One night, during a Covid-induced insomniatic haze, I started to think about this vixen from my dream. Could she be the basis for a book? In the quiet witching hours I sketched out the initial plot for Mermaid of Venice. Like most other people on planet Earth, I’d heard J.K. Rowling’s story of the fateful train ride in which she imagined Harry Potter from start to finish. The genesis of that beloved series seemed like bullshit to me, but the following day, I could not stop thinking about Gia Acquaviva, and in a few hours, I, myself, had the skeletons of six books plotted.

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