Sirensong

I have always enjoyed reading fantasy books. I loved the idea of being whisked away to faraway lands filled with heroes, princes and princesses, dragons and various other creatures. I also loved seeing magical worlds hidden in plain sight in ours or even co-habiting our world. I love magic and mages and reading about various magical systems such as the power of words, hand gestures or even becoming one with nature.

Sirens also held a soft spot for me, creatures that could control people just through their voices was both a scary and fascinating concept for me. So it was natural to me to write my first published story revolving around something innocuous like a song and making it deadly. What made it truly terrifying was that the singer didn't have to be in close proximity as they were strong enough to throw their voice far.

Eric who is one of the main characters is a male siren which is very rare as most sirens are female. There is a race in the Legend of Zelda games that I took some inspiration from. The Gerudo are desert dwellers who are mostly female. They lived very similar to how the Amazons did, a society where women were in charge and men were treated as slaves. The Gerudo kidnapped men and kept them as slaves, though this aspect of them was toned down in later games. Every so often a male Gerudo is born and he is treated like royalty as he becomes the King of the Gerudo. I found inspiration in this and decided that in this world sirens were mostly female but every once in a while a male is born though male offspring are generally rejected and sent out into the world by themselves. Possibly out of fear of their power or fear of not being able to control them.

Eric is aware of his power though he doesn't always like to use it. He fears that his power could seriously harm others though there are circumstances where he is pushed into it though he always feels regret afterwards. I liked the idea of a sweet character having a power like this and going through their own personal turmoil of what would happen should they use it.

The other main character Jasper is learning to be a mage. He has some spells under his belt but he is still a novice and as such has limitations. He can't use any spell that's too complicated without suffering some consequence like fatigue, headaches, nose bleeds or even losing consciousness. Still he is very invested in learning magic especially since he has a very supportive parental figure who helps him learn. Jasper enjoys practicing and experimenting with spells though he has learned his limits and which spells are fine to experiment with and which ones he's better off waiting a while for due to the fact that he was allowed to experiment in a safe environment and was given the feedback he needed.

Jasper though is very much the opposite of Eric, he's much more confident and outspoken and does tend to push boundaries a little. Though he knows he shouldn't take it too far. I loved the idea of a main character who likes to rock the boat a little but also knows that there are consequences if he rocks the boat too far most of the time. Jasper however tends to run on impulse rather than logic, he runs on emotions and when those go into overdrive he loses his filter and does take things further than he should. However, he does get called out and does try to correct his mistakes.

I would say that Jasper is more based on personal experiences as sometimes I use my emotions more than my head and I don't always have a filter. Sometimes I can take things too far without realising it. However like Jasper I had a very supportive network of family and friends who allowed me to be myself but called me out whenever I did something wrong. Once I learned this I would do my best to right my wrongs. So I wanted a main character who was fairly confident but still made mistakes and still had plenty of room to grow.

Fantasy is my favourite genre, however I do also like mysteries and horror. I like being hooked on something and I enjoy the anticipation I feel after each page as the story draws closer to its conclusion. Sometimes I'll try to guess the solution before they story's end and will be happy whether I'm right or wrong.

I wrote Sirensong as a way to combine fantasy and mystery. To try and write a compelling mystery with some supernatural elements. This has been a challenge due to it being my first time writing and publishing a book. However I did enjoy my time writing Sirensong and I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.