For Real Friday: Unrequited Love Part 2

August 28, 2015August 20, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / Leave a comment

“I can’t charm him.” I waited until Persephone ran the mom through the questions before continuing. “Even accidentally. Everything he says and does is real, you know?”

“I do, actually.” Persephone said before taking the sleepy looking four year old through a modified list of our questions. “Aphrodite!” She scolded when I took a stuffed bear from the little girl.

“Baby-Jaguar!” the little girl moaned. “My Baby-Jaguar. Give him—” She fell silent under the influence of Persephone’s charm.

“You can hide things in stuffed animals,” I explained, giving the “jaguar” a cautious squeeze. “He’s clean. Here you go, kiddo.”

The little girl snatched her toy from me, giving me a look so cutting I stepped back.

“Anyway,” I said once Persephone convinced the kid to go back to sleep, “he can’t hurt me. He’s not strong enough. So we balance. And when the whole thing happened with Zeus, he saved me. He trusted me, believed in me at a time when no one else could.”

“But?” She prompted after a moment’s silence, closing the door as quietly as she could so we didn’t reawaken the sleeping dragon.

“That’s not actually him. I put him on this pedestal and made him into a symbol. He can’t live up to that, you know?”

Persephone nodded, knocking on the next door. “I get that.” Another empty room.

“Uh-huh.” I couldn’t imagine another being, least of all Persephone, “getting” something I barely understood about myself.

“No, really, I do.” Persephone looked around the base of the bed. She raked her hair back, hand stopping at the top of her skull. “I used to get a crush on literally every guy who was ever nice to me. . . and it wasn’t them, you know?” She flushed. “I always felt really out of place so I’d get really grateful when I got any attention at all. But I was too shy to act on my feelings, thank gods.”

And I wasn’t. Yup. Got that subtext loud and clear. “You. . . think I’m insecure and desperate for affection?” I wasn’t sure how to take that.

She pressed her lips together and glanced down at the carpet. “I think you’re lonely. I’m not explaining this well.” She sighed. “I’m saying I get it. I know what it’s like to feel different and alone, and I know what it’s like to seize onto that one kind gesture and to read so much into it that everything they say or do becomes…more. And you’re right, putting him on a pedestal isn’t fair to him, but it’s also not fair to you because you end up putting all this stock into someone who…maybe doesn’t deserve it.”

My throat went tight. “Yeah.”

~@~

I’ve talked about Unrequited Love on my blog before just two weeks ago. But the topic bears some expanding because two weeks ago, I mostly focused on the other person. The person who doesn’t love back. How they feel. How frustrating it is that society keeps teaching us that not loving someone back if they just try hard enough is somehow wrong.

But it also sucks to be the person with all the feelings. To be the one wondering if you just said x or just did y, would they like you back. To over-analyze that person’s every mood, to read things into their actions and not be able to tell if they’re real or if you just really want it to be real.

It sucks. And it’s a sucky part of life. And acting on those feelings in a way that’s scary or vengeful or negative to them is unforgivable because the other sucky part of life is that they don’t have to love you. But equally unforgivable is hurting yourself over it.Girls are particularly bad about this, statistically speaking, because from a societal stand point, we’re expected to change. Oh, we’re told not to, but the narrative we’re fed doesn’t match the message that’s preached. We are marketed to as a problem that can be fixed with the right make up or weight loss product. Movies and books and shows have running tropes where she joins his group, she acquires his interests, she compromises her beliefs, she changes her goals to fit his. When guys do that they’re seen as whipped, but when girls do it, it’s par for the plot.

And to be fair, some changes going to happen no matter what. Don’t change is stupid advice. You become the people you’re around. It’s part of being a human. Your interests expand with your social circle, so do your friends, and your beliefs change when challenged. That’s not a bad thing, I don’t mean change as in go away. When you think from one perspective and are introduced to another, it’s a sign of a working brain to assimilate the new information and reevaluate what you know to make it fit. But these changes should flow both ways. It’s problematic when one person is doing all the changing for another, especially if all this change is happening so the other person can be won.

But sometimes there’s something more serious at work than just disappointment that the other person doesn’t return their affection. Like in the conversation with Persephone and Aphrodite above. The intense feelings they felt toward the boys in the examples had almost nothing to do with the actual boys and everything to do with turmoil happening in their own life. But those are just minor examples. Sometimes, it’s a lot more serious.

People who hurt themselves, starve themselves, or sink into depression aren’t doing it because so and so didn’t love them back. So and so not loving them back was probably the end of a very long list of other issues impacting that person’s life. So and so just likely happened to be the most concrete one that all those feelings could be hung on. And that is why those tropes are so scary. Because all the books and all the movies and all the shows take warning signs of really serious issues that demand really serious help, and trivializes them. That rhetoric has been so normalized that their parents, their friends, and possibly even themselves may not recognize a very real call for help. So pay attention to yourself, to your friends. It’s frighteningly easy to write someone off as desperate when there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface.

Way Back Wednesday: Echoes

August 26, 2015August 20, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / Leave a comment

Echo and Narcissus is one of those myths that gets alluded to a lot in popular culture. Two instances in particular stand out as having done it really, really well.

The Mark of Athena

I don’t often include Riordan in my blogs because Way Back Wednesdays refer to the way back. As in before I wrote Persephone. Stuff I read after I wrote Persephone couldn’t have influenced my take on any given myth I used in Persephone.

But we’re in Aphrodite territory now, and I wrote that pretty recently. My Echo and Narcissus are just allusions, they don’t contribute much to the plot, they don’t get fleshed out much character wise. They’re just background people who exist in my world. So I’m not unaware my take on them for Aphrodite isn’t groundbreaking or particularly insightful. But his was.

I loved Rick Riordan’s take on Echo. I loved that he gave her agency and I loved how she used her echo to create her own voice. It was creative and so well done. Narcissus didn’t break the mold (mine doesn’t either), but Echo more than made up for it.

Dollhouse

The main character in Dollhouse is named Echo. She’s a doll, which means her personality and mannerisms are uploaded into her brain (she’s not a robot, btw. If you haven’t seen the show, watch it) as requested by very rich clientele. At first she’s limited to just echoing her role as it was prescribed to her, but as the series progresses, she begins to retain fabrics of each personality she acquired to build her own personality. It’s nothing short of amazing. There’s another character named Alpha who plays the Narcissus role to a “T,” he’s obsessed with creating the most perfect version of himself. But the crush and the power play is inverted and he’s the one obsessed with Echo this go round.

There are about a million amazing things about that show. Seriously, go watch it.

Current note: iZombie is doing something similar with it’s main character at the moment (retaining echoes of personality from multiple sources) and I’ve come to the conclusion that I will never tire of this plot device. Seriously. I’m never not going to be impressed if it’s done well. From a writing standpoint, the blending of all the characters is fascinating.

Mythology Monday: Tantalus and the Cursed House of Atreus

August 17, 2015June 11, 2016 / kaitlinbevis / 2 Comments

“You know, if I had a gorgeous goddess following me, I’d slow down.”

I turned, following the deep voice to its owner. Another demigod stood beside the silver set of double doors that led to the auditorium. He looked taller than Adonis, but about as muscular. If Adonis got into heavy steroids. Seriously, I couldn’t decide if I felt impressed or frightened. It’s a thin line.

“Tantalus.” He offered his hand, then shifted, grabbing me before I walked into the “Private Function” sign mounted on a gold pole. “Watch out.”

Letting out an embarrassed laugh, I stumbled into Tantalus. I shouldn’t be so hard on myself; I’ve only been walking for three years. It takes practice. “Thanks.”

“Here for the convention?” He kept his hands on my shoulders and didn’t move away from me or out of the way of the door. Ignoring the people streaming around him, he looked me over. Clearly, he liked what he saw.

Finally! Some appreciation. I could do with a little more reverence and a little less attitude. Especially if it came from someone who looked like this.

Tantalus noticed me noticing him and puffed up with pride. My interest wavered. “Um…actually…” I didn’t want to get into my whole investigation in this crowd. One on one, I could always charm him into not telling anyone what I’d shared and charm him into reporting to me if he saw anything suspicious. But in a room like this, there was no telling how far even a whisper could carry. I’d rather not waste the energy charming an entire convention into silence. I searched for another reason for being here, but drew a blank. “I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise?”

