Today I am so pleased to welcome M.A. Church to Joyfully Jay. M.A. Church has come to talk to us about her latest release, Riding The Tide. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

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Hey everyone! My name is M.A. Church, and I’ve dropped by Joyfully Jay to talk about my upcoming release, Riding the Tide. This is book two in the Deep Blue Sea series, and the focus is on Marcus, the merman who made a brief appearance in Beneath the Surface.

One of the questions I’ve been asked about this series is… why? Why mermen? Well, for someone who writes paranormal and science fiction, my response is usually why not, lol. I’m not sure what took me so long to tackle mers, especially considering my love of world building and creating characters that aren’t human.

Although, mermen—at least my mermen—are not shifters or aliens. Not really. They’re actually human, just more evolved than us. At one point in our history, they were completely humanoid and lived on land. Eventually they moved into the water to hunt and live. Their bodies adapted/mutated to their new environment, which led to them either having tails or legs. Whereas we stayed on land, they stayed in the ocean.

I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of breathing underwater. When I was a little girl my Barbies often joined me in the bathtub where they promptly became mermaids, lol. This was before the movie The Little Mermaid was released, of course. So, there was no dolls who had tails. My age group just had to pretend, lol. Aquaman was one of my favorite cartoons as a child too.

Just as with my shifter characters, I had to figure out how Marcus and Nisha would change their bodies. Would it hurt? What exactly were the mechanics? What did their tails look like? What kind of fins did they have? How did they speak to each other underwater?

I ended up doing a lot of research on dolphins and whales, lol, and much of the information was incorporated into the characters. Even though mers do not exist, they have to be realistic in order to be believable. Then, of course, you can’t get away from the fact that just because we haven’t found any doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t any. *grin*

Even though my mers are humanoid, it becomes increasingly clear they do not think like us. They tend to be more in touch with the animalistic side of their personalities. Kannon, the human character in Beneath the Surface, has firsthand experience with this. Marcus quickly figures out humans are a lot of work from watching Kannon and Nisha’s interactions, but Marcus isn’t worried.

Hooking up with humans is okay. But he has no intention of mating anyone—mers or humans. He’s perfectly happy with the bachelor lifestyle and stresses it to anyone who’ll listen that he’s never getting mated, that he’s never living part of his life on land.

Riding the Tide is actually based off a commercial I saw this year. It’s about a guy sitting at a pool with a couple of friends. He’s saying he’s never going to get married. The next shot of him is him buying an engagement ring. Then this guy and his wife say they’re never having kids. The next shot is of him holding his wife’s hand while she’s in labor. And it goes on and on.

For everything he says he’s not going to do, he ends up doing. The commercial ends him with him saying he’s never going to let go. So basically, this is the premise behind Riding the Tide! For everything Marcus says he isn’t going to do, he does.


Blurb

RidingTheTideFSCaught between two worlds—what’s a merman to do?

The Deep Blue Sea, #2

Marcus Krill, a creature of the sea, is a perfectly content bachelor. Mating someone? No thank you. Living anywhere but in the ocean? Ha! Not happening. Spending more than the barest necessity of time on land? Nope. Not this merman. And humans? They’re perfectly fine as a diversion, but that’s all. They might be interesting, but complications follow them like a hungry shark during a feeding frenzy. So what if he’s a little lonely, a little tired of one-night stands? That doesn’t mean he’s ready to mate.

Blair Estes, a creature of land, is perfectly happy with his nomadic lifestyle. No strings keep him tied to any one place long. Adventure is his lover and adrenaline his master. He loves to travel, and the things he’s seen defy description. Now his wandering has brought him to the Seychelles and a mysterious merman who’s going to take him on the journey of a lifetime.

Once again merfolk and human culture collide in an explosion of passion and… fear.


Bio

M.A. Church is a true Southern belle who spent many years in the elementary education sector. Now she spends her days lost in fantasy worlds, arguing with hardheaded aliens on far-off planets, herding her numerous shifters, or trying to tempt her country boys away from their fishing poles. It’s a full time job, but hey, someone’s gotta do it!

When not writing, she’s on the back porch tending to the demanding wildlife around the pond in the backyard. The ducks are very outspoken. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, and they have two grown children.

She is a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

:: Blog :: Facebook :: Facebook Page :: Twitter ::

You can also email M.A. at – nomoretears00@hotmail.com


Giveaway

M.A. has brought a $5 Amazon gift card to give away to one lucky reader on her tour. Just follow the Rafflecopter below to enter. 

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