*Today Elizabeth Andrews has stopped by to tell us her Top Ten Favorite Characters in Greek Mythology–and share with us some of her book, [amazon_link id=”B00FNSNSG2″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Hunting Medusa[/amazon_link].

With all of the enthralling stories in Greek mythology, choosing my favorite ten characters is a difficult task.  So many of these people and deities have interwoven stories, and some of them have entire volumes of stories all their own.  But I’ve done my best to whittle down my list.

10.  Echo & Narcissus

I can’t think of one of this pair without the other.  Poor chatterbox Echo got herself in trouble with Hera, cursed to only repeat the last words of others, and she fell in love with Narcissus, whose determination to avoid love–not just Echo’s, but other legions of females–got him cursed to fall in love with his own reflection.  After pining for Narcissus, Echo eventually fades away, leaving only her voice behind, and he spends so long staring at him reflection in the water, he dies and leaves behind just the flower that bears his name.  What a tragic pair.

9.  Odysseus

It’s difficult to narrow down all of the bits of this adventurer that fascinate me, especially since I so enjoy his stories that I reread the Odyssey and the Iliad every few years.  He suffers so many misadventures while trying to return home after the long Trojan war that it takes him as long to journey home as the war took.  But even while he’s evading angry gods and dallying with Circe and Calypso, Odysseus remains determined to return home to his beloved wife Penelope and their son Telemachus.  That devotion to his family is irresistible and gratifying for a romance lover like me.

8.  Hercules

Poor Hercules suffers pretty much from birth for the sins of his father Zeus.  Hera is furious that her husband has strayed (yet again!), but instead of punishing him, she sets her sights on the baby Hercules, beginning with the pair of snakes she sends to kill him.  In some versions of the tale, she causes him to succumb to madness as an adult, and in this state, he kills his wife and children; afterward, he wants to make up for the crimes he has committed, which leads to his famous ‘Twelve Labors’.  His tasks would have killed any other man, but he achieves some amazing feats like obtaining the girdle of the Amazon queen, killing the monstrous Hydra, and bringing Hades’s enormous three-headed dog from the underworld.  Eventually, he married again, but that, too ended badly, and his father Zeus makes sure that Hercules is elevated to Olympus when the human part of his son is consumed by his funeral fire.  This is a demi-god who really deserves a happy ending.

7.  Arachne

This talented weaver thought just a bit too highly of herself and offended Athena.  When challenged to a contest with the Goddess, Arachne couldn’t say no.  She should have known better.  Despite a talent that really did rival the Goddess’s, she didn’t even pretend to be modest about it, and she wound up as a spider.  Poor girl.  Though she wasn’t the only young woman to anger Athena, her fate was pretty much deserved, unlike some others.

6.  Persephone & Demeter

Demeter was so devoted to her daughter that when Hades abducted Persephone to be his bride, Demeter withheld her gifts of fertility from the entire earth in her grief.  It was only when her daughter was restored to her, at least for part of the year, that she agreed to allow things to grow and flourish again.  Everyone wants a mother who would mourn for them so deeply, right?

5.  Paris & Helen

In reading Paris’s story, I always supposed he was a rather young man.  He had to choose between Hera’s offer of power, Athena’s of success in battle, and Aphrodite’s of the most beautiful woman in the world.  By choosing Aphrodite’s gift of Helen, he sets off the Trojan War.  Some versions have the pair in love, some do not, but his choice was an absolute catastrophe for his family and country, and incredibly selfish.  It’s a fascinating ‘what if’.

4.  The Minotaur

Another of the big bad monsters from Greek mythology, the poor Minotaur came into being because his mother’s husband was greedy.  Minos reneged on a vow to sacrifice a white bull from Poseidon, so Poseidon arranged for the king’s wife to fall in love with the white bull, and the Minotaur was the resulting offspring, trapped in a labyrinth by Minos, who then collected young men and women from his neighboring countries to sacrifice to the monster, until  Theseus arrives.

