A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey of the Southern Waters by H.M.S. Ocelot, as Recorded by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, D.Phil; or, A Lullaby, Part 1, Part 2.
- First printed in Strange Horizons, June 2009.
- Reprinted in translation in Czech magazine Ikarie, November 2010.
Illustration (c) 2010 Dominik Petr, commissioned by Ikarie magazine
An alternate-history Victorian scientist sets out on a scientific voyage to discover the truth about the elusive and alluring mermaids. The mermaids discover a few things about him, too.
By Divine providence, we captured the mermaid with neither loss of life nor injury to any seaman, nor any harm done to the specimen. So easily we might have passed her by without even noticing her; but the sharp young eyes of Small Jack espied her as she lay all in sleep at the surface of the sea. The good Captain gave the orders to turn, and to adopt a stealthy approach, and never have my scholarly eyes seen such a display of unison and harmony as the work done by the seamen, all in silence so that only the humming of the wind in the rigging gave any hint of our approach. Stealthy as her namesake, our loyal ship Ocelot crept through the waves; and so we came across the maid all unawares, dreaming in the midst of her green nets, with her hair spread like sunbeams.
…
Hush my babes, hush; sleep soundly in your shells. Do not open your eyes, not yet. Sleep softly, dreaming of blood.
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Award nominations
- World Fantasy Award shortlist
- Tiptree award longlist
“Hands down my favorite story from 2009, this is a mermaid story with several interesting twists.”
– From Asking the Wrong Questions review
“The contrast of the two voices—the professorial and the mer—is striking here, as are the tales of the merpeople’s encounters with the halfpeople. But the heart of the story is the nature of parental love. The author confounds reader expectations more than once, including at the ending, which I find rather hard to accept. But her merfolk are a fine original creation, both caring and savage.”
– from Internet Review of Science Fiction
“It’s a marvelous evocation of the kinds of sea stories Herman Melville might have told, if he’d been interested in mermaids and science, rather than sperm whales and seamen.”
– from IO9