Spotlight on When Double Becomes Single

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

I am thrilled to spotlight Charmaine Gordon’s new release…

I wrote When Double Becomes Single because the story is very close to my heart. As a first time widow years ago, I had nowhere to turn. I dedicate this book to all widows and widowers to give them hope. Take one step and another to a new life. It’s all there. Just open your heart to find love.

Blurb

Before that awful night, Sharon Michaels had never even driven herself at night… eaten at a table for one… or made plans on her own.

Alone after losing her husband – her rock– she’s left with a business to run, a great son and his wonderful wife and children – far away in Denmark, a bad son and his nasty wife, and two teenage grandchildren she barely knows.

Step by step, she finds her way into the world of singles and learns to Survive and Thrive!

Trailer

Excerpt

The touch of her husband’s lips on hers warmed Sharon Michaels all the way home from the hospital. Remembering his whispered I love you before she left released a cascade of tears. She groped in her bag for a tissue, found none and used the sleeve of her good winter coat as a blotter. Mac would fix Barry. Their favorite doctor always knew the magical potion to apply. Even when Fred, their difficult teenager now in his thirties, started using marijuana and refused to stop, Mac knew what to do. Tough Love was the prescription. No driver’s license and other privileges allowed until he straightened out. So Barry’s bad cough should be easy like the croup. Hmm. Fred still held a grudge against us. Get home and go to sleep.

Exhausted after hours visiting with her husband at Community Hospital in Suffern, New York, Sharon stripped and pulled on flannel pajamas. Too tired to shower, she brushed her teeth, washed her face and slipped under the comforter on this chilly night. The phone rang. She picked it up. Mac Bloom, the family doctor said something she couldn’t quite hear.

“Crisis? Is that what you said? What do you mean crisis? I left him at the hospital about an hour ago. We kissed and said I love you the way we’ve always done for thirty six years.”

Their doctor for many a long time sighed. She heard urgency and sadness in his voice. “Sharon, is anyone at home with you?

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes | Smashwords

Bio

Charmaine Gordon writes books about women who Survive and Thrive. Her motto is take one step and then another to leave your past behind and begin again. Six books and several short stories in three years, she’s always at work on the next story. The books include To Be Continued, Starting Over, Now What?, Reconstructing Charlie, Sin of Omission and The Catch, and her series of Mature Romances, The Beginning…Not the End, including the stand alone novellas, She Didn’t Say No and Farewell, Hello and her most recent series, River’s Edge Stories where the town motto is Kindness to Strangers.

“I didn’t realize at the time while working as an actor in NYC, I’d become a sponge soaking up dialogue, setting, and stage directions. I learned many tools of writing during the years watching directors like Mike Nichols and actors including Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, and Billy Crystal. And would you believe, I was Geraldine Ferraro’s stand-in leg model, my first job giving me entrée into all the Unions needed to work. When the sweet time ended, I began another career and creative juices flowed.”

Where to find Charmaine…

Website | Twitter | Facebook

10 Quick Facts about Sarah Hoss

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome Sarah Hoss to the Power of 10 series. Today, Sarah is sharing some of her favorite and not-so-favorite things and chatting about her new release.

Here’s Sarah!

1. Christmas

2. Scented candles

3. Fresh cut grass

4. Lightning bugs

5. Camping

1. Brussels sprouts

2. Roller coasters

3. Spiders

4. Port-a-pots

5. Cherry flavored drinks

Two Lifetimes – Two Hearts – One future, if they can only survive the past.

Blurb

Hamish Macpherson is surrounded by turmoil: an arsonist is on the loose, he’s in the middle of a feud with a local clansman, and just as he’s trying to save his sister from a burning cottage, he appears in the middle of a foreign living room three hundred years past his own time.

Gillian Meadows thinks she’s self-sufficient and can handle anything until she witnesses a murder in the alley next to an Olde City tavern. In a desperate run to escape being the next victim, she stumbles into a Wiccan store and accepts the help of the shop owner. Little does she know that one mis-spoken word of a simple incantation can change everything.

Neither world is safe, but Hamish can better protect Gillian if he returns to his own time. Gillian has no choice but to go with him if she wants to escape the danger closing in. Little do they know that his past could be the biggest threat of all to their future.

Bio

Sarah Hoss grew up believing she could try anything and if she set her mind to it, she would succeed. Sixteen years of dance lessons, Cheerleading, and school plays proved to her that her parent’s words rang true. Writing was no exception. Reading the Outlander series made her fall in love with time travels and the historical places books could take her. Always a child with a vivid imagination, she realized as an adult, she could put her imagination to good use and began writing. Marrying her very own hero, they live in Indiana in the town where she grew up. They have three beautiful children and one hyper dog. When Sarah isn’t writing, she enjoys gardening, camping, and watching her kids’ play sports.

Where to find Sarah

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

My Writing Journey

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

During my high school years, I dabbled in poetry while dreams of a writing career dangled before me. But I gave in to my practical Italian side and pursued degrees in mathematics and education. While teaching was a good career fit, in my heart of hearts, I knew that I would write a novel at some point in my life. All I needed was more time and more energy.

Be careful what you wish for…

Continue reading on Tracee Ford’s blog.

More Mermaid Sightings: 1800 – 2000

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

In last week’s post, I focused on mermaid sightings before 1800. Today, I will share selected sightings between 1800 and 2000. I have omitted any possible manatee sightings and hoaxes.

During Manatee Awareness Month (November), I will devote a post to those slow-moving, blubbery sea cows that are often mistaken for mermaids.

1811: John McIsaac of Scotland testified under oath that he saw an animal that had a white, upper half with the shape of a human body and lower half covered with scales and a tail. He judged the creature to be between four and five feet long. He noted its long, light brown hair and fingers close together. An article in the London Mirror, included the following testimonial: “The Minister of Campbeltown and the Chamberlain of Mull attest his examination and declare that they know no reason why his veracity should be questioned.”

1830: When villagers at Benbecula (Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland) sighted a small woman on shore, they tried but failed to capture her. They then decided to pelt her with rocks. Several days later, her corpse washed ashore. The following description appeared in the publication Hidden Animals: “The upper part of the body was about the size of a well-developed child of three or four years of age, with an abnormally developed breast. The hair was long, dark, and glossy, while the skin was white, soft, and tender. The lower part of the body was like a salmon but without scales.”

1857: The Shipping Gazette reported the following sighting by Scottish seamen, John Williamson and John Cameron, off the coast of Britain: “We distinctly saw an object about six yards distant from us in the shape of a woman, with full breast, dark complexion, comely face, and fine hair hanging in ringlets over the neck and shoulders. It was about the surface of the water to about the middle, gazing at us and shaking its head. The weather being fine, we had a full view of it and that for three or four minutes.”

1886: The first mermaid sighting in Cape Breton (island off the coast of Nova Scotia) captured the attention of the local townspeople and was featured in the Cape Brooklyn Eagle Newspaper: “The fishermen of Gabarus, Cape Breton have been excited over the appearances of a mermaid…The face, head, shoulders and arms resembled those of a human being, but the lower extremities had the appearance of a fish. The back of its head was covered with long, dark hair resembling a horse’s mane. The arms were shaped like a human being’s, except that the fingers of one hand were very long. The color of the skin was not unlike that of a human being.”

1943: Several mermaids were spotted by Japanese soldiers off the shores of the Kei Islands in Indonesia. One mermaid was actually sighted on the beach, giving the soldiers ample opportunity to provide the following description: roughly 4-foot 9-inches tall, pinkish skin, human looking face and limbs, spikes along its head, and mouth like a carp. Later, Sgt. Taro Horiba heard the news of a dead mermaid on shore and decided to investigate. He urged scientists to study mermaids but failed to convince the scientific community.

1991: About 30 percent of the remains of an unknown, human-like creature were found in the belly of a dead great white shark in South Africa. Upon examination, it was determined that the creature had hands and a humanoid skull. The researchers suggested that the stingray barb jammed in the shark’s jaw could be a mermaid’s weapon.

Spotlight on Sophia Ryan

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to feature author Sophia Ryan and her writing journey.

Here’s Sophia!

Sometimes we choose our path. Sometimes we stumble into it. I’m of the latter group, as far as writing novels goes.

Growing up, I read, but only if there wasn’t something more fun to do. I wrote, but only if I had to. All that changed my second year in college. Not because of all the textbooks I had to read or all the papers I had to write, but because of a Harlequin romance novel.

I was home on winter break and was bored, bored, bored and (cough, cough) missing my boyfriend. After surfing through 157 channels, twice, and still finding nothing on, in desperation I rifled through my mom’s bookcase. Nothing caught my eye, but my hand seemed mysteriously drawn to a slim paperback with a red spine. I pulled it out.

The sexy half-naked cowboy on the cover locked eyes with me. I probably snickered at the cheesiness of his bare, bronzed, buff chest; the monster bulge straining the zipper of his tight and faded jeans; and the “let’s buck” grin on his hottie-oh-my-goddie face, but I didn’t put him back on the shelf. Instead, I curled up with him on the couch in the only spot of sun and read all about his passion, his flaws, his fears, and his love for the only woman in the world who could fill the empty spot in his heart. By the time I’d turned the last page, sighed, and closed the book, I had fallen in love. More than that, I had experienced a metamorphosis—I was a fan of romance novels.

You’ve heard the saying, you are what you eat? Well, my consumption of romances from that point on rewired me, and soon stories were growing inside me, pushing to get out, but I wasn’t sure how to make it happen. The ‘how’ presented itself the following semester when I signed up for a ‘writing the magazine article’ class. The assignment was to write an article for one of the magazines on the professor’s list. The magazine I chose was True Love. My professor liked my article/story and encouraged me to submit it for publication. I did. They bought it. And I found myself staring down the mouth of a new, exciting, and frightening path.

I changed my major from computer science (really, what was I thinking?!) to professional/creative writing. My professors commented on my “good voice” and “unique writing style.” I’m still not sure whether it was a compliment, but I took it as such and kept going. I also kept writing short stories, selling almost everything I wrote. After I graduated, I joined the rank and file as a corporate writer-editor. I got married. I changed jobs. Several times. I had a child. And I kept writing. I put myself through grad school on the money I made from writing short stories.

In all that time, I never thought I had it in me to write a book. When one of my long short stories (a tad over 22,000 words) was rejected for being too long and too sexy, I didn’t know what else to do with it, so I kept adding to it. Soon it was about 50,000 words. It was a book! I had written a book! Not just ‘A’ book, mind you, but a masterpiece, one filled with enough love and angst and sex to rival the Shakespeare of modern romance herself (Nora Roberts, of course). And what else does one do with a masterpiece but offer it up to the publishing gods?

Raise your hand if you know what’s coming.

Yep, I got the big R. Not just once, but again and again. And again. But I didn’t give up, and my precious little reject finally found a home. The publisher and I christened it Hot Summer Fling. (I used the pseudonym Toni Zuma because I didn’t want my grandmother to see it and know that her sweet little doodle bug knew that much about S-E-X.)

My virgin journey to publication was painful but enlightening. I learned so much, and it did get easier every time I attempted it. Today, I’ve had several books published (She Likes It Irish, Dirty Little Secret, and 6 Days of You), two will come out this year (Sin City Alibi and Only Forever), and I’m working on more.

I now live full time in the camp of those writers who say, I can’t NOT write. Even if I never sold another book, I’d still write. It’s part of who I am. It’s on my list of things-that-must-be-done-everyday, like brushing my teeth, flossing, eating, exercising. I love it, and I love the satisfying feeling of knowing I’m on the right path for me.

What about you? How did you end up on the writing path? Are you still just staring at it, afraid to take that first step into the unknown? Leave a comment below, with your email address, for a chance to win a paperback copy or a pdf copy of Dirty Little Secret. I’ll choose one winner. Good luck!

Sophia’s Books

A wager made in a moment of lust has Kristin and Sean rethinking their vows to avoid love.

