Fae Visions of the Mediterranean

This slim volume of 24 diverse stories and poems, most written in English, captures the magic and mystery of the Mediterranean and invites the reader to “see beyond what they think they already know.” In Dawn Vogel’s “Salt in Our Veins,” a teen girl is captured by Maltese pirates and calls on her mother, fabled to be a Nereid, for help, with surprising results. “Bilaadi” by S. Chakraborty, set in Cairo, heartbreakingly depicts an ancient river dweller who interferes in a human’s fate and must forsake the river that is the very essence of his existence. Angela Rega’s “The Return of Melusine” features a Venetian mermaid who abandons her tail for love; in the midst of Carnevale, when her human lover leaves her, she feels the call of her ocean family. In the sensual “Xandra’s Brine” by Claude Lalumière, a woman named Camille falls for the mysterious, beautiful Xandra and must decide what she would sacrifice for true love. Poems by Kelda Krich, Mari Ness, and others round out this unusual, lyrical collection. (May)