Illustrated Book • Audiobook • Coloring Book
This Appalachian myth begins where ancient seas once covered the Smokies. The last mermaid maintains a beacon that transforms song into healing light, living between two worlds but belonging to neither—until a star-guided sailor with his own restless heart arrives.
The Cherokee called these mountains Shaconage—place of the blue smoke. Three hundred million years ago, these peaks lay beneath ancient seas.
In this Appalachian myth, one keeper maintains a lighthouse where no lighthouse should exist, singing an inherited duty at dawn and dusk.
She is the last of her lineage. He is a wandering healer who navigates by stars. When his compass swings toward her mountain beacon, their meeting sets in motion questions with no easy answers:
What happens when someone born for horizons meets someone bound to a single shore?
Preview the digital book edition below.
A synchronized-narration sample will be added soon, along with the full mythic tale as an Adult Night-Time Story on YouTube. These opening passages introduce the lighthouse keeper’s morning ritual and the chance encounter that changes everything.
Original watercolor and gouache artwork brings this Appalachian myth to life. Each illustration is being hand-painted using traditional techniques with Winsor & Newton watercolors, gouache, watercolor pencils, and markers.
When life feels uncertain, a blank page can become a doorway.
Philosopher-mythologist Michael Meade sees creativity as the original language of healing.
Whenever life’s structures fracture, the deep self calls us — through emotion, myth, and imagination — to become conduits for new songs, stories, and gestures of care.
By answering that call we not only mend our own lives but help re-weave the wider fabric of the world.
My intent is to inspire you to live a creative life, that is your own unique journey and guide you with the tools and process along the way.
Be the first to know when the illustrated book launches.
12 pages available now as digital downloads. Bring your own colors to lighthouse scenes and mountain vistas from the story.
I’m a trained actress and certified wellness practitioner living in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. This is my first published book.
Each illustration is being painted by hand using Winsor & Newton watercolors and gouache. Follow the painting process on YouTube @beaconranchstudio.
See what’s new at Beacon Ranch Studio—fresh guides, videos, and free tools to spark your wellness journey. Click any card to dive straight in.
Enjoy the full digital version HERE!