3.  Ariadne

Ariadne is the daughter of Minos, and she falls madly in love with Theseus when he comes to Crete to vanquish the Minotaur.  The would-be hero agrees to take her with him afterward.  For her help in killing the monster and escaping the country, she is abandoned on the island of Naxos–the reason varies depending on which version of the story you’re reading.  In some versions, though, she gets a happy ending anyway that includes marriage to the God Dionysus.  Guess which version I like best.

2.  Perseus

Born the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, baby Perseus had a grandfather who didn’t want him around, since it was foretold that he would kill his grandfather.  The baby and his mother were rescued from a chest by a fisherman and lived with the king Polydectes as Perseus grew up.  Only Polydectes wanted Perseus out of his way so he could marry Danae.  So Perseus set off on the quest of his life, to save his mother from an unwanted marriage.  What a good son!

1.  Medusa

Not every version of her story is the same, but they all end in the same horrible manner.  Sometimes the story begins with the maiden Medusa being raped in Athena’s temple by Poseidon, and instead of punishing the God, Athena curses Medusa.  Sometimes it’s a much lesser offense that gets the young woman changed into the snake-haired monster.  No matter which version, she is banished to an island, where more than one hunter attempts to kill her, and all of them are turned to stone by her gaze.  Until Perseus comes along with his magical gifts and ends both her torment and her life.

My fascination with the characters of various mythologies is a long-held one, and in the case of Medusa, the basis for my new paranormal romance Hunting Medusa:

| [amazon_link id=”B00FNSNSG2″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] |

The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1

One murderous mission.  One killer case of PMS.  Who said “the curse” was a myth?

When Kallan Tassos tracks down the current Medusa, he expects to find a monster.  Instead he finds a wary, beautiful woman, shielded by a complicated web of spells that foils his plans for a quick kill and retrieval of her protective amulet.

Andrea Rosakis expects the handsome Harvester to go for the kill. Instead, his attempt to take the amulet imprinted in her skin without harming her takes her completely by surprise.  And ends with the two of them in a magical bind–together.  But Kallan isn’t the only Harvester on Andi’s trail…

*~*

Excerpt: 

 

            It was one of those days when having the Medusa’s fabled power to turn people to stone would really come in handy.

Andrea Rosakis did not, however, have that ability, not this week, anyway. Even though she was the reigning Medusa.

She glared at the man on her back porch, wondering if he could ever understand how lucky he was she wasn’t suffering from PMS this week. And why wouldn’t he stop talking? Her fingers itched to slam the door.

“…if you just have five minutes, ma’am,” he concluded.

She narrowed her gaze on the vacuum beside him. “No, thank you.” And how the hell had he found her all the way out here? No one ever bothered to follow her rough, muddy driveway all the way to the top, even if they did ignore the “No Trespassing” signs posted at the foot of it. Not to mention the protective warding she had set at the boundaries of the entire property. Sure, it wasn’t the heavy artillery of protection spells, but no one else had ever gotten past it. This man however, had not only ignored the signs and the subtle “go away” protections, but managed the entire bumpy, muddy track into the woods and halfway up the mountain. Just to hear her say, “No.”

And he didn’t look discouraged. At all.

Andi almost wished she were PMSing this week, though it would be a real pain in the ass to have to get rid of a life‑sized stone statue of a vacuum salesman.

Or maybe she could keep it. He was very pretty, even if he annoyed her. He was tall and broad, his inky black hair was a tad too long, and his bright green eyes held her attention. At least as stone, he’d be silent and still pretty. She gave herself a mental shake. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have time for this—”

“When would be a better time?”

“Never.”

He did blink at that, but his smile never disappeared. “I’ll have to check my calendar.”

She snorted, then clapped her free hand over her mouth. Laughing would not discourage the man. “Look, I’m sure it’s a great vacuum, but I don’t need it. I don’t want to see how it works, and I’d like you to get off my property.”

His smile did fade a little bit. “Well, I suppose, if that’s what you really want.”