hi everyone! welcome to the Mermaids After Dark Side Quest! this is my very first quest 🤭 i tried to keep the list short & horror-focused, but i have loved mermaids across genres since i was a kid. being from near the beach, i grew up with a lot of mermaid-themed art & depictions in my community, playing mermaids with my cousins, & scouting for books with mermaids in my school library. (what do you love about mermaids & when did your love start? 👀)

if anyone has interest in doing a readalong or anything, please let me know! i would love to plan something with yall 🖤

below i have separated books by length, in case it helps you find a jumping off point. i tried to pick a wide range of lengths so there was something for everyone. new to ocean-creepy-stuff & want to start small? 5 books under 200 pages. know you want something long & immersive? 5 books over 350 pages. that sort of thing!

i hope everyone finds something they love here

BY-LENGTH GUIDE 300+ pages: •gills •waking the merrow •a ship of bones and teeth •a bone in his teeth •into the drowning deep

under 300 pages: •they came from the ocean •chlorine •merfolk •providence girls •the pisces

under 200 pages: •landlocked in foreign skin •lure •the deep •the reyes incident •the salt grows heavy

LGBTQ+ rep: •a bone in his teeth •chlorine •into the drowning deep •landlocked in foreign skin •providence girls •the deep •the reyes incident •the salt grows heavy

if you were (or are!) an author writing a story with mermaids what genre would you pick & why? any special details to make your mermaids or their world feel unique?

my exposure to mermaids in fiction, probably like most people, came from YA fantasy & fairy tales. i think if i was going to write, i would do some kind of fairy tale retelling, but reading for this quest has kind of convinced me that horror or grimdark fantasy would be the way to go 🌊⛈️🪨 i just think there’s something romantic (and scary) about the deep & the creatures in it, & the vast ocean is a perfect template for something scaly & fast & hungry & unknown.

something i really love is when merpeople are based around different species of fish, so my characters would definitely be designed with the appearance of some of my favorite fish & sea creatures in mind. like imagine a pufferfish-inspired mermaid, or lionfish, or a sunfish! think of all the sharks & jellies & crabs & shrimp & corals under the sea! such a variety just begs to be used when designing your mermaids features & abilities imo. give me alllll the unique tails, abilities, limitations, & designs. 🐡🐠🐟🦐🦀🐙🦑🦈🪼🪸🐚🐋🦞🦪 i would honestly love more romance or general fiction/fantasy with unique mermaid designs but it seems mostly limited to horror or darker stories or anything highlighting how other the merpeople/“monsters” are.

what would you write? 👀

I'm enjoying hearing Bishop talk very frankly about having to take on odd dancing/acting jobs because she had bills to pay. Dancing and acting are working class jobs! Which I think we forget, especially when we think about the more popular/blockbuster movies and actors. Early in the memoir, Bishop did say she was lucky to not have to take on non-acting jobs to get by, but that didn't mean she loved every job that came along; sometimes she was just grateful to have a paycheck.

I used to like the phrase "do what you love and you'll never work again," but since reading more about work and labor and disability under capitalism, I am no longer attached to it. I would love not to work (in the traditional sense of trading my labor for wages). I would love to spend my days tending my garden, feeding my friends, enjoying making and consuming art in its various forms...things that are work but since they don't have market value at a small scale are considered "hobbies." Anyway, just some thoughts bubbling up :)

I love how Bishop knew her worth and unapologetically asked/negotiated for the roles, pay, and opportunities she wanted. It's so refreshing to hear, especially at a time when it wasn't expected/the norm. And for every Bishop I'm sure there were dozens of women who weren't in a position to demand what they were owed.

I've seen alot of posts on tiktok and twitter and other platforms about this and not gonna lie, everytime someone suggests a finnick prequel an angel loses its wings. It kinda pisses me off sometimes. Just a little bit.

And Maybe(?) Unpopular opinion but we dont need a finnick book. Love finnick but a book about him is unnecessary. 😬 he told his story himself so its not like it's gonna be like haymitch where its a lie. Or the capitol changed what happened. Like, i dont even know what it would be about?

Like, we know how he won. We know he was trafficked (which we dont need to see) we know what he did in the rebellion. (after the 74th hg) we know how it ends. What else is there?

Unless its about the secrets he got from capitol people but i feel like even that is not even enough for a book. & i feel like a book about finnick would be just fan service. I feel like it would read like a "Finnick's games" fanfic, a canon fanfic but still a fanfic.

And sometimes it makes me laugh a little when someone says "It would show the government's exploitation of children!!" Because The og hunger games already did that, in many ways. There's no need for a more detailed one. Finnick already said that they did that to him. Isn't it also implied (?) That it happened (or was going to happen) to johanna too?. And it was talked about how one year the tributes (of d12 i think) were stark naked in the parade(?) (is that what its calles? I forgot) So like, do we really need to see it?

what do yall think?

Note: i was gonna post this in the firts books forum but then i thought its better here. Idk since this is a newer book. (And a prequel) its better here. Hope i didn't post it in the wrong forum. But i feel like there's isnt really a "wrong book forum" for this.

My nonfiction people!!

What's a nonfiction book you strongly believe that everyone should read?

Bonus points if it made you cry/changed your life

For me it's Educated by Tara Westover and Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. (I have way more)

(Also I just wanna yoink some books because I love nonfiction)

QUESTION OF THE DAY!! 🐝🐞🪲 If the book you were reading right now came to life, and you were the main character, how screwed would the world be? What would you change?

Or, what is one female/male lead you would switch places with?

How do y’all pick what number your reading challenge goal is? 📚

Personally, I always base it off of the number of the year (for example my 2026 goal is to read 26 books) because it feels satisfying. However, in the past few years it hasn’t felt very “goal-like” since I tend to reach it before halfway through the year 🤷‍♀️