Guest Blog with Stephanie Draven

The Girl Who Loved Greek Mythology

by Stephanie Draven

I was eleven years old and it was recess. Other children were outside playing on the swing-set, but I lingered behind in the classroom, enamored of a secret treasure I’d found there. It was a book--a very special book. Oh, it had monsters and heroes, like other books. But it had something else. It had nymphs and goddesses--very powerful females who lived their lives with a confidence I couldn’t have imagined.

Greek mythology. These were old stories. The oldest stories, actually. But I was absorbed in the tale of Psyche as she bravely fought to woo and win back her beloved Cupid. So absorbed, in fact, that when the bell rang and class started again, I didn’t even notice. How was I to hear the shuffle of feet and the laughing of children while Atlanta was trying to outrun her suitors in a footrace? Even after the class was called to order, I didn’t notice a thing, until my teacher came over to my desk and slammed her hands down, eyeing me with the stony look of a gorgon.

She yelled at me. But worse, she took my book. And she drew a big red F on my classwork for that day, telling my parents that I lacked focus. Oh, she was a gorgon indeed. But she couldn’t take away the gift of that September afternoon. I had fallen in love with mythology...a love that would last my whole life.

My parents didn’t care much about the big red F on my classwork because they knew I was a good student. And when I told them my story, my father gave me his own copy of Edith Hamilton’s mythology. I was far too young to understand most of it, but I devoured each story. In college, I took several courses on western mythology and I studied the Odyssey, the Illiad and the Aeneid with a critical eye.

So when it came time to start writing stories of my own, it was natural for me to incorporate Greek mythology into my own paranormal romance. What would it be like if the old forgotten monsters of ancient mythology still walked the earth...and what if you found out that you were one of them?

That’s the central premise behind my Mythica Series with HQN Nocturne. It’s sort of a cross between Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and good category romance. I get a thrill re-working old stories into new ones with modern meaning. When it came to my latest release, Siren Song, I wanted to tackle the issue of women who use their sexuality to control men. I thought my siren heroine would be the baddest bitch I’ve ever written, but in the end, she turned out to be the sweetest most lighthearted heroine in the series.

It’s worth noting for mythology nerds that the original sirens weren’t mermaids. They were actually half-bird, half-woman, and the attraction was to their voices. It was a spiritual connection, which is a rare thing for ancient Greeks to have written about. But then the Romans got ahold of the stories and the sirens became mermaids and the rest, as they say, is history. I decided to go with neither interpretation in favor of my own kind of siren, but her hero is definitely a guardian of the deep. And wow, I’d never really thought about the logistics of sex with a man who is part fish. I think I came up with a decidedly clever solution to that whole problem, I hope readers will agree!

So, what about you? Do you love Greek mythology? Do you have a favorite monster or myth?

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Siren Song

By: Stephanie Draven

Out Now!

When the sexy lead singer of an Annapolis indie band is accused of luring midshipmen to their deaths, she learns she’s not the only one with a killer voice…

No one can resist Chloe Karras when she sings—except for the sexy naval officer who is seemingly immune to her sensual allure. Maybe that’s why Captain Alex Shore is just the man she wants to take home after her performance—until he tells her what she thought were imagined powers are real…and dangerous.

Alexandros knows firsthand how seductive sirens are, as well as their potential to destroy. Yet the former sea soldier feels a powerful attraction to the beautiful rock singer that goes beyond her spell. Can he banish Chloe from the town he’s vowed to protect—or will he be drawn into the siren’s bed?

Where to Buy:

All Romance Ebooks | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders

To learn more about Stephanie and the Mythica series, check out her website.

http://stephaniedraven.com/