Meet Venessa Vida Kelley, locally-based author of the queer fantasy novel, When the Tides Held the Moon!

Benigno "Benny" Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can't call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds everyone, especially the eccentric side-show proprietor who commissioned it. Benny's work earns him an invitation to join the show's eclectic crew of performers-his first welcome in the city-and share in their astonishing secret- the tank Benny built is a cage for their newest exhibit, a living, breathing, in-the-flesh merman stolen from the banks of the East River under a gleaming full moon.

The merman is more than a mythic marvel, though. Benny comes to know Rio as a clever philosopher, an observant traveler, and a kindred spirit more beautiful and compassionate than any human he's ever met. Despite their different worlds,…