Holiday Hiatus with Santa Theseus!

SO! First things first:

FORGED BY FATE has a release date! And a goodreads page! And ALL THE THINGS , plus some absolutely-amazing-make-me-blush blurbs, and the series now has its very own tab on the blog! Guys. It is getting so real.

Secondly!
Check out this wicked sweet banner up top (coming actually in the morning-morning, as opposed to the midnight posting) with Diana Paz's MOST FABULOUS cover for her novel, TIMESPELL, which is totally all around awesome in all the mythology and history ways we love most here at Good To Begin Well!

THIRDS:

Thanks to the photoshop skills of Mr. Z. Tringali, I am happy to present to you, SANTA THESEUS!

The original with thanks to photographer Yair Haklai

After defeating the Minotaur once and for all, Santa Theseus claimed the North Pole for TRUTH, JUSTICE, and PRESENTS FOR ALL THE CHILDREN. This is the truest of Stories. Go forth and tell it across all corners of the world, that Theseus's fame might grow! Or um. Just enjoy and have a very merry holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Yule, Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Saturnalia, or any other festival of light returning to the world. (Here at Good to Begin Well, we do not discriminate, or else we would have to change the tagline of our novel.)

And may 2013 bring you all the best things, too!

(See you at the No-Kiss blogfest on January 2nd!)

The Story of Baldur and Mistletoe

I've talked about Baldur a bit on the blog before, and in light of the fact that Baldur might very well be the Old Norse answer to Jesus, it seems like now would be a good time to give us all something of a refresher course regarding the events leading up to his death, especially after I just read this (admittedly older) post at the Smithsonian discussing the biological evolution of Mistletoe as a plant.

The evolution of Mistletoe itself is fascinating, and definitely told in a compelling way, and totally a cool read -- if you can overlook the first paragraph on Mistletoe's representation in Norse Mythology. Which brings us to today's post!

Baldur was the Son of Odin and Frigg (which made him Thor's half-brother), a god known both for his wisdom and his strength of character. He was Baldur the Shining, Baldur the Good, Baldur the fair and beautiful, and the most beloved of all the gods in Asgard. So beloved, in fact, that when his death was prophesied, his mother had no trouble exacting a promise from every living thing (and maybe less living things, too) that they would not harm him. She overlooked Mistletoe because it was too young and too small to be perceived as a threat (and I must give a nod to the author of the article for describing the roots as spears/arrows, which is pretty fascinating considering what comes next).

After these vows were made, the gods of Asgard made a sport of trying to "hurt" Baldur, because he had become invulnerable. In the evenings they would have a game of throwing things at him, shooting him with arrows, knives, rocks, branches for the fun of seeing it bounce off. It was a very merry time in Asgard, believing the Crisis was  Averted (as Baldur's death was to herald the coming of Ragnarok, and the end of the world as the gods had known it).

But Loki found out that Frigg had overlooked the Mistletoe, and made a weapon from it. He placed it in Baldur's blind brother's hand, and encouraged him to take part in the game. Duped, Hod threw the mistletoe at his brother, all in good fun.

When the mistletoe struck Baldur, he fell down dead.

There was no greater moment of grief and sadness in Asgard. Not only because Baldur the BEST of them had been killed, his light extinguished, his goodness lost, but also because it meant the coming of Ragnarok --  which was fated to result in the death of so, so many gods, and the destruction of the world as it was known, and everything within it.

And that is the story of Baldur and his fatal encounter with Mistletoe, the plant that Frigg thought harmless.

Fairy Tales and Greek Myths

We're all familiar, of course, with the basic fairy tales. Most of us are probably far more accustomed to the Disney versions, which while they preserve something of the story, sometimes miss a bit of the meat and all of the horror -- you'll never see a Disney movie about The Maiden Without Hands. Thankfully, I have a copy of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, Translated by Jack Zipes (Bantam, 1992), from which to refresh your memories of the important bits for the purposes of this post.

I'd like to start with an excerpt from the fairy tale of Brier Rose AKA Sleeping Beauty.

