Strange Horizons, November 6, 2017
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Mermen are the title characters in “Them Boys” by Nora Anthony. The narrator is a young woman who encounters the strangely attractive half-humans during a vacation at the beach home of her grandmother. Meanwhile, her mother meets a sweetheart from her youth and has to decide whether to go to their high school reunion with him. The daughter eventually learns the truth about her mother’s past. The fantasy element of this story is an interesting allegory for the mysteries of love and sex.
Victoria Silverwolf can swim.