Stopping at the edge of the auditorium, I leaned against the back wall, soundproofing fuzzies tickling my bare arms. Adonis stood out like a golden beacon in the crowd, somehow managing to almost glow despite the dim light.

I scoped out the rest of the room, taking a moment to get my bearings. Booths, set up in semicircles so everyone seated could see the stage, spread to either side of the auditorium. The walls and tables were accented with silver swirls that glittered against the black. No one sat. The atmosphere in the room felt rushed and impatient. Sitting would indicate a time commitment no one seemed to want to fill.

Tantalus smirked and leaned against the wall beside me, hand planted right next to my head. “I’d buy that, if I ran into you on deck.”

What difference would that make? I cocked my head. “What is this anyway?”

“Orientation.”

Ah, for the convention. That made sense. “Maybe I’m just enjoying the view.”

He beamed. Gods, men were so easy to flatter. Tantalus stepped in front of me, holding out his hands as if he were the gods gift to man. Which technically speaking…. “Well look no further, sweetheart.”

A violent shudder wrenched through me at the term of endearment. I wrapped my arms around myself as if I’d shivered.

“Cold?” His eyes flickered over me. “If you want, we can ditch this and go someplace warmer.” His tone made the request behind his offer crystal clear.

I kept my eyes on Adonis, considering Tantalus’ proposition. Well, not considering that angle of his proposition. I prefer men who worship me, not themselves.

Adonis stood in the center of the crowd, deep in conversation with a short, brunette woman. I did double take. She was one of the Plain Janes. The rest of the trio stood close by, chatting up another model. They were here for the modeling convention? Huh. Adonis nodded at something she said, not once looking away to search for me in the crowd.

No. I wasn’t going to do this. Goddesses didn’t follow guys around and stare at them across rooms hoping to catch them trying to steal a glance. A goddess did not pine. And as much as I wanted to convince myself that my only motivation to keep an eye on Adonis was my investigation, I knew that wasn’t true.

But Tantalus? Tantalus wouldn’t question me following him around. He’d actually welcome my attention. And I wouldn’t be heartbroken if something happened to him. That made him good bait.

~@~

Tantalus was a demigod, the son of Zeus and a nymph. He was invited to a dinner on Olympus by Zeus, and while there stole ambrosia and nectar and the gods secrets. He also might have had a part in stealing Rhea’s dog, but that’s debatable.

Following what I believe to be a pattern of Ambrosia driving demigods crazy (it is deadly to mortals, but demigods had it on occasion, often before doing incredibly stupid things with very little motive given) Tantalus made misguided effort to appease the gods by killing his son, Pelops, by boiling him alive, slicing him up, and serving him to the gods at dinner.

The gods caught on pretty quick to the human flavored feast before them and most of them did not partake. Demeter, distracted by her worry for her missing daughter, took a chunk out of the kids shoulder before realizing she’d consumed human flesh.

Tantalus was killed and sent to the depths of Tartarus for his crimes. His punishment was to stand ankle deep in water and look up at a cluster of grapes hung just out of reach as he starved and thirsted to death for all eternity. His location is a bit precarious as the giant boulder that another resident of Tartarus has to push up the hill everyday looms above him, precariously perched.

Meanwhile, the Fates gathered the body parts of poor Pelops, and Hephaestus made the kid a new shoulder out of ivory, marking him and his descendants, and he was brought back to life. Poseidon took the kid under his wing and taught him to race chariots until Zeus randomly decided Tantalus’ entire family line needed to suffer. Tantalus’ descendants became known as the cursed house of Atreus.

Pelops went on to win a chariot race for the hand of a woman named Hippodamia. But he won by cheating and sabotaging her father’s chariot which crashed and killed him, but not before Hippodamia’s dad managed to curse Pelops’ house (descendants) with his dying breath.

Pelops and Hippodamia had two sons. Atreus and Thyestes. Pelops dies at some point and Hippodamia gets remarried. Her sons kill their new step brother and get exiled, Hippodamia hung herself in shame.

