Once Upon a Truth....Cygnus catches dreamers with her daughters. A lost Mermelf from the stars arrives in Storyhenge.An imprisoned girl with a blue birthmark. An 1803 edition of 'The Birdspotter's Guide' with a mysterious dedication. A rediscovered invention. A dying Earth where books are banned. And all anomalies are outlaw.What if our dreams are always caught?What if your dreams are always heard?What if dreams are Imagination's stars?..” I am 25-03 A and I am anomaly and I am Griffin and I am freer and wilder than those Nomenclature can ever ever be...”Imprisoned with others of her kind in the icy wastes of The Outerskirts, 25-03 A escapes into the primeval forest, where she meets up with the last bastions of the Resistance. And so begins The Flights of Prophecy.A timely tale told in verse of Earth betrayed and the rescuers who answered her call.

Deirdre Hines is an award-winning poet and playwright. She lives on the edge of fable with her seven cats and time-travelling father.

As a child she roamed forests and seashores having adventures, which she recorded in her Nature Diaries. Her first book of poetry, The Language of Coats was published by New Island Books and was a bestseller. The Mermelf – A Fable for Our Times came to her in a dream while holidaying at Gwythian in Cornwall.

Customer Reviews

5.0

2 reviews

Literary Titan

The Mermelf is a quirky and dreamlike fable that mixes myth, science fiction, folklore, and a bit of social warning all in one sweep. The story follows Xiu, a strange blue mermelf who arrives in the world of Merbay without wings or a tail, and whose journey collides with talking mice, Firefliers, portals, lost histories, and a future Earth ruled by the grim Nomenclature. The book moves between worlds, between tones, and between forms of storytelling. Sometimes it reads like an old myth whispered around a fire. Sometimes it shifts into a stark dystopian diary. The result feels like a tapestry woven from many voices, each calling out to imagination and memory at once. Reading it, I found myself pulled in two directions. One part of me loved how bold the writing is. Hines leans into lyrical language with no hesitation. The book feels alive with rhythm. Sentences tumble and twist, and I could sense the author having fun with the sound of words. That energy kept me turning pages. I also liked how the characters, even the smallest ones, carry little sparks of mischief and hope. At times, some scenes jump so quickly that I had to pause just to understand where I had landed. But I did enjoyed the ambition. I really liked the ideas behind the story. The way it plays with truth, imagination, and the consequences of forgetting what makes us human felt surprisingly timely. The Nomenclature sections in particular gave me a jolt. They are bleak and sharp, and they contrast wildly with the warm magic of Merbay. I liked that contrast. I also liked how the book keeps nudging the reader to stay curious and playful and brave. I did find the structure a bit chaotic. Threads drift in and out. Characters vanish and return. The story behaves like a dream, which is beautiful and frustrating at the same time. But I admired how it kept reaching for something big. I’d recommend The Mermelf to readers who enjoy mythic stories that do not follow straight lines. It is perfect for imaginative kids, for adults who want to reconnect with their inner child, and for anyone who likes books that surprise them at every turn. It asks you to lean into wonder. If you are willing to do that, you will find a strange and heartfelt tale full of charm, courage, and wild invention.
Jimmy Pappas’

In this beguiling verse novella, a fantasy world enters a dystopian future where we meet 25-03 A :The feisty heroine who has been sentenced to live in The Outerksirts with others of her kind. Those are they who are born with a blue birthmark and whose difference is their ability to transform into avian form.They are known as anomalies. The journeys the characters in this magical tale embark upon are manifold: the journey the blue mermelf Xiu and her fireflier take by accident from the constellation Cygnus, the journey Nony Mous , her mouse host in the library of Storyhenge and the Spider Mirror embark upon to find a lost book, the journey the reader takes into a future world where books are banned, difference is outlawed and the fauna and flora of the Earth breathes its last gasps in The Haven, and finally the journey 25-03 A takes towards self acceptance and leader of the last bastion of Resistance against the Nomenclature-the rulers of this future Earth. Hines is a mistress of lyrical storytelling. The narrative is written in blank verse , each verse thirteen lines in length with one intriguing exception. The imagery haunts long after the reading. I fell in love with the mermelves. But what is a mermelf? ' Sometimes a mermelf may look, at first, like a moving rainbow. This is because they like to decorate their fur with flowers, shells or borrowed items from Flotsam or her cousin Jetsam...' Ther humour is gentle and never cruel, my favourites being schools described as 'Mereums of Colossal Mistakes', and in the fabulous side characters of Crook and Cranny and their Curiosity Shop. But where the writing surpasses itself is in the clever twists and turns objects help move the plot.And in its vivid characterisation.. Ovid's Metamorphosis comes to mind in the avian transformations, but it is the power of Dream that helps fuel the characters' strength and resilience. “..I fell in love with Dream and how her world made me feel. On the stars beyond the moon, the Nomenclature did not exist. In worlds that did and did not resemble Earth, I paddled over stardust lakes. Alongside tumbled gargantuan white otters, head over heels over tails, among the whistling swaying star-reeds. All watched by the sentry heron in the e-g lands of the galaxies..” There are worlds within worlds in this beautiful little gem and the skies are ever watchful. The Griffin that our heroine morphs into flies alongside birds of our garden hedges through trees of fable alongside fabled flowers. This is a book that will appeal to those younger readers whose passions are the environment, Earth mysteries, historical what ifs, the skies above us, mathematical conundrums and justice. The last time I enjoyed a fable as much was on my first reading of Animal Farm many moons ago. In much the same way this book can be a read as a forewarning against intolerance of the anamalous, the dangers of a totalitarian state and as a championing of imagination as the only defence the defenceless have. Go grab a copy before they sell out.. -Jimmy Pappas, author of Rattle chapbook winner Falling off the Empire State Building, Rattle Readers' Choice Award “ Bobby's Story”, and Rattle Pushcart nominee “ The Gray Man”.