“The sea stole my past and my future.”

 Thaleia hears voices she shouldn’t, flees a bitter and demanding god, falls in love with a mortal only to have to choose in which world she belongs—hers or his?

Synopsis: THALEIA, nereid and youngest daughter of the Old Man of the Sea, is stuck with a power she doesn’t understand and a mysterious voice she can’t help but follow. Setting caution aside, Thaleia follows this voice across the boundary between the realms of gods and mortals time and again, when one day she meets a mortal man.  

LEANDER, captain of an Eastern Roman warship, struggles under the weight of his family’s expectations. (His grandfather once saved the life of Emperor Basil II.) With his uncle governor of their island Samos and his father second in command, Leander’s course is charted for him. Except it’s a map he doesn’t want. If he doesn’t succeed his father, they lose both land and position. But when he meets Thaleia, Leander finds the reprieve he’s been looking for.

After Thaleia refuses to aid Poseidon in his plan to reclaim his former glory and destroy mortals in the process, she flees to the world above resting her hopes on a future with Leander. When Thaleia turns up mute on Leander’s island the worlds and duties he kept so neatly apart collide. Life above isn’t what Thaleia expected either, filled with new challenges, disappointments, and secrets she must carve her place in an uncertain future.

Compelled to command the unraveling threads of their fate as the sea stirs in revenge, Thaleia and Leander must decide where they belong and what is worth sacrificing to protect their worlds and those they love.

THE SEA AND ALL ITS STARS is a fantasy dual POV retelling of “The Little Mermaid” meets Greek mythology set in Byzantine Greece.

Project Status: Querying

Comps: A River Enchanted, Skin of the Sea, House of Salt & Sorrows

Want to read more? Check out story snippets, behind the scenes, my writing process, and pictures from my research trip in #theseaandallitsstars.