Somehow Atreus became king of the land they were banished to, Mycenae, and he was going to sacrifice his best golden lamb to Artemis, but decided to give it to his wife instead, who in turn gave it to his brother because she was sleeping with him. His brother convinced Atreus to say whoever possessed the golden lamb should rule, since Atreus thought the lamb was safely at his home he agreed, his brother produced the lamb and took over, saying his brother could take back over once the sun moved backward in the sky.

Atreus and Hermes convinced Zeus to make that happen, and Atreus became king again. Angered by his brother’s betrayal (sleeping with his wife and taking over his kingdom is pretty underhanded) Atreus exiled Thyestes, but not before he killed Thysestes kids by boiling them and slicing them up for dinner, and forced Thyestes to eat them. He kept the kids hands and feet as trophies and taunted Thyestes with the dismembered bits of his children.

Isn’t Greek mythology fun 😀

As his revenge, Thyestes slept with his niece, Atreus’ daughter Pelopia. She had a son, Aegisthus, and abandoned him in the local sheep pen. A shepherd found the boy and presented him to Atreus who raised him as his own out of charity. Meanwhile, Atreus had two sons, Menelaus and Agamemnon. Thyestes came back on the scene, told Aegisthus his backstory, and sat back and watched while his son murdered Atreus.

Agamemnon married Clytemnestra, and Menelaus married Helen of Troy. When Paris took Helen to Troy, all hell broke loose, and Menelaus asked his brother for help. Agamemnon set sale right away, sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia to the gods so he could make better time. In some versions of the myth, Iphegenia was saved by Artemis (unbeknownst to anyone else) and sent to be a priestess.

Clytemnestra, furious that her firstborn daughter was killed, had an affair with Aegisthus (remember him? He killed Atreus, who was also his granddad and uncle) and the two plotted to kill Agamemnon when he returned home from the war. They succeeded, killing him in the bath tub with a net/funeral shroud, and then her other two children, Orestes and Electra, plotted to kill her to avenge their father.

Orestes was torn, and prayed to Apollo who advised him to kill his mother. He did, and Orestes was plagued by furies until Athena stepped in and a fair trial was held. Orestes was forgiven, and the gods stopped doing the whole punishing descendants for something their parents did thing. Thus ended the curse on the house of Atreus.

Mythology Monday: Ambrosia

July 27, 2015July 9, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / Leave a comment

“Mmm . . . this is sweet. What is it?” I took a longer sip.

“Yours? Sparkling white grape juice.” He grinned. “Did I mention that I’m afraid of your mother?”

I rolled my eyes and finished the glass. It didn’t taste like any grape juice I’d ever had, but that wasn’t surprising. Everything in the Underworld had a richer flavor. Hades made his way around the room, greeting the souls between dances. I stayed close, keeping an eye on the ballroom for any demigods. When another glass found its way into my hand I smiled. I could get used to having servants.

The next time Hades invited me to dance a grin stretched across my face. My teeth felt tingly, and all the dancing was making me dizzy. As he led me through the simple motions I gave him an appraising look.

“You look nice tonight.”

Surprise flitted across Hades’ face. “Thank you. You look lovely as well.”

“I always kind of figured you’d be ugly.”

Hades blinked. “Excuse me?”

I giggled. “Well, you know, in books and movies you’re always, like, deformed or something crazy. You know, like a reflection of your soul?”

“Ah, I take it you mean my ugly and deformed soul?” Hades kept his voice light. He held me at arm’s length and gave me a quick once-over. I felt a ping of power pulse through me.

“No. That’s not what I meant.” I touched my hand to my forehead, trying to make sense of my jumbled thoughts. “I don’t think you or your soul is ugly. You’re actually pretty hot.”

Hades raised an eyebrow. “I see. Not so fast.” Hades intercepted a champagne glass from a tall Lethian and studied the liquid carefully. After a cautious sniff he took a small sip, and his eyes widened.

“Something wrong?”

I jumped at the sound of Thanatos’ voice. I hadn’t realized he was behind me.

“Somehow Persephone was given ambrosia instead of grape juice,” Hades replied.