[...] the queen gave birth to a girl who was so beautiful that the king was overjoyed and decided to hold a great feast. Not only did he invite his relatives, friends, and acquaintances, but also the wise women, in the hope that they would be generous and kind to his daughter. There were thirteen wise women in his kingdom, but he had only twelve golden plates from which they could eat. Therefore, one of them had to remain home.

[...] When eleven of them had offered their gifts, the thirteenth suddenly entered the hall. She wanted to get revenge for not having been invited, and without greeting anyone or looking around, she cried out with a loud voice, "In her fifteenth year the princess shall prick herself with a spindle and fall down dead!"

And maybe we should throw in an excerpt from Snow White as well? Just to make it interesting. Same edition.

She had a magic mirror and often she stood in front of it, looked at herself, and said:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
who in this realm is the fairest of all?"
Then the mirror would answer:
"You, my queen, are the fairest of all."
That reply would make her content, for she knew the mirror always told the truth.

I wouldn't actually recommend to anyone that they sit down to read the Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm all at once. Ever. The redundancy is incredible, and it gets really tiresome well before you hit the half-way point. The Grimm's Fairy Tales are best read in small doses, with some space in between. I was assigned to read it for an English class once and made the mistake of reading it all at the last minute, and while I like having the book sitting on my shelf, I doubt I'll ever pick it up for leisure. So what made me pick it up now? Not only pick it up, but start quoting passages to you, gentle readers? Greek Mythology, of course.

While researching the Trojan War, I found a number of references to The Judgment of Paris, one within Apollodorus's The Libraries -- a fairly excellent catalog of myths and stories about the Olympian gods and demigods. It was an annotated translation, and I read this within the notes:

The story ran that all the gods and goddesses, except Strife, were invited to attend the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and that Strife, out of spite at being overlooked, threw among the wedding guests a golden apple inscribed with the words, “Let the fair one take it,” or “The apple for the fair.” Three goddesses, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, contended for this prize of beauty, and Zeus referred the disputants to the judgment of Paris.

We know that Rome did a lot to spread the influence of the original Greek Myths and heroes, and we also know that Rome's influence reached all the way from Africa in the south to Britain in the North, and certainly the Germanic tribes absorbed a good deal of Roman culture. But until this moment, looking at the Judgment of Paris and reflecting on the fairy tales collected by the brothers Grimm, it never occurred to me how much of it stuck.

At this point, Strife has become the thirteenth fairy, and Paris, poor Paris, the Magic Mirror on the wall. Unfortunately, Paris doesn't possess the impartiality of the mirror. He can be bribed, and the goddesses (I'm sure Hercules would tell us that Hera is the definitive evil step-mother) go about taking advantage of that weakness at once.

I wonder if the Brothers Grimm, educated men that they were, realized the parallels of what they were recording?

***Originally posted on GeekaChicas.com, January 7, 2010.

Post-NaNoWriMo Housekeeping

Congratulations to everyone who crossed the 50K finish line for NaNoWriMo!! Even if you didn't get to 50K, I am a firm believer that everyone who built themselves a habit of daily writing is a winner -- in my opinion, that's the most important part!

So now that you're done, if you've finished, you might be wondering what to do with yourself and your shiny new first draft (post-noveling depression should totally be a real thing if it is not already). My guest post at World Weaver Press will hopefully give you some pointers!

Really, the best thing anyone can do for themselves coming fresh out of NaNo, is keep up that daily writing habit and don't let it go. Developing that discipline early and exercising it often is seriously the best advice I ever received, and totally changed my life as writer. So! I am passing it along to any and all new or not-so-new writers out there who might be reading this blog.

In other news: it is December. You know what this means, I'm sure! The Holiday Hiatus is just around the corner -- beginning December 12 and lasting through the rest of 2012. A scantily clad hero in a Santa hat is coming your way to fill the void, courtesy of Mr. Tringali's most awesome photoshop skills!

I'm tentatively planning a return for January 2nd, to take part in the 4th Annual No-Kiss Blogfest, hosted by the fabulous Frankie Diane Mallis. If I can come up with a no-kiss we haven't seen before, anyway. I'm actually not sure if I have one! (Pirithous isn't really a no-kiss kind of guy, but we'll see who else I have in my stable!) That said, I won't be back-back to the blog until January 8, and hopefully I will have something extra special up my sleeve that will be worth the wait!

