Tuesday, September 15, 2015

The Gods Are Screwing with You

Posted by: R.L. Naquin
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been fascinated by Greek mythology. Now that I’m an adult, I’m also a fan of Greek yogurt, the architecture of Greek Orthodox churches, sandals, olive oil, and the movie Grease. Sadly, I’m not allowed to move to Greece, because I’m not crazy about olives. Or fish. But spanakopita is pretty awesome, so there’s that.

My new series, the Mt. Olympus Employment Agency takes all the Greek mythology I’ve been absorbing since before I thought boys were interesting and spits it back out into something weird, crazy, and perfectly ordinary, all at the same time.

No, that’s not true. I never thought boys weren’t interesting. Let’s just say, I’ve been absorbing mythology for a long time.

I love the magical creatures myths bring. I love the faraway places and exotic cultural habits. But most of all, I love how Greek gods act so human. The only difference between them and us is their power. They cavort with humans in nearly every story, usually to the detriment of the poor humans who became involved—willing or not—with a god.

I’ve taken this idea of the power the gods have over humans and modernized it. As humans, someone is always in power over us. When we’re children, it’s parents and teachers. Then we grow up, and the government and our employers hold the power. Someone will always be there to tell us what to do and how to do it.

In my Mt. Olympus series, the gods are our employers. In the first three books of the series, we’re following Wynter Greene, who’s being forced—as a result of her own poor life choices—to work at Mt. Olympus in the Muse department. It’s not an easy job. But behind the scenes, someone is constantly screwing with her. Even in my modern, shiny world, the gods won’t leave humans to live their lives undisturbed.

Now that we’re in book two, she’s tootling around the Underworld in a golf cart running errands for Hades. And the gods are still messing with her life.

Because that’s what the gods do. And why not? They’ve been around for thousands of years with little changing from day to day. You can only eat so much ambrosia, and there’s no vacation from making the sun and moon rise and set ever single day. What else is there to do?

Humans are endlessly amusing.

Rachel writes stories that drop average people into magical situations filled with heart and quirky humor.

She believes in pixie dust, the power of love, good cheese, lucky socks and putting things off until the last minute. Her home is Disneyland, despite her current location in Kansas. Rachel has one husband, two grown kids and a crazy-catlady starter kit.





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