Irish archaeology grad student Sean O’Neill comes to America and falls for American grad student Kristin DeMarco. Fate brings them together and tosses them into love, but it might not be strong enough to overcome the outside forces trying to pull them apart.

Kristin and Sean both carry wounds from relationships gone wrong, but a sex wager between them, made and accepted in a moment of lust, soon has them rethinking their vows to avoid love, especially when healing touches and kisses are building new ideas of how good love can be with the right person.

Angela and Nick’s secret affair could destroy everything they’ve worked for and those they love.

Angela Abbott has the best life money can buy. But that life of privilege has its rules. And rule number one is don’t fall for the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Sexy, hot, dangerous Nick Spencer is everything she needs to stay away from, but the more she sneaks off to be with him, the harder she falls. She’ll do anything to keep Nick her dirty little secret.

Nick Spencer’s goal to escape the dead-end life laid out for him didn’t include a secret affair with a preppy princess in pearls and lace. But he’s fallen, and not just because of the hot sex. Angela sees him as more than just the trash across the tracks, and it’s giving him crazy ideas about being the guy who makes her dreams come true. But first he has to get her to admit they’re more than sex buddies.

When their secret comes out, Angela will have to come clean about what it is she wants most—the trappings of her privileged lifestyle, or the love of the bad boy who’s oh-so-good for her.

Lily and Daryl won’t get the fall break they hoped for, but they might get something better.

Lily’s uber-conservative boyfriend Michael finally agrees to let her visit over fall break, but only if she agrees to his no-sex rule. Unfortunately, he’s ditched her for a trip to Vail, a blizzard has hit, and she’s forced to stay the week with his grumpy, gay, totally yummy roommate. Then the heat in the building shuts down, and she discovers two things—the sexy stud keeps her hotter than any furnace, and he’s definitely not gay. No-sex rule? How about no rules?

After a bad break-up with his girlfriend, Daryl’s looking forward to a quiet week without his annoying roommate, Michael. His plans go awry when a sexy-as-sin blonde, suitcase in hand, barges in claiming to be Mike’s girlfriend. He doesn’t have the heart to tell her Mike’s away with two gorgeous redheads. And with snow piling up he can’t throw her out. He’d never move in on his roommate’s girl, but as the feisty bombshell settles in, the tiny dorm room grows smaller and certain parts of his body grow bigger. It’s going to be a hell of a long and sexy six days.

I’d love to talk with you about writing, books, or just about any other topic that’s on your mind. I have an opinion about most things and am not shy about sharing it. You can email me at sophiaryan@live.com or usually find me hanging out at one of these places:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Cover Reveal: Retribution

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m thrilled to reveal the cover of Rachel Sharpe’s next novel…

Blurb

“What started out as a star-studded vacation has turned into a sensational avalanche…”

When private investigator Jordan James decided to join her best friend on the set of her hit television series in the Rocky Mountains, she had no idea she would become a key player in a murder mystery more suited for the big screen than the slopes. With one actor dead and a killer on the loose, can Jordan uncover the culprit before another victim makes headlines on Hollywood Minute?

Coming this Fall from Soul Mate Publishing!!!

Available Now in the Jordan James, PI Series

“It was my life-long dream to become a private eye. Little did I know that with my very first case, that dream would become a life-threatening nightmare…”

When Jordan James decided to embark on a career as a private investigator, she never could have imagined that a chance encounter would lead to her staring down the barrel of a gun on the roof’s edge of a high-rise building. As she begins to investigate her first case, the puzzling murder of a prominent businessman that has left Boston’s finest mystified for more than two decades, she finds herself suddenly immersed in a treacherous underworld brimming with betrayal, raw greed, and political subterfuge of international proportions. In the midst of this, she discovers she is falling for her mysterious client despite the hints of his dark past. Can this feisty Southern girl with a penchant for trouble solve this baffling case or is she doomed to become another tragic chapter in an international conspiracy?

