometime and see what you find!)
What
part of Shadow in the Sea did you
enjoy writing most?
The Sea Prince, Araedyn, was the most complicated (and
enjoyable) character to write in Shadow
in the Sea. Because he speaks only merlanguage, I had to find other ways to
communicate his story and personality to the main character, and the reader. As
an author, I know a great many private details about my characters. Some of
this information can’t be fit into the final story. In the first book, Forbidden Sea, I didn’t have time to
flesh out Prince Araedyn the way I wanted to. Shadow in the Sea finally gave me a chance to bring the mysterious
merprince front and center, the way I’d been dying to from the start.
Are
any of your characters based on real people?
An author writes what she knows, so bits and pieces of
real people do sneak in here and there. However, there is only one character in
Shadow in the Sea who is completely
based on reality. Dartemore, the horse. My grandfather owned an animal just
like him while I was growing up. He was a one man horse who adored my grandpa
and hated everyone else. If he could have slept at the end of my grandfather’s
bed like a dog, he would have. When grandpa rode the horse, he lifted up his
feet and let his tail fly high. When I got on him he tried to kill me. Every. Single.
Time.
Fictional
characters often find themselves in situations they’re not sure they can get out
of. Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that? What did you do?
I almost drowned when I was young. I was swimming in a
lake all alone. (A really stupid thing to do!) I felt something swim into my legs under the water—either a good sized fish
or a water snake—I ‘m not sure which. I panicked, started thrashing around, and
quickly went under. I remember looking down through the water and realizing
that I couldn’t see the bottom because it was so dark and deep. Luckily, I was
able to calm down enough to stop flailing and float back up to the surface
before it was too late. I’ve had a phobia of fish and deep water ever
since. This made writing about merfolk
who live fathoms beneath the surface of the ocean an interesting experience. There
were times I had to take a break from writing because I would start to feel
like I couldn’t breathe.
You
are a children’s librarian as well as an author. Do you find this affects your
writing in any way?
Children want to share their joy when it comes to
reading. I’ve had the plots of far too many novels spoiled for me by eager young
library patrons who just wanted to tell me everything about their favorite
book. I don’t mind one bit. This has given me a unique understanding of what
kids do and don’t like when reading a book. Sometimes, I find myself thinking, What would the kids at the library like to see
happen in this chapter? then I write the scene accordingly. Kids love fun
little details that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the book’s main
plot. The game of Quiddich is a great example of this. In Shadow in the Sea, the Sea Prince has eyes that change color based
on his emotions and moods. I recently had a young fan write me an email to ask
if I could please make a list of
every eye color and its corresponding emotion and send it to her as quickly as
possible.
There is one other perk to being a librarian author.
Kids will sometimes come to the reference desk and ask me for one of my own
books—never realizing I’m the one who wrote it.
Have you written a book you love that you have
not been able to get published?
A
couple of years ago, I wrote a paranormal romance story about a haunted doll
museum. It was much scarier and darker than anything else I’ve ever written. It was so creepy one member of my writer’s
group decided they didn’t want to finish it. That book is one of my favorites
despite the fact that it may never be published.
What
would Sadelyn, Shadow in the Sea’s
protagonist, think about you if she could meet you?
After everything I put her through in this story--she
would probably refuse to even speak to me. Sade would forgive me in time, but
then find some sneaky way to let me know she didn’t approve of my methods of
entertaining readers at her expense.
Sheila never did figure out what she wanted to be when she
grew up. She graduated from college with a BFA in illustration, has worked
as a children's librarian for over eighteen years, and would
eventually like to be a full-time author. Why pick one career when you can
have many? Sheila lives with her two pets, a goffin cockatoo and a
tiny toy poodle. She was born and raised in California but has come to
also love her adopted home in Utah where she currently resides.
