Bunking Off

Pete TarsiOver the past 24 hours, I have accomplished absolutely nothing in the way of work on my sequel to Urban Mermaid. I have no choice but to blame it all on that villain, Pete Tarsi.

You see, Mr. Tarsi has penned an outstanding sequel to his YA adventure novel, Flipping the Scales. (You can read my review of  his first novel in the series, over on my other blog-site, The Parsons’ Rant.)

I will not review the book here, however. That is what The Parsons’ Rant is for.

Instead, I will tell you I had planed to read Skipping the Scales at leisure over the next few days. The problem is that Pete Tarsi’s book is not unlike that old commercial for Lays™ potato(e) chips. Just as no one could eat Just One Lays™ potato(e) chip, no one can read just one chapter of Pete Tarsi’s latest book. Try as I might, I had a hard time turning off my Kindle™ and my lack of progress today is all I have to show for it.

Well, maybe that’s not totally correct. The sequel to Urban Mermaid will feature a character who shows up unannounced on Amy’s doorstep. (Amy is Penelope’s[1] VBFF) This mermaid is Amy’s feral[2] cousin and has had little or no contact with the land and how people speak.

In the world Pete Tarsi has created, the mermaids – and mermen – speak in a stilted manner and don’t use contractions. This is how I’ve envisioned the feral cousin speaking and Pete has validated my hypothesis. Of course, my character’s dialogue will be different, but thanks to Mr. Tarsi, I’m on my way.

If you think you’re “too old” for Young Adult literature, this is your chance to prove yourself wrong.  I’m fairly certain Madison will want to weigh in on this topic, as well.

 


 

[1] Penelope Tench is one of the two central characters in Urban Mermaid. If you didn’t already know this, you obviously haven’t read Book # 1. There’s no time like the present to buy a copy and start reading.

[2] ‘Feral’ is the term merfolk on Colony Island use when speaking about those of their kind who live in the sea. The ferals refer to the Islanders as ‘domesticated’.

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