Acquisition Announcement: ENDLESS BLUE BENEATH by Shannon K. English

Orbit is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Endless Blue Beneath, the first in a fantasy duology from debut author Shannon K. English. The books follows a distressed gay woman living in a small 1750s coastal community who finds herself suddenly transformed into a flesh-hungry mermaid. 

Eppie has never quite understood why the world hates her—all she did was kiss a girl. Must that mean she suffers isolation, with whispers and glares following her at every turn? She tries to focus on her duty to her family, but options are limited for a woman alone, and life in the seaside village of Hwenfirth is agonizingly mundane.

One day, as Eppie walks along the beach, she spies someone drowning in the shallows. Without thinking, she runs to rescue the poor soul—but when she gets up close, instead of a sputtering victim she finds an inhuman creature smiling up at her with rows of sharp, white teeth that snap closed on her arm and drag her beneath the waves.

When Eppie awakes in a deep ocean cave, she finds her own body has changed: she can breathe underwater, her skin is turning scaly, her teeth have been replaced by fangs, and she is suddenly ravenous for human flesh. 

She has become a dreaded creature of the ocean—a mermaid.

Things aren’t all bad, though. The mermaid colony is mesmerizing and Eppie’s new sisters are fiercely loyal. And when Eppie meets Marie, a stunningly beautiful mermaid with a past as shadowed as her glossy, raven-black scales, she finds she no longer needs to resist the desires that were denied to her on land. 

But the mermaid hunters are coming, and Eppie must decide whether to protect the new, monstrous family she’s found or leave it all behind for a chance to live above the waves once again. This queer, F/F romance is the haunting ocean fantasy you’ve been waiting for.

Endless Blue Beneath publishes on June 9, 2026.

Shannon K. English grew up in the north of England, where the wind screams over the moors and the sky looks different every day. She tries to imbue her writing with her love of mythology and the endlessly changing moods of the sea. As an asexual and panromantic author, she tells the fantasy stories she wants to read: troubled characters in troubling situations. She lives in Scotland with her partner James and assorted pets, summiting hills and looking out over the wild ocean. Her biggest literary influences and favorite writers include Ursula Le Guin, Shannon Hale and Jack London. Editor Stephanie Clark acquired World Rights for Orbit US from agent Moe Ferrara (while at BookEnds Literary).