Mermaid in Vegas

[apbschmitz]

Mermaid in Vegas started with a forum question posed by another member: Are mermaids the next big thing? This wasn't a matter that had previously occupied my mind. Then someone suggested that the story should be set in Phoenix, or Las Vegas, and that the mermaid should be a drunken lout.

My response was as follows: “I really think you’re on to something. Vampire mermaids in Las Vegas. Maybe working out of a hotel pool with a glass wall that opens onto a bar. You might want to set it in the 60s to get some of that retro Rat Pack stuff going on. Frank, Dino, Sammy, etc. This might also provide a plausible explanation for what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. The vampire mermaids got him. The only problem you’ve got now is how to spend the riches that are inevitably yours.”

Then, to my own surprise, I started writing it. I had to lose the vampire mermaid concept. It seemed like piling on, so I devampirized. But I have managed to get Frank, Dean and Sammy in there. No Jimmy Hoffa, but I’ve got a mobster loosely based on a casino figure of the 60s. The mermaid is plucked from the ocean and trapped in an exclusive bar with a glass-walled pool, where she’s like a polar bear in a zoo tank. She’s an attraction, a slave to the idle curiosity of others. Of course there’s a limit to how sorry you can feel, since she’s a siren-ish creature who would otherwise be luring sailors to their doom. Pushed by his big-hearted wife, Betty, casino detective Tom Blinder decides he must attempt to kidnap the mermaid and return her to the sea. In the end… well, sorry, I have to stop. I can’t be my own plot spoiler.

The 40,000 word novella is currently available at Amazon, and is part of its Prime lending program.

[apbschmitz]

Mermaid in Vegas is available free, Sat. Aug. 4 for Kindle at Amazon.