When I was about eleven or twelve years old I discovered Greek mythology. I don’t mean in a classroom, textbook kind of way. I mean I fell into it. I read everything I could find. I watched Hercules and Jason and the Argonauts on television…sword and sandal movies they called them. LOL
Hercules had a ton of movies. Most of them were over the top, but they exciting for a child to watch on a Saturday afternoon.
The myths didn’t pretend that life was simple. They knew it was complicated and dangerous and beautiful all at once. There’s still a book remember that I repeatedly borrowed from my local library. Stories of love and loss and gods being really shady. But as I grew older, Hades and Persephone were always the ones I came back to.
While I do love the myth, their story is so uncomfortable in its original form. In the myth, Hades is Persephone’s uncle. He abducts her. There is no romance, no redemption. Not exactly a story that fits neatly into modern sensibilities.
But what if a god who had carried the weight of the Underworld for centuries simply wanted more than his kingdom? What if he wanted life and she represented everything he’d been denied?
That question became Moonlight and Pomegranate. And then it became The Garden Beneath the World. And soon it will become the Crown of Seed and Shadow Duology. The complete story of how a god who took what he loved learned what love actually requires.
I think I keep returning to them because transformation is something I understand deeply. Not in a mythological sense. But in the ordinary human sense of navigating careers that changed, goals that shifted, a life that looked different at forty than it did at twenty. Of moving between worlds that felt like they couldn’t possibly belong to the same person.
Hades wanted to experience life beyond the role he’d been given. I totally understand that. In spite of herself Persephone is drawn to a mysterious man who rules over the dead.
Maybe they’re not quite opposites. But they’re part of the cycle of endings and beginnings.
I have seasonal affective disorder (I hate that it’s called, SAD – who came up with that??) and when autumn comes my anxiety rises. Long dark nights (and cold) aren’t my thing. But my mom, who was also a gardener, reminded me that fall is necessary. It’s not so much death as it is rejuvenation. There are no spring blooms without it.
By the way, I usually add gardens to my stories because of her. 🙂
The Crown of Seed and Shadow duology – a Hades and Persephone retelling is coming this summer. More details very soon. Including something exclusive that will only exist in this edition.
Read more about the books – and get buy links here: Crown of Seed & Shadow
1st Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash