Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Subterranean Press (2015), Edition: Sgd Ltd, Hardcover, 122 pages
Description
When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses. They didn't expect actual mermaids. They certainly didn't expect those mermaids to have teeth. This is the story of the Atargatis, lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy. Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the bathypelagic zone in the Mariana Trench . . . and the depths are very good at keeping secrets.
User reviews
LibraryThing member krau0098
When I saw that this book by Mira Grant was being released by Subterranean Press I was immediately dying to have it. I am a huge fan of Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire). This ended up being an intriguing and well written fantasy/thriller/horror of sorts. It is a pretty short novella and would have
The cruise ship Atargatis has been hired by Imagine Network to go on a journey like none other. The Atargatis is supposed to journey over the Marianas Trench in a quest to prove that mermaids are real. The boat is full of the world’s leading researchers on marine life; experts who...while not necessarily looking for mermaids…are excited to have someone else foot the bill for their scientific equipment and give them a chance to learn more about deep sea life.
Imagine Network (never one to leave anything to chance) also brings along their own troupe of mermaids, normal women who really want to be real life mermaids and are darn good at it. What they find is more disturbing and alarming than anything they imagined.
This book is set up in a very journalistic type way...much like Grant’s Newsflesh series. Each section starts with an excerpt from a book about ghost ships, so right away you know things went horribly wrong with the Atargatis. The story is very much a slow build with disaster striking quickly and decisively right at the end of the book.
I was a bit worried about how many characters are introduced right off the bat, but I shouldn’t have worried. There are a lot of characters, but they were easy to keep track off. The book also switches POV between different characters quite a bit, but this worked well and gave the story a broader focus without being too scattered.
I also enjoyed some of the science talk around marine biology and a look into the lives of women who want to assume the lifestyle of mermaids.
Parts of the book do get pretty gory and disturbing at the end, so you’ve been warned.
My only complaint about this book is that it is so short. There were so many interesting areas in this story that could have been explored at greater depth (no pun intended). I wanted to know more about everything in this book and was disappointed at how quickly everything was presented and wrapped up.
Overall this is an engaging and entertaining thriller/fantasy of sorts. The story is fast-paced and interesting. I wish it had been a bit longer and more fleshed out.
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made a wonderful full-length book. The cruise ship Atargatis has been hired by Imagine Network to go on a journey like none other. The Atargatis is supposed to journey over the Marianas Trench in a quest to prove that mermaids are real. The boat is full of the world’s leading researchers on marine life; experts who...while not necessarily looking for mermaids…are excited to have someone else foot the bill for their scientific equipment and give them a chance to learn more about deep sea life.
Imagine Network (never one to leave anything to chance) also brings along their own troupe of mermaids, normal women who really want to be real life mermaids and are darn good at it. What they find is more disturbing and alarming than anything they imagined.
This book is set up in a very journalistic type way...much like Grant’s Newsflesh series. Each section starts with an excerpt from a book about ghost ships, so right away you know things went horribly wrong with the Atargatis. The story is very much a slow build with disaster striking quickly and decisively right at the end of the book.
I was a bit worried about how many characters are introduced right off the bat, but I shouldn’t have worried. There are a lot of characters, but they were easy to keep track off. The book also switches POV between different characters quite a bit, but this worked well and gave the story a broader focus without being too scattered.
I also enjoyed some of the science talk around marine biology and a look into the lives of women who want to assume the lifestyle of mermaids.
Parts of the book do get pretty gory and disturbing at the end, so you’ve been warned.
My only complaint about this book is that it is so short. There were so many interesting areas in this story that could have been explored at greater depth (no pun intended). I wanted to know more about everything in this book and was disappointed at how quickly everything was presented and wrapped up.
Overall this is an engaging and entertaining thriller/fantasy of sorts. The story is fast-paced and interesting. I wish it had been a bit longer and more fleshed out.
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Horror novella with Grant’s trademark interest in public perception/communication. A “reality” show similar to Discovery’s pseudo-scientific “documentaries” sets out to find out if mermaids really do live in the deepest part of the ocean. Spoiler: they do. And they’re hungry.
