Q: What do Judi Fennell & Johnny Depp have in common?
Answer: They both created characters named Sparrow.
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Q: What do Adele Dubois & Johnny Depp have in common?
Answer: They both play characters named Sparrow.
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*****
Call me Sparrow… Cap’n Sparrow.…Or is that Miss Sparrow?
by Judi Fennell
Yes, I’m talking about the cute, little brown birds. But I’m also talking about the hot and sexy pirate played by Johnny Depp. Okay, the pirate’s not so sexy (hot, in a rum-soaked-island-sun sort of way, yes, but not hot, as in sexy) but Johnny Depp sure was when he played Cap’n Jack.
And what in the world, you’re wondering, do the two have in common?
Yes, there is a method to my madness, and, no, it’s not the rum-soaked one of the Cap’n’s. (Are all those apostrophes correct?)
My current series on the shelves is about Mers: Mermen and Mermaids (though the maid part went by the quayside a while ago). And when writing about Mers one will naturally mention pirates. Or Johnny Depp. Or both. (And who doesn’t love the Johnny Depp reference?)
So, yes, there’s a Johnny Depp line in my first book, In Over Her Head, that sealed the deal for my agent. She loved that line, knew she liked my humor and our relationship was born.
The humor also sealed the deal with my editor, and along came book 2, Wild Blue Under, which launched this November 3rd. Now this story is about Rod, a Mer Prince who comes onto land (Kansas, because it’s as far as you can get from the ocean in the Continental US) to bring the lost half-Mer princess back to Atlantis. Only she doesn’t want to go, because, really. Mermen? Atlantis? Yeah, right. Matter of fact, she’s allergic to ocean water. No way, no how, is she going to the ocean.
And then the attacks start.
What attacks you ask? What kind of attacks could possibly get her moving?
Try dive-bombing peregrines and a mercenary albatross.
Now you see where the bird connection comes in.
But the sparrows are the good guys, er, ladies. Yes, Maybelle and Adele help thwart the evil villains and save the Prince and Princess so they can resume their rightful place on the throne of Atlantis.
Sadly, it’s not as easy as all that, and our hero and heroine – as well as the two industrious little sparrows – have a whole bunch of things to overcome.
Kind of like I did when I wrote this story.
And it’s thanks to my good friend Adele Dubois (seeing the tie-in with the sparrow now???) that I could get the research I needed for the cross-country dash to the coast.
Adele, fortuitously enough for me, was on her way to a drive out to the Midwest, along the same route I wanted my hero and heroine to travel, and she so very helpfully grabbed brochures and emailed me the sights & sounds, and her impressions of the trip, all of which were utilized in my story. She continued her trip to research her book DESERT NECTAR.
So, as Adele Dubois saved the day for my dearth of first-hand research, so, too, does Adele the Sparrow save the day for the hero and heroine.
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Learn more about Judi Fennell and her mer series at www.judifennell.com
