As a child, Andie Holman believed faeries lived in the snapdragons, and tree-frogs sang secret messages while she slept. She writes eco-fantasy, edging on romantasy, where magical creatures live in the current world, struggling with the consequences of pollution and climate change, and all the animals can speak.

The Laughter of the Sun is an ongoing series.

Many places have been home, from tiny islands seasoned by pirates, to the dazzling city of London where she worked in natural medicine for almost twenty years. The snowy peaks of Colorado have seen her footsteps, and she was a volunteer firefighter for seven years.

She's now on a small sliver of Canada, nestled in the Pacific, where she lives with her husband and menagerie of animals. Snapdragons grow in her garden, and nearby toads sing her lullabies.

Why Eco Romantasy?

I’ve loved fantasy and magic since I was little, and the idea for The Laughter of the Sun series came out of the blue. I was reading about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and my jaw dropped open when I discovered that every ocean has its own collection of human debris, trapping sea life and causing damage.

I thought, what if the sea life could speak? What would they say?

I needed an ocean champion and wanted my lead character to be a woman, fighting personal battles within the backdrop of ocean pollution. I knew she had to travel to the surface to make changes. So, a mermaid. And not just an innocent wee thing like Ariel. No, I wanted a fierce mermaid on a mission, an intelligent warrior, ready to fight for justice and the vulnerable.

The romance allows me to explore character development. The Mers’ magic depends on intimacy, a twist on the fables of sirens as seductive killers. The love is sensual, not explicit. There are plenty of books with five-alarm chilis for spice, but I wanted to dive into the emotional entanglement of relationships and pick apart the knots.

Even mermaids have issues.

One reader referred to my books as ‘eco romantasy,’ saying they were probably the first of their kind. If so, I’m thrilled to blaze that trail.