I mostly write about places I’ve visited, but Greece is still on my TO VISIT list. My books were inspired by my girlhood fascination of mermaids, but my plot was set in motion when I read an article about Ikaria, Greece in a travel magazine. Of course it became the hub for my merpeople to live when they weren’t swimming around in the ocean. It’s the perfect place to cover their slow aging so they can remain inconspicuous, and the location helps set up other details in my book.
Here’s what I learned about Ikaria: Ikaria has been labeled the island where people forget to die or the island of long life. There are good reasons for these descriptions of Ikaria. The people there live on average 10 years longer than those in the rest of Europe and America – around one in three Ikarians live into their 90s. There are very few Ikarians with dementia, cancer, heart disease or suffer from depression. The people live simply with low stress, hard work, and they put family first. They have a combination of healthy diets, clean air, and optimism that also helps with their longevity. Despite their history of starvation due to invasions of enemies and war, they managed to come out stronger. If you read my books, I give the merpeople credit for the Ikarians long lives. It’s a magical island with folklore surrounding it - in the Travelers duology and with the Ikarian’s legends. The island is actually named after Icarus, the young man in Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun and plunged into the sea. No matter what you believe or imagine about the Ikaria, it sounds like a truly beautiful place to visit. Maybe someday I’ll get there, but until then I'll dream about it with the pages of my stories.
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Ramblings on life, travels, & books
Carla Reighard Archives
December 2023
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