Thanatos raised an eyebrow. “How much did she drink?”

“Is this a god thing?” I asked, growing annoyed. “Talking about people like they aren’t standing right there? What’s ambrosia? Some kind of poison?” The thought should have alarmed me, but I found it very difficult to care at the moment. Everyone looked so nice, and the music was so pretty.

“It’s just a divine drink,” Hades assured me. “It’s not poisonous. Well, not in the traditional sense of the word.”

“Do you think someone gave it to me on purpose?”

Hades frowned. “I can’t imagine what purpose it would serve. It was probably just a mix-up, but Thanatos, would you mind interviewing the Lethians who were in charge of our drinks?”

“Sure. Did you want me to take her to her rooms?”

Hades stared at me, considering. “Do you drink? In the living realm, I mean?”

I shook my head. “I’m boring. Mom always asks me to promise her not to drink anytime I go out.”

“Demeter does that?” Hades sounded surprised.

Thanatos let out a low whistle and shook his head.

My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t lie. My mom wasn’t lax. She didn’t trust me. She just knew if I promised not to drink, I physically wouldn’t be able to do it.

“That bitch!”

Thanatos snorted, and Hades raised an eyebrow.

“Water for her.” He motioned to a Lethian for a refill.

When our glasses arrived, Hades tested my drink before passing it to me. “I’ve got her, Thanatos. Go on.”

Thanatos studied me, looking so serious that I giggled. “Hades, she’ll only embarrass herself. Let me get her out of the—”

“She is right here and she doesn’t want to go back to her room. She wants to dance and have fun.”

“Yes, Thanatos, you’re being rude.” Hades’ lips twitched as though he was suppressing a grin. “See to the Lethians.”

“I really don’t think—”

“What exactly are you worried about?” Hades asked.

“You’re a lot taller than Thanatos,” I observed.

Thanatos met Hades’ eyes with an unreadable expression on his face. “If someone got close enough to switch her drink—”

“To what end?”

“Compromise her judgment? Lower her guard? Should I go on? She’s vulnerable.”

“She is right here,” I grumbled.

“Yes, you are.” Hades grinned. “I need you to stay with me until you’re safe in your room. Would you be willing to do that?”

“Sure.”

Hades gave Thanatos a look. “Satisfied?”

Thanatos made a noncommittal noise and signaled a Lethian from the crowd.

Hades shook his head when Thanatos disappeared into the crowd. “He worries too much.”

“You’re not worried?”

Something flickered in Hades’ eyes but it was gone before I could interpret it. “It was probably an innocent mistake. But still . . . I’d rather not have you out of my sight.” He held out his hand. “Still want to dance?”

Time passed in a blur of color and light. People laughed and danced around us, the spinning arcs of the skirts making me dizzy.

“I can’t dance another step.” I giggled, clinging to Hades so I wouldn’t trip and fall.

“Let’s get some air.” Hades led me out of the ballroom. The party was scattered all across the Underworld, but we found privacy in the grove of trees. The trees stretched into the sky, their branches arching and spilling over, sheltering us from view of any of the other souls wandering the Underworld.

“You’re trying to stop me from making a scene.” I stepped away from him into the center of the clearing. I spun around, holding my arms out. “Whoa.” I stopped mid-spin, waiting for the clearing to do the same.

“You should probably eat something.” Hades caught my hand. “Think of something, anything at all.”

I imagined pomegranate seeds and a plastic baggy full of them appeared in my free hand. I put six seeds in my mouth. An owl hooted in the distance.

Hades laughed. “You’re going to need more than that. What’s your favorite type of bread?”

“I’m a goddess. Do I have to worry about hangovers?”

“Your metabolism will change when you come into your powers. As far as alcohol is concerned, right now you’re a human.” He suppressed a grin. “Ambrosia gets even gods drunk, so you’re in trouble.”

I sat down on the cool grass. “Have you ever eaten one of these? They’re delicious.” I offered him a seed, and he took it, sitting down beside me.

“I’ve tried everything. I was there when your mom came up with this one.” He leaned back, studying the sky.

