Way back when I started I had these little hardcover notebooks where I'd scratch out story ideas. I have no idea where they are now (we're talking mid-seventies, and my house eats everything) but one of my earliest ideas was to write about a selkie. I'm Scots-Danish (how's that for a combination?) so seal people always appealed to me. You know, I never considered it but I'm willing to bet there are seal people in Denmark as well, given what a rocky, ocean-bound climate they have.

I wrote this...