“It all started with a favor…”

When private investigator Jordan James agreed to search for the missing son of a U.S. Ambassador, she didn’t realize she was walking into a case one hundred years in the making. The deeper she delves into this unusual assignment, the more shocking, and the more dangerous, it becomes. With time running out and lives at stake, Jordan must race to identify the culprit of an elaborate plot while also uncovering a far more personal truth too intimate to ignore…

Bio

Rachel Sharpe is the author of Cold Ambition and Lost Distinction, the first novels in the Jordan James, PI series. Although born and raised in the South, “Yankee” relatives first led Rachel to historic New England, which she has come to consider her second home and is the setting for the series.

After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in English, Rachel began dedicating her free time to her childhood passion, writing, and in the fall of 2013, she signed with Soul Mate Publishing. An active member of Sisters In Crime, Rachel currently resides with her husband in the Greater New Orleans area.

Check Out Rachel’s Sites to Keep Up with Jordan James!!!

Website | Facebook | Twitter

10 Life Lessons from Valley of Life

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome Stella Chiu to the Power of 10 series.

Here’s Stella!

The life journey is composed of mountain tops and bottoms of valleys. During the last 12 years, I encountered some events that turned my world upside down. My husband wanted a divorce. I had made some financial mistakes in business and investments which caused huge financial problems. Being a Christian, I couldn’t make any sense out of it. Later, I was led by the Lord to the wilderness (Mesa, Arizona) in both physical and spiritual situations. This wilderness experience provided 10 important life lessons.

1. The hardships are mostly caused by us.

It may shock you to know that most trials and sufferings are created by you. You went into bankruptcy because you made the financial mistakes along the way. You have no need to blame God or other people. Only then can you can take responsibility and do something above your situation.

2. Get your identity firmly inside you.

All problems are temporary. The circumstances will improve. “Tough things won’t last, but tough people will.” You are the beloved child of God. You can trust the most powerful person in the universe (God as your Daddy), who loves you so much, will help you to get out of the mess. You will be able to overcome the fear with that faith.

3. Stay put.

It is not wise to rush His time table until all the training is complete. This training is called A Joseph Calling by Os Hillman.

God takes time to develop character. He could not afford to have a prideful 30-year-old Joseph managing the resources of an entire region of the world. God used 40 years to train Moses. God used 12 years to transform me from a so called Christian to a real Christ believer.

God has a storehouse of blessings that He has reserved for you and me. God has a specific timetable that He requires to accomplish His purposes in the life of the believer. Sometimes, that timetable seems excruciatingly cruel and painful; yet it is necessary.

The greater the mess, the bigger will be your promotions. Don’t look left, right, back, or front, but up.

When you are experiencing trials, you should not try to get secular counseling from people around you. Their suggestions cause more confusion than before. When you look backward, the only sure thing is regret. When you look ahead, there may not be promising views. The upward direction is where you can obtain the divine wisdom, revelation, or inspiration to get out of bondage.

4. Don’t ask the wrong question(s).

During your trials, you should not ask: “Why has this happened to me?” or “Where is my God?” These will lead nowhere. A better question: “Lord, I did make the mistakes. I am sorry. Show me your rescue plan for me.”

5. You are a spiritual being.

We are created in the image of God. In other words, we are spiritual beings. It is vital that you must have this notion in your hearts and thoughts.

God is spirit, whose communication tunnels are only open to spiritual beings. When you realize you area a spiritual beings, you can freely communicate with God, who is the ultimate rescuer for any situation.

6. A new way of meditation.

It is a good idea to commit the first hour of the day to meditation. The aim is not for calmness but to hear the very small voice of God inside you. In a locked room, you seat yourself in comfortable position without any music. You allow no distractions. Because you are spiritual beings, you can imagine your spirit flying out from your body to heaven. You can talk with Jesus, God, or the angels.

Revelation and inspiration may come in during this hour or later in the day. Bring pen and paper to jot down new ideas.

7. A new way of prayer.

What is prayer? Prayer is your conversation with God – just like your conversation with a friend. Prayer is not just for asking favors. You can tell God how you feel inside: your frustrations, adventures, happiness moments, as well as your appreciation. Prayer is also a two-way street. You need to learn to be silent in front of the mighty God so that He can pass on His ideas.

