The Place Where Sea and Sky Meet

by Rhonda Parrish

I'm writing this on my iPad after a couple glasses of wine. Perhaps that's not the most professional admission to make, but it's true. In my defence I am at a retreat. It's odd, for me, to be away from home during the release of one of my books, but there are a limited number of days in the year and sometimes things overlap. Also, I'm on retreat at a very Siren-y location. Here, on the coast of Northern California, sea and sky meet in some of the most beautiful ways imaginable. I've swum in the (rather chilly) ocean, stared up at the star-filled sky, and listened to the water breathe as the sun slipped below the horizon. It has been rejuvenating. Which I needed because this year has been difficult and the road to the SIRENS release not without more than a few bumps.

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As I send this book out into the world it is with equal parts pride, hope, and relief. I think it's my strongest anthology to date and I'm incredibly proud, not only of all the work I've done on it, but also to have worked with all the amazing authors in it. I hope that, as it makes its way out into the world, it finds a receptive audience that can love it as much as I do. And I'm relieved that it's done. It's out of my hands and into the readers'.

Looking out my window at the horizon, the place where sea and sky meet, I see the next (and final) Magical Menageries title coming toward me, but there's enough time before it reaches me to look back over the SIRENS journey, pour another glass of wine, and smile.

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About the Anthologist:

Rhonda Parrish is driven by the desire to do All The Things. She was the founder and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine, is an Assistant Editor at World Weaver Press, and is the editor of several anthologies including, most recently, Sirens and C is for Chimera. In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been included or is forthcoming in dozens of publications including Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast, Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing (2012 & 2015), and Mythic Delirium. Her website, updated weekly, is at rhondaparrish.com.