ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

So, it’s time to draw the giveaway offer from the lovely people at the Grattan Street Press.  There are two winners of the short story collection called Mer, by debut author Samantha Amy Mansell.

This is the blurb:

Set in an ominous underwater world marred by human destruction, the stories in Mer unsettle traditional mermaid mythology – beyond gender, beyond beauty, beyond romance. In her debut collection, Australian author Samantha Amy Mansell weaves a series of evocative tales about vengeance, loss and the right to survive. Mer asks not what, but who, lurks in the deep, depicting the ongoing damage to marine ecology from the viewpoint of the threatened merfolk.

Hayley Singer, a prominent author and academic working in the field of ecofeminism and feminist animal studies, describes Mer as a collection of “watery fables for toxic times”. These bold experimental stories will appeal to readers who are:

• Concerned with the alarming state of the climate catastrophe. Since 1995, the Great Barrier Reef has lost over half of its corals due to climate change. The UN warns that if global temperatures continue rising at the rate they are, 90% of the world’s corals will be wiped out. Mer plunges the reader into the reality of this imminent crisis, describing reefs and oceans that are overfished, littered with plastic, and choking from the ash of raging fires. Evocative and shocking, Mer will force readers to rethink their relationship with the environment.
• Disenfranchised by traditional gender binaries. Mer challenges the shell-bra-wearing mermaids and singing sirens of popular culture, and instead presents a cast of characters who subvert the traditional ideas of gender in mermaid mythology. In Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Ariel must give up her voice to be with her prince. Mer consciously gives back that voice.
• Interested in experimental literary fiction. Composed of five compelling short stories, Mer comes as “a unique contribution to the terrain of contemporary ecological fiction” (Hayley Singer). It belongs to the Grattan Street Shorts series.

Samantha Amy Mansell is a Sydney-based editor and writer. She is passionate about intersectional feminism, bisexual representation in literature, and creating fantastical worlds. Mer is her first book.

There were six entries for the two copies so the odds were very good:

1. Sarah Ross
2. Sue from Whispering Gums
3. Fay Kennedy
4. Meredith at MsWriter3
5. Liz Dorrington
6. Jennifer from Tasmanian Bibliophile at Large

The numbers went into the random number generator at Random.org and up came No 4, and No 2.  Congratulations to Sue and to Meredith:).  I already have Sue’s postal address, but Meredith, you need to contact me at anzlitloversATbigpondDOTcom before next Friday so that I can pass your postal address on to the publishers.