God wants you to connect with Him every minute of your daily life. Talk (pray) to Him every chance you get: standing in line, waiting for the bus, drinking your coffee, cooking, doing laundry, etc.

Many people believe prayer does not affect their lives because they don’t believe God will answer. Make the word “believe” as big as you can in your own life.

8. The power of repentance and forgiveness.

To repent means you know your mistakes; you turn away from them and never repeat them. This ties in with the first point of this post. God’s hands can come down to help you.

Forgiveness is so important because un-forgiveness blocks anyone trying to access the blessings, revelation, and favor from the Lord. Thos point can be illustrated more clearly in Mark 11:25 – 26: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him…If you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

The forgiveness process starts with forgiving yourself first. From that point, you can forgive others.

9. Power of your faith.

You must be careful about what you say daily. You frame your world by the words you speak. You can’t have what you want if you speak against what you want. “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind (speak) on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matt 16:19

If you want to come out of the pit, you must speak positively about what you want to happen.

10. Power of praise and worship

If you understand the significance of praise and worship, you will do well in your life.

Praise means you are thanking God for granting your requests ahead of time. Will He do it for you? I have no doubt in my mind He will do it for you.

God flows to and from the universe looking for worshippers. He already has all the angels worshiping Him 24/7. Why is He still looking for human worshippers? Angels are created to worship Him. Human worship is not an automatic action. Worship from someone who is suffering is more dear because it goes against human nature. You can definitely out of the pit with praise and worship.

My final thoughts…

The disappointments in life can open doors to new opportunities that God has for YOU! – @Ibloom

“On this journey called life, we wish we would not meet the thorns but have all bed of roses and everything smooth without so much as a worry. Our Creator has other plans. Out of each test, there is a testimony and for every mess there is a message. It is also not so much that we go through difficulties in life, but our attitude that makes all the difference.” – @EMBYvonne

Bio

Stella Chiu runs http://www.stellachiu.com where she is passionate to use her experience to help people to achieve good life through the Kingdom within each of us. Her blog covers faith, health, prosperity, and life (parenting, family, relationship, empty nest, etc). If you want to have good life, sign up free updated, free gifts, and one-to-one consulting.

Connect with Stella via Facebook and Twitter.

Tuesday Teaser with Amy Deason

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m enjoying a virtual cup (glass?) of coffee with Soul Mate Author Amy Deason.

Drop by her blog for a quick teaser about A Season for Killing Blondes. If you leave a comment, you could win a free eBook.

The Secret to Serenity

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

When I received this Zen parable in an email attachment, I couldn’t resist a smile. And I knew I had to share it.

Enjoy!

A harried Type A businessman went to a yogi, high on the top of a hill.

“They say you have the secret to serenity,” the businessman puffed, mopping at his brow. “I have high blood pressure, I am stressed beyond belief, and I am at the end of my rope. Teach me the secret.”

The yogi smiled beatifically (as yogis tend to do.) He then rummaged around and presented the man with a large bottle. Inside the bottle was a live duck, swimming placidly in the water trapped inside.

“This will teach you,” the yogi said. “Get the duck out of the bottle, without breaking the bottle, or killing the duck.”

The businessman was baffled, but he’d faced tough challenges before. Swearing to have it solved in two weeks, he took the bottle and went about solving the problem.

In two weeks, he returned, looking more frazzled than before. “There has to be some trick,” he groused. “This is impossible. There has to be a cheat or something.”

The yogi simply smiled, then told him to come back in two weeks.

In another two weeks, the man looked half insane. His eyes were bulging, his clothes were unkempt, and he was furious. “I am going to smash this bottle and wring the duck’s neck if you don’t tell me how to get it out!”

The yogi simply smiled, and told him again: Come back in two weeks.

Another two weeks, and the man returned. This time, he was the picture of calm.

“I figured it out,” he said. “The secret to serenity. I finally got it.”

He then handed the intact bottle to the yogi, with the duck still swimming inside.

He grinned. “It’s not my bottle. And it’s not my duck.”