Also, the other night my mother suggested that the movie ARGO might yet be a story of Jason and the Argonauts, if one considers Ben Affleck's character to be Jason, putting together a team of "heroes" to go accomplish great deeds. Now I want to see this movie EVEN MORE (but I still do not love the myth of Jason at all.)

The Next Big Thing

V.R. Barkowski tagged me for The Next Big Thing, so now I have an excuse to talk about Pirithous even more than I already do!


THE QUESTIONS

1. What is your working title of your book?

Pirithous and Thalia go to Washington. Which is maybe not the most original title in the world, but definitely describes the story well.
   
2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

Actually, it came from my aunt. After I sent her the first Pirithous book (titled, much more practically, Son of Zeus) she read it, and wrote back to me with pitches for two more Pirithous books, and after reading them, I knew I *had* to write the stories, because I really wanted to read them. So, Pirithous and Thalia go to Washington is actually the sequel to Son of Zeus, and maybe I shouldn't be writing it, but WHATEVER. I needed to just have some fun, and there is no better pair of characters to have fun with than Pirithous as the fish out of water, and Thalia as his modern day guide to all things he should not be doing.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Paranormal Romance, easy peasy.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Geez. I have honestly never considered this at all. I'm not good at seeing faces when I picture people in my head, but now I'm going to have to go investigate and see who is most Pirithous-like in hollywood. They'd have to have a lot of natural athletic-grace, and some height, with the right kind of sparkle in their eye. Dead-eyes need not apply. Pirithous is a very animated kind of man, and he isn't afraid at all to show emotion, except, perhaps, fear. Maybe a Hugh Jackman kind of guy in his late twenties? As for Thalia -- A 20-something Caterina Murino would be on the right track.

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Pirithous isn't interested in letting modern-woman Thalia slip through his fingers once they've met, and if that means following her from Upstate New York, where he stumbled out of Hades, to Washington D.C., he isn't about to let a little thing like illegal immigration stand in his way.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I feel like this question should be worded differently. Do I want to be represented by an agency? Absolutely! Do I want to land said agent with Pirithous? ummmm. I'm not entirely sure I do. It's so different from everything else I've written, and so much more gratuitous, and it isn't really the book I want to make my name with as an Author. But I'd be a fool to say no if opportunity came knocking, either way.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I'm still in the middle! And I reached the middle in 2 weeks or so -- I'd guess it won't be done until early 2013, what with Christmas, and edits for my publisher, and other obligations. But if I had nothing else going on, another 4 weeks, max, I'd have a working first draft.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

North of Need by Laura Kaye comes to mind, published by Entangled. Though, that hero is a lot less of a fish out of water than Pirithous. Being trapped in a chair of forgetfulness in Hades for 3000+ years does not exactly allow one to keep tabs on how the world has grown and changed.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Didn't I answer this question already? If what you really want to know is where I got the Pirithous-comes-to-the-modern-world idea to begin with, *that* came from my mother. After I wrote HELEN OF SPARTA, my mother said "but -- I just hate to think of Pirithous trapped in Hades forever! Can't he escape somehow?!" and I thought "what if he DOES? but TODAY?" and then I ran with it, because there were a lot of people demanding that Pirithous get his own book, after reading HELEN, and I wanted to satisfy them with some kind of something. I expected maybe a short story kind of thing, and wound up with a novel. And then my aunt suggested the trilogy and... Poor Pirithous. He has a novella, too. I'm not sure how it happened that he had so many stories in him, but I love writing him, and I love getting him into trouble.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Well, Pirithous is not so well-known as a hero. He was Theseus' best friend back in the Bronze Age, and the only myths we really have are those in which his story intersects with Theseus. So I think readers might be interested because he's not so well established. And he is *really* sexy. But Thalia does not let him get away with ANYTHING, and it's really fun to see the world through his eyes, as someone coming from a totally *totally* different worldview -- for example, in Pirithous' day, it was totally normal to go out raiding and come home with some new livestock and a woman over your shoulder. Today, that's called kidnapping, theft, and, considering what Pirithous would have been planning to do with said woman, most likely, rape, which of course outrages Thalia. That contrast of values and morals, and the struggle of Thalia and Pirithous to come to some kind of understanding regarding those behaviors which are no longer acceptable in the slightest, is to me really fascinating, and not often addressed in these kinds of books, where the main characters travel through time, somehow or other. So. I don't know. Sexy Alpha Hero, put in his place by a sexy, confident modern woman. If that sounds like your cuppa, then Pirithous is your book.

