Dancing With Mermaids

by Miles Gibson

Murder and mayhem decked out in fantastic and erotic prose."" - The Times. ""A wild, poetic exhalation that sparkles and hoots and flies."" - The New Yorker. This mysterious fairy-tale, fragranced with twists of madness and lust, returns to print. Ray Bradbury called this 1985 novel, ""Absolutely first rate. Absolutely wonderful,"" when it was first published in 1985. Strange things are afoot in the fishing town of Rams Horn. Set close to the poisonous swamps at the mouth of the River Sheep, the town has been isolated from its neighbors for centuries. But mysterious events are unfolding... A seer who has waited for years for her drowned husband to reappear is hunted by demons, an African sailor arrives from the sea and takes refuge with a widow and her idiot daughter. Young boys plot sexual crimes and the doctor, unhinged by his desire for a woman he cannot have, turns to a medicine older than his own.

Genres: Fiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Miles Gibson (born 1947) is a reclusive English novelist, poet and artist.
Gibson was born in a squatters camp at an abandoned World War II airbase, RAF Holmsley South in the New Forest, and raised in Mudeford, Dorset. The camp was dubbed Tintown and had been sanctioned by Christchurch Town Council as a way to ease postwar housing shortages. He was educated at Sandhills Infant School, Somerford Junior School and Somerford Secondary Modern - now The Grange School.

Gibson’s darkly satirical writing has been described as both “magic realism” and “absurdist fiction”. Although his narratives remain linear in construction his employment of black humour, pastiche, and untrustworthy narrators places him firmly among the postmodernists.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe that writing of Dancing with Mermaids was inspired with Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas.

Two miles west of the Sheeps Mouth lies the town called Rams Horn. When the summer is hot, and a dry wind blows, the smell of the dead river invades the town and lingers on its narrow streets. The Sheep’s ghost becomes a stink, an ooze, a yellow shadow, a broth of unspeakable secrets. It ferments in the blood of those who stand around on street corners and clouds the dreams of those who sleep with their heads beneath the sheets.
Rams Horn is a memory, a lost cause, a carnival of ghosts, an ark of half-forgotten dreams. Sometimes in summer, when the air sparkles with salt and gulls are dancing on the wind, the town seems to lean against the cliffs like a rusting ocean liner, thrown to shore by a storm.

But the combination of magical realism and postmodernism applied to the narration worked miracles and turned the story into a lacy fairytale of passions.
And all the true wonders begin with the enigmatic and sinister vision in a crystal sphere…

As she tried to untangle herself a thin vapour began to spiral from the sphere and the room glowed with a strange and terrible miasma. She pressed herself against the wall, sobbing and hiding her face in her hands. When she dared to look between her fingers she saw Beelzebub squatting naked on the dining table. His skin was wet, his eyes were scarlet and he held a human skull in one hand. He thrust the skull at Mrs Clancy and grinned. When she covered her face from the sight of it he clasped his slender, shining penis and used it like a drumstick to beat a tattoo upon the skull.

Clairvoyance, witchcraft, herbal medicine, supernatural events and all sorts of strange antics make the tale literally irresistible…

We poison everything we touch. We don’t need a war to destroy ourselves. That’s progress. I’m old. I’m glad. I won’t be here to see the end.

But however fantastical may be the state of affairs, man remains the same – man falls in love and wreaks havoc.

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get on the right wavelength with this tale of bizarre, inexplicable (and slightly perverted) happenings in the small, secluded seaside town of Rams Horn, and after the first few chapters I thought my favorite thing about it would end up being the cover, where both the men and women alike look like creepy hybrids of Steve Buscemi and Peter Lorre.

But the weird imagination on display as well as the many memorably eccentric characters — such as Mrs. Clancy, the crystal-gazing psychic who accidentally conjures a demon; Dr. Douglas, who’s hopelessly in love with her and takes drastic measures; and the group of small boys who are constantly plotting to somehow hypnotize their friend’s mother so they can make her take her clothes off— soon won me over. Not to mention the simple yet beautifully descriptive and poetic writing of author Miles Gibson.

I’ll certainly be checking out more of his work. Thanks to Jordan and Vit for tipping me off on this one.

[Neale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why have I not heard of Miles Gibson? I found 'Dancing With Mermaids' by chance, courtesy of the splendid Faber Finds digital imprint. The opening chapter is simply wonderful: both poetically beautiful and very, very funny. I'm giving this five stars for cheering me up right out of the box. I might revise downwards later - it's hard to imagine that Gibson can be this good for an entire book - but this is definitely a five star opening. I can see why Ray Bradbury thought so highly of it. (I was recently handling a copy of 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull', which also had an effusive blurb from Bradbury, but we can forgive him that.)

UPDATE. Well, my fears were borne out in part: the subsequent chapters aren't as good as the opening, but that is not surprising, and they are still very good. The opening chapter is really a kind of comic prose-poem in the Dylan Thomas/Flann O'Brien style, which can be enjoyed on its own.

[Paul Dembina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good fun, the odd/bizarre goings-on in an isolated West Country town. (Slightly) erotic and humourous.

[Ruby malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been sitting on my shelf (floor) for a year and a half, and I’m so glad I finally decided to read it. The perfect mix of mystical yet brutally real, I found the whole thing super interesting and engaging.

[iggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three chapters in and I was immediately weirded out after being introduced to three prepubescent boys who want to “inspect” their friend’s mom because of their insatiable curiosity towards the concept of sex and a woman’s body. And here I thought that this book was going to be about mermaids!

It took me a while to really get comfortable to keep reading this book, the writing is a little too perverted for my liking (male author tingz i guess) but I’d say my curiosity helped me persevere so I could keep on reading it. Almost every chapter has got me wondering, what’s going to happen next? what are they going to do? Cause it was truly an unpredictable read. And as every character & bits and pieces of Ram’s Horns’ history was introduced chapter by chapter, this strange, quaint and mystical little town and its inhabitants charmed and surprised me as I kept reading and reading. It felt so alive! It reminds me of when I would play the Sims 3 and how every person really had their own life going on, but of course this was much more interesting and naturally all the characters’ stories entangled or related with each other one way or another.

I would’ve never guessed the ending but I loved it!
Just a little fun fact, this was one of the many books I “stole” from my old job back in 2023 (they were going to throw it away!), and I’m glad I did.

I would definitely pick this book up again in the future, hopefully things will get clearer for me next time around.

[Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

mixed emotions - loved the writing and the storytelling, but it does objectify women quite a bit, though there's a slight revenge at the end

[elderfoil...the whatever champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

what lovely sentences.

first I've read from Mr. Gibson; will be looking for my favorite of his.

[Lynne - The Book Squirrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very quirky book, but enjoyable read. Very funny in places.