The Tale of Capri centers around a wounded mermaid who washes into a tide pool and the young lifeguard who finds her and changes both of their lives. Where did the idea behind this novel come from?

The idea for this book came from the global drawing phenomenon, MerMay, started by former Disney animation legend Tom Bancroft. The challenge encourages artists and creatives around the world to develop their drawing and storytelling skills during the month of May by drawing mermaids, following a designated series of prompts. I’d been following the challenge for a number of years, but in 2019, I decided to fashion a serialized story based on the prompts. The story eventually fashioned into what became the skeleton for The Tale of Capri. The story sat in the back of my mind for a few years, and in early 2026, I revisited the tale and overhauled it to create the deeper, more fleshed-out story it deserved to become.

Were there fairy tales, films, or ocean stories that influenced the tone of the novel?

I’ve always been a fan of fairytales, and ultimately, I think The Tale of Capri became a modern fairytale. The Little Mermaid was certainly an influence in the process, but it was merely a springboard into what the story eventually turned into. I’d also interviewed a diver who shared some of his experiences, including a run-in with a cranky moray eel. Elements of that encounter appear in a scene in the book. There is also a small side character, Mr. Cuthbert, who is Eden’s kindly neighbor. He is based on the real-life Mr. Cuthbert, a close friend who lived in Huntington Beach, CA, which inspired the locations in the book in the first place. This sweet man passed away a year ago, but his personality and characteristics are preserved in this book.

Capri sees human life as both beautiful and tragic. What interested you about exploring humanity from an outsider’s perspective?

I’m on the autism spectrum (high functioning), and the world around me always feels bright, fresh, and new all the time. I wanted to give readers a taste of that experience by presenting it through the lens of a mermaid who’s new to the human world. Readers have found the perspective refreshing, joyful, tragic, and altogether interesting to explore everyday moments and environments with a sense of wonder and magic that was always there waiting to be discovered.

Can you give us a glimpse inside the next book in The Capri Saga? Where will it take readers?

The next book in The Capri Saga is The Mermaid Without Scales. The story will pick up one year after the events of The Tale of Capri. Eden discovers a homeless girl named Skye who’s been wandering the beach, and he refers her to his friend and fellow lifeguard, Adam, and his sister, Gabby, who have a guest annex at their beach house. Skye is on the autism spectrum and sparks a connection with Adam, who is also on the spectrum. When Adam wakes up one day with a fish tail in place of his legs, and Skye wakes up with scales on her upper body, Eden steps in to piece together what might be going on, especially after receiving a strange, unsigned message in a bottle which washed ashore with his name on it. Eden guesses Capri might be behind this somehow, and he sets off with Adam and Skye to solve this mystery, and maybe get them back to their original forms…whatever those might be.

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