LibraryThing member themjrawr
This was fun! But then, I'm a sucker for people that try to give their horror a plausible veneer of biological reality, and after how much I enjoyed Newsflesh I'm more than eager to read more. I'm a bit skeptical on how to make a series out of this premise, but I await to see how it unfolds once
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Into the Drowning Deep is released. Show Less
LibraryThing member kamoorephoto
So this was a quick read, in preparation for reading 'Into the Drowning Deep' for my Horror Postal Book Club. It's a quick novella, and gives you a little 'bloody' taste of what's to come in 'Drowning Deep', and gives background to the novel. Killer mermaids finally have their own book, and I'm
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looking forward to the real deal! Show Less
LibraryThing member grigoro
I finished this slim volume in an afternoon. I enjoyed the character developement and the science. A ship of marine scientists and a television crew (among others) travels to the Mariana Trench. one of the deepest parts of the ocean, to investigate whether mermaids actually exist. The book quickly
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evoles into a horror story. Show Less
LibraryThing member dcoward
This novella that preceded Into the Drowning Deep was a very quick read. I liked it well enough, although at that length it is just a creepy little story, without the depth of character and the science that I liked so much in Into the Drowning Deep. Still...killer mermaids!
LibraryThing member tldegray
A sf/f-reality TV channel is filming a docu-drama about a search for mermaids in the deepest part of the ocean. The scientists are there because they can do other research; the crew is there because they're getting paid; and the professional mermaids are there to swim in the ocean far from land.
This short was typical Mira Grant in that it was epistolary in framing, based on the development of actual species, and is therefore possible enough to be terrifying.
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Everything is going well until the ship discovers something strange underwater and that something strange discovers them. This short was typical Mira Grant in that it was epistolary in framing, based on the development of actual species, and is therefore possible enough to be terrifying.
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LibraryThing member theWallflower
I’ve decided that, like Jim C. Hines, I’m a fan of the person but not the books.
This is genuine horror, something I rarely see nowadays, but it’s exactly what you expect. A camera crew goes out into the middle of the ocean to make a fakeumentary about mermaids, but wind up being attacked by
It takes a long time to get to the point where the action happens, and you don’t really care what happens to the characters. Not because they’re assholes but because a) it’s a novella so there’s not much point to get invested and b) you know everyone’s going to be getting killed. All the characters are kind of the same. They go through no arcs, and there are too many to keep track of. I would have liked more attention on characters like the deaf first mate instead of the blah mockumentary host and the hard-nosed stereotype captain.
One thing I will say is that the ending is very good. It’s hard to do modern cinematic style horror (i.e., swarms of monsters like The Descent or 28 Days Later) and keep it coherent, but that’s why Mira Grant is one of the best in the business. Even if I didn’t like the story, I liked the writing. Again, it could be that I’m dead inside.
The problem is it takes too long to get to that ending. There’s no real build-up or slow burn beforehand. There’s simply nothing but mundane things happening. The characters don’t form relationships with each other, there’s no plot consequences or cause-and-effects.
All in all, it has markings of one of those “straight-to-video” horror movies. But blessed be the short form, because that’s always perfect for horror.
This is genuine horror, something I rarely see nowadays, but it’s exactly what you expect. A camera crew goes out into the middle of the ocean to make a fakeumentary about mermaids, but wind up being attacked by
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some real ones. Sounds like every SyFy monster movie.It takes a long time to get to the point where the action happens, and you don’t really care what happens to the characters. Not because they’re assholes but because a) it’s a novella so there’s not much point to get invested and b) you know everyone’s going to be getting killed. All the characters are kind of the same. They go through no arcs, and there are too many to keep track of. I would have liked more attention on characters like the deaf first mate instead of the blah mockumentary host and the hard-nosed stereotype captain.
One thing I will say is that the ending is very good. It’s hard to do modern cinematic style horror (i.e., swarms of monsters like The Descent or 28 Days Later) and keep it coherent, but that’s why Mira Grant is one of the best in the business. Even if I didn’t like the story, I liked the writing. Again, it could be that I’m dead inside.
The problem is it takes too long to get to that ending. There’s no real build-up or slow burn beforehand. There’s simply nothing but mundane things happening. The characters don’t form relationships with each other, there’s no plot consequences or cause-and-effects.
All in all, it has markings of one of those “straight-to-video” horror movies. But blessed be the short form, because that’s always perfect for horror.
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LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc
When a story lets you know how it ends on the very first page it does take the sting out of a bit. The story does take the idea of a fake documentary on mermaids and says surprise they are real and not what you were hoping for. The idea that the filming crew has hired fake mermaids is brilliant and
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has everyone under contract with so many restrictions on what they can do on the boat and who they can talk to is amusing. Of course knowing that this is a doomed voyage does make almost any humor have a cutting edge to it as the reader knows more than the crew. I enjoyed the story and was sad that it was over too quickly but I so want to see more of these mermaids even if it means more people have to die in the story Show Less
LibraryThing member Fence
The Imagine Network has decided to investigate the legend of the mermaid. They've recently discovered just how lucrative fictional-documentaries can be. So they hire a ship with its crew and a team of scientists and send them out to sea with a film crew to find out what they can find.