I followed his gaze. The sky was empty, faintly glowing with the same soft light that filled the Underworld. It was never quite dark here, but never bright enough for my tastes. “You guys really need to get a moon.” I tilted my head back further. “Where are the stars?”

“This is the Underworld. The sky is just a decoration.”

“Stars are pretty.”

“Stars are tragic.” Hades turned to face me. “Most of the stars are nothing but reminders of love gone horribly wrong, or men challenging the gods.”

“I thought they were gas giants.”

Hades waved his hand. “Semantics. The constellations they form are nothing but sad stories. Why would anyone want to have a constant reminder of tragedy hanging above their head?”

I thought about that for a minute, studying the blank sky. “Did you play a part in any of those tragedies?”

He met my eyes and something in them set my heart beating uncomfortably hard. “No.”

I smiled. “You’re nothing like I pictured you.”

“Yeah, let’s not go down this road again. If you start talking about how my hair should be on fire, or how evil I should be, I might take Thanatos’ advice.”

“You’re not evil.”

“You don’t think so?” Hades asked, studying my face. “After what I did to you?”

“You saved me.”

“I could have handled it better. I could have taken a second to think, found some way that wouldn’t tie you to me.” He hesitated. “But when I saw you, there was just something about you . . . ” He trailed off and looked at the sky. “Maybe I didn’t want to find another way. What if I wasn’t just impulsive, what if I was selfish? What kind of a person does that make me?”

I burst out laughing. “Do you always over-think things so much? You saved my life. That’s about as selfless as it gets. Being down here isn’t convenient, and being married is a little weird, but it’s just a few months. It’s not like you get anything out of this, and I’ve been such a brat about it.” I shook my head, enjoying the wave of dizziness that accompanied the motion. “Thank you, Hades. For everything. Really.” I leaned over and kissed his cheek, giggling at the surprised look on his face. “I owe you, big time.”

“I don’t think you understand.” He reached toward me. I blinked when he brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. “It’s not just a few—”

“Hey, Hades! Persephone!” Cassandra called. She laughed when she found the grove. “Oops, hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Of course not.” Hades stood, brushed himself off, and extended his hand. I lay frozen, hand touching my face where the ghost of his fingers had brushed against my skin.

“Persephone.” His voice was gentle. I looked up and grabbed his hand. “We should get back to the party.”

~@~

Ambrosia was the divine drink (and sometimes food and sometimes perfume for Aphrodite) of the gods. It is sometimes used interchangeably with Nectar, a divine drink. Other times Nectar is the drink and ambrosia is the food. Other times Nectar is the food and Ambrosia is the drink. For my purposes, Ambrosia is the “golden Nectar of the gods.” Persephone drinks a glass in book one, and it gets her very, very drunk very, very fast. In my series it’s the only drink that can actually get gods drunk, and the impact it has on humans is even more pronounced.

Depending on the myth, Ambrosia is either created by the earth in a sort of atmospheric offering to the gods and carried to Olympus by pretty gods, or Ambrosia was a nymph who was assaulted and turned into a grape vine to escape.

In mythology, the drink could turn mortals immortal, heal, and restore youth. It could also keep corpses fresh and life like for all time. Demigods drank it on occasion with no side effects, but the food/drink/perfume was jealously guarded from mortals. Tantalus was sent to a special place in hell because he tried to steal it. More on that in an upcoming Mythology Monday.

That’s not to say that Ambrosia was never given to mortals, just not without a gods approval. Achilles was anointed with Ambrosia (except his heel) in some versions of the myth, and Psyche was annointed with Ambrosia at her wedding so she could marry Cupid.

Liquids like Ambrosia pop up in all kinds of lore. I use it more like fairy wine. There are references to ambrosia on Egyptian statues of Anubis. “I am death…I eat ambrosia and drink blood.” Creepy much?

I’ve made lists!

July 11, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / Leave a comment

So in case you didn’t know, Persephone is on sale for 1.99 right now. And it’s doing really well! I’m number My sales rank at the moment is 402 so I’m just here with my writer’s group jumping up and down. #1 in Greek mythology books and kindle books and 8 in YA fiction and literature with ALL these writers!So forgive me in advance for the 8 million tweets, fb updates, and whatnot that are coming, because oh my gosh!

