Marijuana Mermaid

About the Author\nDavid-Matthew Barnes is the bestselling author of fifteen novels, three collections of poetry, seven short stories, and more than seventy stage plays that have been performed in three languages in twelve countries. Five of his stage plays have received off-off Broadway productions. To date, he has written six produced screenplays, including the coming-of-age indie drama Frozen Stars and the award-winning Dutch film Wagon. He writes in multiple genres, primarily young adult, romance, thriller, and horror. His literary work has appeared in over one hundred publications including The Best Stage Scenes, The Best Women's Stage Monologues, The Best Men's Stage Monologues, The Best 10-Minute Plays, and 105 Five-Minute Plays for Study and Performance. With his screenplays, David-Matthew has placed in many screenwriting contests including Final Draft's Big Break, the International Screenwriters' Association (ISA) Fast Track Fellowship, the Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition, the ScreenCraft Feature Competition, the Scriptation Showcase, and the WeScreenplay Shorts Contest. He is the winner of the Hart Crane Memorial Poetry Award, the Carrie McCray Memorial Literary Award for playwriting, the Slam Boston Award for Best Play, and two Elly Awards for playwriting from the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance. He was named a finalist for the Sundance Institute YouTube New Voices Lab. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee. He was nationally selected to serve as the Emerging Writer-in-Residence at Pennsylvania State University. He graduated with honors from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and English. He earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina. He is a graduate of the Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA. He lives in Sacramento, California.\nAfter getting into trouble at her high school in Chicago, seventeen-year-old Leah Cassels moves to a small seaside town in California to live with her father. Leah's efforts to leave her past behind are put to the test by new friends Monica and Sabina, two popular girls who seem to have it all. While secretly dreaming of becoming the new star of an underwater mermaid show at a local theme park, Leah lands a part-time job at the park's snack bar where she meets Ray Junior. As their new friendship begins to grow, Leah comes to the realization that there's more to him than meets the eye. Encouraged by Ray Junior to stand on her own, Leah tries to distance herself from Monica and Sabina, unaware of the consequences for doing so.