10 Mermaid Sightings Before 1800

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Joanne Guidoccio

Before writing Between Land and Sea, I researched mermaid sightings. I expected to find only a handful of examples and was surprised by the lengthy list and vivid descriptions that emerged. So much so, that I’ve devoted several posts to this topic.

Today, I will focus on ten documented sightings before 1800.

1. First Century AD: Roman author, naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote about the Nereids that were found dead on the seashore. He described their bodies as rough and scaly like fish and then went on to share other supporting evidence: “I have, too, some distinguished informants of equestrian rank, who state that they themselves once saw in the ocean of Gades a sea-man.”

2. Between 1040 and 1105: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki wrote about mermaids in the Talmud: “There are fish in the sea with which half is in the form of man and half in the form of fish, called sereine in Old French.”

3. During the same period, Moshav Zekeinim provided the following details about mermaids (Sirens) in a commentary on the Torah: “This refers to the creature in the sea which is similar in part to a person, from the navel upwards, and it is similar to a woman in all aspects in that it has breasts and long hair like that of a woman, and from the navel downwards, it is a fish. And it sings beautifully, with a pleasant voice.”

4. 13th Century: The King’s Mirror, a Norwegian educational text originally intended to provide King Magnus Lagabote with advice on various subjects, included the following description of a creature found off the shores of Greenland: “Like a woman as far down as her waist, long hands, and soft hair, the neck and head in all respects like those of a human being. The hands seem to be long, and the fingers not to be pointed, but united into a web like that on the feet of water birds. From the waist downwards, this monster resembles a fish, with scales, tail, and fins…This monster has a very horrible face, with broad bow and piercing eyes, a wide mouth and double chin.”

5. 1389: In his book, Eastern Travels of John Hesse, the author described the perils encountered during his voyages. He wrote: “We came to a stony mountain, where we heard syrens singing, mermaids who draw ships into danger by their songs. We saw there many horrible monsters and were in great fear.”

6. 1403: During a heavy storm, a mermaid drifted inland through a broken dyke on the Dutch coast. At first afraid but later intrigued, several local women and their servants befriended the mermaid. They took the mermaid home and tried to domesticate her, clothing and feeding her dairy products and meats. After a number of thwarted escapes into the sea, the mermaid resigned herself to her new life and died fifteen years later. John Swan, an English minister, described her story in Speculum Mundi, a book released in 1635.

7. 1493: After spotting three mermaids rising from the sea, Christopher Columbus wrote in the ship’s journal: “They were not as beautiful as they are painted, although to to some extent they have a human appearance in the face.” He noted that he had seen similar creatures off the coast of West Africa.

8. 1608: After two of his company reported a mermaid sighting, explorer Henry Hudson wrote in the ship’s journal: “Two crew members–Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayner–sighted a mermaid at 75o7’N (Russia) and shouted at the rest of the crew to come and look…From the navel upward her back and breast were like a woman’s, as they say that saw her; her body as big as one of ours; her skin very white and long hair hanging down behind, of colour black. In her going down, they saw her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise, and speckled like a mackerel.”

9. 1614: Captain John Smith, of Pocahontas fame, reported a mermaid off the cost of Massachusetts: “The upper part of her body perfectly resembled that of a woman, and she was swimming about with all possible grace near the shore. It had large eyes, rather too round, a finely shaped nose (a little too short), well-formed ears, rather too long, and her long green hair imparted to her an original character by no means unattractive.”

10. 1797: While walking on the shore of Sandside Bay (Scotland), schoolteacher William Munro spotted a mermaid sitting upon a rock. In his letter to Dr. Torrance in Glasgow, he wrote: “…my attention was arrested by the appearance of a figure resembling an unclothed human female, sitting upon a rock extending into the sea, and apparently in the action of combing its hair, which flowed around its shoulders, and of a light brown colour…The cheeks ruddy, the eyes blue, the mouth and lips of a natural form, resembling those of a man; the teeth I could not discover, as the mouth was shut; the breasts and abdomen, the arms and fingers of the size in which the hands were employed, did not appear to be webbed, but as to this I am not positive.” The complete letter appeared in The Times of London on September 8, 1809.