Way Back Wednesday: Cerberus

June 3, 2015May 4, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / Leave a comment

Cerberus has made his way through a lot of retellings and even popped up in some unexpected places. Here are the three that had the biggest impact on me.

Hercules

No surprise there.

Full Metal Alchemist

Nina made me think of Cerberus for some reason, which is probably why I couldn’t write a scene where Cerberus was actually present. Have I mentioned yet how much the Nina thing traumatized me?

Fluffy!

Did they not do an awesome job on Fluffy in Harry Potter the movie?

Mythology Monday: Cerberus

June 1, 2015May 4, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / 7 Comments

“Cerberus (PSF)” by Pearson Scott Foresman – Archives of Pearson Scott Foresman, donated to the Wikimedia Foundation→This file has been extracted from another file: Cerberus (PSF).jpg.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cerberus_(PSF).png#/media/File:Cerberus_(PSF).png

Charon laughed at the obvious disappointment in my voice. “Who were you hoping to meet?”

I flushed. “I was a fan of the Hercules show when I was younger.”

“He had a show?” Charon raised his eyebrows. “I only caught the cartoon.”

“I loved that cartoon!”

“Don’t let Hades hear you say that.” Charon laughed. “Or that you’re a fan of Herc.”

“Why?”

“There’s been bad blood between those two ever since Hercules stole Hades’ dog.”

“Cerberus? The myth called that a loan.”

“It was. But Hercules never brought Cerberus back, and now he’s drunk from the Lethe so he can never tell Hades where to find him.”

I blinked. Everything dead came to the Underworld. If Cerberus had never returned . . . “You mean there’s a three-headed dog running around on the surface?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.

~@~

Cerberus has come up in a few mythology Mondays before, but I wanted to go into a bit more background about the Underworld puppy.

Cerberus was the child of Echidna and Typhon. This puppy has many fearful monster-siblings, such as the Hydra, Orthus a two headed hell-hound, and the Chimera.

The number of heads Cerberus has varies widely by the myth. Sometimes he has hundreds, sometimes three. Sometimes only one, with two puppies nearby that were so clingy and so alike in thought that all three dogs attacked as a unit. In art, he is almost always depicted with three, and like most things that come in threes in Greek mythology, his heads represent the past, present, and future/ youth, middle age, and old age.

Cerberus’ job was to guard the gates of the Underworld. The dead could enter, but never leave. He was borrowed by Hercules in this mythology Monday. Odysseus once put Cerberus to sleep by playing music and snuck past him. Aeneas once drugged the puppy with honey cakes and got past him that way. So as far as Underworld guards go, he wasn’t the best.

He barks once in Paradise lost, and even makes an appearance in the Inferno as a great worm, which sounds crazy at first, but makes more sense when you read into a few of the old sources and realize that Cerberus also had a serpents mane (not sure what that would look like) and a serpents tail.

In my version of the myth, Hercules never returned the dog, so he’s still wandering the surface somewhere (possibly at Hogwarts), but we’ll never know since the search for Cerberus never turned him up :(. I’ll try that contest again one day.

Way Back Wednesday: Water Powers

May 27, 2015April 27, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / Leave a comment

I’m going to be honest. I was so heavily inspired by the water bending in Avatar that I’m not sure much else could have influenced Poseidon’s powers. Avatar was on every day after school for years of my younger life. If you haven’t seen that series, watch it. Plot and character development wise, it’s perfect. The magic system and world building is also just incredible.

So, since I’ve just got that one example, here’s a bonus scene from Venus and Adonis so you can see Poseidon’s powers in play.

*Spoiler Warning if you haven’t read the first three books**

~@~

The passengers raised their arms in unison and slashed at the shield, the strobe lights turning the fluid motion jerky. The shield shuddered, but held. Without the weapons none of them would look particularly threatening. The boy in the middle barely looked old enough to have gotten in the door of the club. He had shaggy brown hair, wore jeans, a blue cotton t-shirt and sneakers. Next to him stood an out of place looking man with a comb over, glasses, and a tacky brown suit. My mind latched onto these details like they mattered. My gaze slid to the next passenger, a brunette in a striking hot pink dress, then to the man with black hair, thick, black-rimmed glasses, khakis, and blue collared shirt.

