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    The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales
    The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales
    The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales
    Ebook90 pages1 hour

    The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales

    By Beth Camp

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    About this ebook

    Mermaids permeate this collection of short stories and poems: A grieving artist sleeps under a mermaid quilt. A mermaid argues with a scholar. A pottery maker’s daughter befriends a mysterious stranger. A cowboy falls in love with the last mermaid. Two young girls purchase a carved mermaid at a garage sale. A mermaid finds respite in a tree. And we discover what mermaids like to eat.

    From the frozen Arctic to Mexico, Scotland, Russia, Brazil, and the suburban United States, these delicate stories and poems, sometimes funny, sometimes dark, shaped by myth from long ago, speak of love, revenge, and redemption. Written for adults, they unravel the heart songs of people who have been buffeted by life. They reinforce our yearning for something good and beautiful, and they reveal a fragile line between reality and magic.

    Readers have called these stories and poems, “beautiful, lyrical, touching.” One reader noted, “Camp has a lovely knack for capturing human emotions in a way that is both fresh (the writing) and familiar (the sense of having lived through the same things the character is living through, even if you haven't). Take this book to the coast on a stormy weekend, sit by the fire, and enjoy a real treat.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBeth Camp
    Release dateAug 17, 2013
    ISBN9781301370092
    The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales
    Author

    Beth Camp

    I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, attending some 8 high schools from Seattle to Phoenix. That pattern continued as I worked my way through college -- as a hospital admitting clerk, an international banker, and a social policy analyst, among many other jobs. After earning my master's degree, I taught writing, technical writing, and humanities at Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon and served as Department Chair there. At first, Allen, my husband, and I traveled each summer in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. A sabbatical in 2004 led me to research the humanities in Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, and Spain, spending a month in each country. My publishing career began with editing and then writing textbooks while teaching. When I retired, I began writing historical fiction. The Seventh Tapestry marks my first romantic suspense. I now live in Washington State, close to grandkids and family – and still ready to travel with husband, camera, and laptop at a moment’s notice. 

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    Reviews for The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales

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    • 5/5
      Full of wonder, this is a stunning collection of enchanting Mermaid tales with a timeless and universal appeal. A very nice collection of tales. The value of this book lies in its cultural scope. How intriguing to note that water maidens play a significant role in the folk lore of such diverse cultures! This book is very extraordinary and not like any other. This wonderful book written by Beth Camp puts mermaid’s into a different light. This book is wonderful for all ages. It will keep you intrigued to the very end. Loved it! Exciting and well written.

    Book preview

    The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales - Beth Camp

    The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales

    By Beth Camp

    Mermaids permeate this collection of short stories and poems: A grieving artist sleeps under a mermaid quilt. A mermaid argues with a scholar. A pottery maker’s daughter befriends a mysterious stranger. A cowboy falls in love with the last mermaid. Two young girls purchase a carved mermaid at a garage sale. A mermaid finds respite in a tree. And we discover what mermaids like to eat.

    From the frozen Arctic to Mexico, Scotland, Russia, Brazil, and the suburban United States, these delicate stories and poems, sometimes funny, sometimes dark, shaped by myth from long ago, speak of love, revenge, and redemption. Written for adults, they unravel the heart songs of people who have been buffeted by life. They reinforce our yearning for something good and beautiful, and they reveal a fragile line between reality and magic.

    Readers have called these stories and poems, beautiful, lyrical, touching. One reader noted, Camp has a lovely knack for capturing human emotions in a way that is both fresh (the writing) and familiar (the sense of having lived through the same things the character is living through, even if you haven't). Take this book to the coast on a stormy weekend, sit by the fire, and enjoy a real treat.

    The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales

    Beth Camp

    Smashwords Edition

    Copyright 2012 Beth Camp

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Find out about forthcoming books at

    www.bethandwriting.blogspot.com

    Cover art: John Collier (English, 1850-1934), The Land Baby (1899). This is a faithful photographic reproduction of an original two-dimensional work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

    DEDICATED

    To Allen, Rachel, and Nick, always.

    To those who have encouraged my writing in so many ways –

    Judith Quaempts, Carol Kean, Natalie Daley,

    Rick Bylina, Linda Smith, Sandy Jensen, and

    those avid writers from ROW80

    and the Internet Writing Workshop.

    And for everyone who dreams of mermaids

    Grateful acknowledgement is made to Fickle Muses for publishing Rusalka and The Eloquent Umbrella for publishing What Do Mermaids Eat.

    Table of Contents

    The Mermaid Quilt

    Where Did You Find Your Gifts?

    The Upside Down Mermaid

    Rusalka

    Moirae

    Yemanja

    La Sirena

    Sea Home

    The Tower And The Net

    What Do Mermaids Eat?

    My Selkie

    A Mermaid Sestina

    Siren Song

    A Fisherman’s Daughter

    Sedna’s Gift

    The Green Mermaid

    The Last Mermaid

    Book Of Hours

    Reading Questions for The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales

    About Beth Camp

    Excerpt Standing Stones: A Novel of the McDonnell Clan

    Synopsis: Standing Stones

    Synopsis: Years of Stone

    The Mermaid Quilt

    Even at dusk, the two hour drive to Neskowin was familiar. Marlene followed Route 22 over the Oregon coastal mountains, up from the rolling hills of the Willamette Valley, past small farming towns, logged out fields, and the new casino, and through the heavily forested Van Dusen corridor. Gradually, the slope of the mountains softened to hills, and sand dunes flattened to meet the ocean.

    Marlene turned her car north at ocean’s edge and sped along Highway 101 where the sand shifted the road every year and roadside caution signs seemed permanent. She rolled her window down and smelled the salt of the waves. In another hour of driving, she would be at the cottage, a summer place north of Neskowin.

    Take your cell phone, Alicia had said. Use the cottage all summer if you like. We only go there once in a while. Sometimes I wonder why we keep it. Best friends for eighteen years, Alicia hadn’t needed to say anything more. Marlene felt the quick moisture in her eyes as she focused on the road. She was grateful for Alicia’s friendship, never more so than these last two years. Not everyone understood her sense of loss, her sense of no direction, as if the universe had come unhinged.

    She felt numb even now. She could drive. She could make a list and shop for groceries. She could cook and even eat meals at the proper time. She could stand in the shower, and she could cry, her tears mingling with the water. But she couldn’t easily sleep, and when she did, she couldn’t remember her dreams. She couldn’t paint either, although in the fall, she would be teaching again, the safe routine of four lab classes. Marlene didn’t feel she could teach anyone anything now.

    Kristin. Marlene pulled the car over to the side of the road and stared at the darkened sea. Her seventeen-year-old beautiful daughter was gone. A drunk driver had crossed the double yellow line in front of the high school at 3:30 pm. Marlene thought she had gotten over her rage at the driver, a logger, drinking off the shame of his layoff. He escaped with a few scrapes and a broken leg. But she kept seeing the moment of impact, head-on, Kristin’s little blue compact car crushed. For a while, Marlene could not drive at all.

    Robert had flown up from southern California for the funeral, echoes of Kristin in his face. He said all the right things. When words failed him and he held her, she could smell their years together. She was glad when he left after three days, back to his new wife. A flurry of condolences followed, then people began to do what she wanted. They left her alone. That is except for Alicia and her daily phone call, and now the loan of this cottage.

    Marlene drove

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