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 climate change. The Laughter of the Sun is an ongoing series, starting with the journey of a furious mermaid battling Fae royals who want the Earth for themselves.

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.

In 2017, she wrote Love Your Scar, a non-fiction, self-help guide to freeing restrictive tissue, based on thirty years of experience. It will seem out of place, another world, another time, compared to her current writing.

If you need help with a scar, visit the Scar Queen website.

Why Eco Romantasy?

I’ve loved fantasy and magic since I was little. This curiosity led me to a thirty-year career in natural medicine, believing the body had an inner wisdom, if only we knew the language. Throughout my career, I wrote blogs, newsletters, and a book on scars, all aimed at educating my patients, but you can only say so much about kale and fish oils.

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. Then I read 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?

First, I needed a champion for the ocean. I wanted my lead character to be a woman, fighting personal battles within the backdrop of ocean pollution. I knew she had to 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.

For Book Two, The Sorrow of Bees, we experience the beehive social structure and division of labor. I researched bees for months, becoming evermore enamored with their peculiarities, their joys, and their deep sorrows. I loved every minute of the research, even when it left me in tears.

The romance side of the stories allowed 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. 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, let me blaze that trail. As long as we have an environmental crisis, I have plenty of material to work with.