Mermaid On A Mountaintop: From Legend to Fairytale.

The journey to writing Mermaid On A Mountaintop began long before the story itself took shape. In fact, it all started with a song my husband and I wrote in 2000, Mist of My Memory.

Inspired by the Legend of the Princess of Mount Ophir (Puteri Gunung Ledang), I originally wrote the lyrics from the Sultan’s perspective, as he pined for his beloved princess.

In that legend, the Sultan’s love for the Princess of Mount Ophir was unrequited, and the story ends in his heartbreak. In contrast, Mermaid On A Mountaintop tells the tale of Mermaid and Merprince—who love each other. Their story takes a sad turn at first but ends with a happily-ever-after.

Fast forward to the present—when my illustrator shared her desire to create a mermaid-themed picture book, I decided it was time to bring that forgotten song back to life. The chorus mentioned “an uphill climb,” which got me thinking: Mermaid had to be up on a mountain. But how did she get there?

This sparked a reverse-engineering process—and from that, a new fairytale was born.

Once the story was complete, I wove new elements from the tale into the lyrics, like Merprince hearing Mermaid’s song:

"Out of the blue, I heard your song / So I soon came along."

And the wedding scene:

"Twirl, whirl, around and around / To the music of the deep, blue sea / A ring of gold and you’re a sight to behold / Would you care to swim with me?"

It became an interplay—lyrics inspiring the story, and the story feeding back into the lyrics.

I’m truly grateful to my illustrator for her gorgeous artwork, to Huzzy, who narrated the story, to Jibs and Natasha, who sang Mist of My Memory, and to Rush, who has been financier, layout designer, webmaster, composer, arranger, musician, producer, mix engineer, and so much more. Without this wonderful bunch, I wouldn’t have a single picture book out, let alone an audiobook.

The journey from song to picture book, ebook, and audio/video book has been nothing short of a dream come true for me.

And now, to celebrate the release of the Mermaid On A Mountaintop audiobook, I’m excited to introduce … Story-Oke! It’s karaoke for storytelling. Your kids will have a blast narrating over the minus one track, complete with music and sound effects. 

Get this Story-Oke track as my gift to you when you SIGN UP for my newsletter! 🎤