The Drowning World
Two different people from two very different worlds. Can a mermaid and a human boy find love? Can they survive in his world and hers? A regal and highly trained young mermaid, Marina, is on her first spy mission to Skyeworld in 2020. She comes ashore on Siesta Key, Florida where she meets feisty Lukas, a proud Cuban refugee. Marina will have to choose between the advanced civilization of Aquantis, where she has been chosen as a High Priestess, and her love for Lukas and his dangerously polluted SkyeWorld. The DROWNING WORLD is an inventive and mesmerizing saga set in a vivid future of rising seas, floating cities, and Flood Lands. Marina’s magic and skill save Lukas’ life. But can she save herself from a lifelong nemesis in her world?
“Mermaids practice more feminine power than most vampires. Like many female wild animals, mermaids choose their own mates. So mermaids are action heroes in their own rights; they are not just acted upon by dashing male vampires who recreate women in their undead image... Unlike the tragic, self-destructive Little Mermaid of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic tale, our 21st century mermaids can live between sea and earth with style and pleasure. And unlike the vampire stories in which death or war are the main themes, mermaid myths focus most on romance and struggling to fit in – or not. For girls and women, adapting to our ever-changing roles and societal expectations, our focus on relationships is like shape-shifting. We are always in moral and romantic dilemmas, such as: How much do we change ourselves to be loved? In a global village, can we love The Other/The Outsider/The Forbidden?”
Praise for The Drowning World
“This underwater world is so believable and vivid and fascinating. It’s a page-‐turner. Irresistible!”
– Sy Montgomery, author of The Good, Good Pig
"The Drowning World is a rollicking good tale of shape-‐shifting, time travel, mermaids, secret tattoos, the underwater world of Aquantis, and other dreams of Peterson’s glorious imagination—all set against the backdrop of powerful forces— the fate of the seas, human turmoil, young love, and what everyone feels at some point in their life: The sense of being an alien in an alien land. Its pull is oceanic—it quickly lures you deep beneath its waves while time evaporates.”
– Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper's Wife
“The merpeople and their resplendent undersea setting are so full and rich . . . truly a water world. Amazing and haunting in its themes and imaginative reach—a wonderful novel.”
– Marion Copeland, Nature in legend and Story