Sooooooo... Those were some long answers. Which I hope VR, at least, will enjoy :) And I guess I have to pick some people to pass this along to? I am going to choose Mr. Z. Tringali and Ms. Diana Paz, because I am kind of maybe sure they have not taken part in this already? The questions are under the cut withOUT my answers for your copy/paste ease.

Mycenaean Names

Thanks to the awesome talk on Bronze Age Greece mentioned in my earlier post, I am now well stocked with Mycenaean names of all kinds -- or um, some kinds, anyway. This list is mostly for me and my potential future needs,* but I thought some of you would appreciate the quick reference.

It seems like some names were based on occupation -- which should be too surprising, all things considered. In the modern world. we have that same kind of convention in our surnames (Smith, Potter, Cooper). A few examples from Linear B, related to Smithing:

Mycenaean Ruins, taken by Jeanhousen via wiki commons

Aithalos (Soot)
Arisbas (he who quenches very much)
Puraltas (Fire-feeder)
Purkoros (fire-sweeper)
Khalkeus (smith)
Melanthos (dark)
Pamphusos (all bellows)
Psolion (sooty)
Psolarkhos (he who rules over soot)

Other names were related to, it seems, characteristics:

Atukhos (Unlucky, armorer of the king)
Plouteus (Wealth/wealthy)
plus another name I didn't catch the spelling of but translated to "On the Lake" ha!

And still more were mentioned in passing and I have no idea what they mean:

Tantalos (like Tantalus? Kind of fitting if it was, what with him being the Great-Grandfather of Agamemnon.)
Warnotaios
Lakhuros
Phalaikos
Kusos
Kerawios
Kotullon
Aikhweus
Aithiops
Adamaos
Atukhos
Pikreus
Alksoitas
Komawens son of Dewos
Pakhullos, son of Dewos
Khalkeus
Euestor
Awekseus


Finally, a couple of titles:**

Wa-na-ka (Wanax, or King -- in the PALACE context, as opposed to the hamlet context)
Ra-wa-ke-ta (Iawagetas, Leader of the Host -- Kind of like the king, but not quite as impressive.)
E-qe-ta (Hequetas, Follower -- hypothesized as similar to Alexander the Great's companions, aristocratic companions to the Wanax.)
Qa-si-re-u (Basileus "community leader" or chief, which came to mean "king" in later Greek)

Also: Telestai (not explicitly discussed but presented in a chart as "governors" and "chiefs")


*Just like the rest of this blog, really. Not that I do not love sharing with all of you as a side-benefit! 

**Hyphenated words are the Linear B representations, and inside the parentheticals you'll find the later Greek and the meaning.

The Week of Thanks-Giving!

It is, for all of my American friends and myself, Thanksgiving Week! The pre-Christmas holiday, wherein we subsidize grocery stores as a trial run for subsidizing all other retail outlets the VERY NEXT DAY.

In all seriousness, it is a big deal event, as we all know, and provokes family invasion -- and um, it's taking place at my house this year, hosted by myself and my sister. So I am busy thoroughly cleaning the house and doing food prep and last minute grocery runs, as I am sure many of you are as well. So, I am off the blog this week! I'll be back TUESDAY with a really fun post on Bronze Age Greek Related Things.

And for now, I just wanted to say Thanks (since it is Thanksgiving, after all), to all of you who read the blog, with extra bonus thanks for the comments, too, because the discussions are the best part! I love sharing the things I learn with all of you, and I love knowing that there are those of you out there who share my interest in all things Mythology and Ancient History.

I am at a point in my life where I am, without exaggeration, living my dream, and part of the dream has been accomplished because of you, my friends and followers, and the support you have given me as a writer. So!

Thank You!

and Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!