Are Mermen the New Vampires?
Unless someone comes up with an underwater sequel to Twilight, probably not. But mermen seem to be HAWT! I’m just trying to figure out why precisely.
I’ve noticed that people searching for “mermen” and “gay mermen” end up on my website a lot. That’s because I have several posts about a story about mermen that appeared in my first anthology: “The Merman’s Tail” by Jay di Meo. Jay’s guest blog posts are among the most popular, three years after the anthology came out. (It’s called Bedknobs & Beanstalks, M/M erotic romance fairy tales). In fact, the antho itself sells steadily every single quarter, so I know there’s a lot to love about it, besides the smoking merman story.
Photo by Thomas Mitchell
Clearly, gay mermen are highly sought after. In some weeks 20 percent of my search hits are related to mermen. In fact, I’ve joked to some friends that I need to put together an anthology just of merman stories.
But what the flipper is so sexy about them? Sure, they have well-muscled torsos and incredibly upper body strength from all that swimming. And a guy with wet hair is pretty sexy. Drops of water sliding down the smooth pecs… well, you get the idea.
Then there’s the bottom half. It’s a fish tail, right? Where’s the merman’s manly bits? Under the tail? Stuck on the outside? This part has me a bit perplexed. What do you think? How do you picture the bottom of half of a merman? Do you want to picture it? Where does the tail start? Of all the mermen images I found, there’s only one showing any merman junk. And it seems to be trying to make up for all the rest. (Click for a larger version, but probably not a great idea if you’re at work.)
Do you think mermen are sexy? Why or why not? Discuss…..
7 Responses to “Are Mermen the New Vampires?”
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I suspect it has something to do with why we are attracted to stories about divers and swimmers. 🙂 There is something about that sleek musculature and graceful athleticism, that is a major draw anyway. Combine that with mythology and lore surrounding mermen, and you have the makings for a new and different kind of hero.
Hmmm. Now you have me contemplating a story in which one of the main characters is a Navy seal–and he discovers that he is in fact, a merman or a selkie, quite by accident! 🙂
I love the idea of that story. You should totally write it, or I will.
And maybe I should do the antho. What do you think? Would you want to be in another of my anthologies? LOL.
Well original images of mermaids had them with two fins, like two legs that meet at a human pelvis and genitalia. So in mind a merman would look like that, maybe with a shell loin cloth! I think the idea of fantasy is always very sexy, the unknown and fairy tale!
That’s very interesting. I didn’t actually research them so I did not come across that information about mermaids. Thank you for sharing. I love fairy tales and I great up near the beach, so I would love more mermen stories too.
Hey hon!
I haven’t had much luck with my gay mermen. But that’s how it usually goes. I publish about 1-2 years before an item becomes really hot. I was 2 years ahead of the curve on steampunk, on zombies, on Robin Hood, and now apparently on mermen.
Hi Angelia!
Now may be the time to re-release those stories? Since I pointed out the popularity of gay mermen, I’ve noticed searches for them dropping. So it’s probably my fault for even mentioning the topic.
Swimming Through The Net is still out. (Gay CYBER mermen!) And all my work is still in print, except Niko-Chan which is in heavy rewrites.