And when they
Rolling in the deep reveals the true story behind the Atargatis.
Of at least, that's the set-up. And if you are a fan of Mira Grant's other work and have enjoyed that type of story interspersed with news reports then this is the book (novella) for you. It is short, only 122 pages, but it says exactly what it needs to say in those pages. It's a perfect monster story, the unknowable rising out of nowhere and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. Or them. Because mermaids don't swim alone...
And when they
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don't return, and all that is found is a ghost ship with blood stains there are a fair few people who claim it is all for publicity's sake. The crew & scientists must have been paid off, this mystery ship, adrift in the ocean, is nothing more than a teaser for their mermaid documentary.Rolling in the deep reveals the true story behind the Atargatis.
Of at least, that's the set-up. And if you are a fan of Mira Grant's other work and have enjoyed that type of story interspersed with news reports then this is the book (novella) for you. It is short, only 122 pages, but it says exactly what it needs to say in those pages. It's a perfect monster story, the unknowable rising out of nowhere and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. Or them. Because mermaids don't swim alone...
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LibraryThing member KittyCunningham
THAT's what I expect from mermaids.
LibraryThing member crtsjffrsn
The Imagine Network delivers the next generation of reality programming. They embrace that reality television doesn't really reflect reality. And to add to the drama, they often stage events to hook their viewers.
The voyage of the Atargatis is to be one of Imagine Network's great successes. They've
Perhaps the network's executives never heard that one should aways "be careful what you wish for..."
--
Another story with mermaids, continuing what has become quite the trend over the past couple of years in science fiction. I'd ask if it's something readers are really fascinated with, but we keep seeing it, so there must be enough interest out there. And while I'd like to see some more variety, I have to admit this one is well-written.
This isn't a long story, and it actually reads shorter than it is. The pacing is excellent--never dragging and varied enough to keep the reader hooked. I read it in e-book format, so I was surprised when I went back and looked at the official word count. If you look for books that are quick and engaging, this one should be on your list.
The voyage of the Atargatis is to be one of Imagine Network's great successes. They've
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set out to prove the existence of mermaids, after all. Of course, the only mermaids they expect to discover are the costumed ones they have on board.Perhaps the network's executives never heard that one should aways "be careful what you wish for..."
--
Another story with mermaids, continuing what has become quite the trend over the past couple of years in science fiction. I'd ask if it's something readers are really fascinated with, but we keep seeing it, so there must be enough interest out there. And while I'd like to see some more variety, I have to admit this one is well-written.
This isn't a long story, and it actually reads shorter than it is. The pacing is excellent--never dragging and varied enough to keep the reader hooked. I read it in e-book format, so I was surprised when I went back and looked at the official word count. If you look for books that are quick and engaging, this one should be on your list.
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LibraryThing member mutantpudding
I was expecting how that was gonna go but still, yikes!
LibraryThing member lyrrael
The Imagine cable network has launched a new expedition to create a documentary in search of the reality of mermaids. Unfortunately, they find just a bit too much reality for their hyperreality programming.
I had intended to use this book for my stand-alone fantasy entry for the /r/Fantasy book
That does NOT mean I didn’t enjoy this immensely -- I’m not sure, at this point, that Seanan McGuire can do much wrong in my eyes. It was creepy and scary and I wanted desperately for it to be about twice as long at an absolute minimum. Pout. Pout pout. Sigh.
I had intended to use this book for my stand-alone fantasy entry for the /r/Fantasy book
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bingo challenge, but I just couldn’t justify calling this a novel when it was 89 pages on the Kindle. That's squarely in novella territory.That does NOT mean I didn’t enjoy this immensely -- I’m not sure, at this point, that Seanan McGuire can do much wrong in my eyes. It was creepy and scary and I wanted desperately for it to be about twice as long at an absolute minimum. Pout. Pout pout. Sigh.
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LibraryThing member Zoes_Human
Ohmyfuckinggod what a ride. A beautiful piece of horror and a glorious slaughter. I've got the next book on hold.
Language
Original publication date
2015
Physical description
128 p.; 8.1 inches
ISBN
159606708X / 9781596067080
Local notes
When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses. They didn't expect actual mermaids. With teeth.
One of 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies.
One of 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies.
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