I suppressed a hysterical giggle, inexplicably reminded of characters in different cell phone and computer ads.

“Your kind aren’t welcome here,” Verizon Wireless hissed, pushing his glasses up his nose with his index finger. Mac and PC stepped around him, Olympian Steele gripped tight in their hands. I couldn’t take my eyes off the glittering stakes.

Poseidon let out a string of curses that would shock any sailor. “Get behind me.” He had to shout to be heard over the music. He held out a hand, ready to push me back if I didn’t comply. His trident appeared in his other hand with a flash of gold so bright in the darkness that I found myself blinking away sparkling dots. “And get ready to run.”

“Run?” I demanded. “Why can’t we teleport?” Poseidon could grant me authorization in a second.

“And leave your demigod as collateral?”

I laced my voice with as much sarcasm as I could. “We could always go get him.”

T-Mobile attacked first, with all the grace of a zombie. She leapt forward, hacking and slashing at the air with the Olympian Steele before she even got within a foot of Poseidon. She was trying to miss. The flashing lights illuminated a wild struggle in her dark eyes that told me she was resisting the charm as best she could, but what hope could a mere mortal have over a divine force of will?

“And risk porting straight into a trap?” Poseidon dodged her with ease, then seemed to remember me and threw himself between the two of us, trident whirling to block her Steele. ”

Damn it, Poseidon had a point. You couldn’t shield yourself while teleporting. We might be able to throw up a shield the second we arrived but we’d at least be vulnerable for a second.

“We’re dealing with this now,” Poseidon declared.

I summoned my charm, gritting my teeth against the pain that ripped through my stomach thanks to my proximity to Poseidon. The charm slid off the passengers like water. Swallowing hard, I stepped back, bumping into a barstool. Run? From humans? How screwed up was that? Of course, the weapons in their hands that could kill us with a single scratch did tip the scales a bit.

I threw up a shield, power flaring to life within me. Gods, that hurt. Gritting my teeth, I ignored the gut-wrenching pain and pushed the shield at the charmed passengers just as Mac joined the fray, Steele shattering my shield in a second.

I froze. Fighting wasn’t in my skill set. Unlike Persephone, I’d never seen the point in spending my spare time learning self-defense or honing my powers so I’d be ready for a combat situation. My charm could quell even gods. Why would I ever need anything more than that?

Poseidon shoved me to the side, intercepting the Steele with his trident. PC leapt to Mac’s aid, slashing at Poseidon with the Steele, but Poseidon sent him flying into the bar, crashing into a wall of bottles with enough force to shatter them. PC hit the ground with a thud, alcohol and glass raining around him. The bartender, unperturbed, kept pouring drinks. What the hell? A quick glance around me confirmed everyone else was still dancing. Was everyone charmed? Holy hell, what kind of power were we dealing with?

Don’t just stand there! I commanded myself. Do something. Taking a deep breath, I tuned out the pulsing music and concentrated. With effort, I picked out several more charmed passengers as well as a shield enveloping the entire bar. “Poseidon, break the shield!”

A wave of power swelled from Poseidon. The shield shattered. My stomach wrenched as I blanketed the room with charm in a desperate bid to gain control of the passengers before they panicked and fled the bar. They could come in handy.

Gods! The effort of channeling my powers had me doubling over in agony.

Gritting my teeth, I pushed past the pain, concentration breaking when another passenger lunged at me, knocking me to the floor. Rolling out of the way, I slid across shattered glass. The broken bottles sliced my skin. I leapt to my feet. The uncharmed passengers, suddenly aware of the fight in their midst, screamed and rushed toward the door. “Crap!” Pushing past the pain, I refocused my power on the crowd as the music shut off and regular, fluorescent lights flickered on.

“Are you cut?” Poseidon spared me a glance, throwing up a shield to gain the half-second to determine whether or not I was all right.

“Not by Steele.” Taking a deep breath, I forced my charm to take hold of the other passengers. “Help me!”

The bar came to life as passengers threw themselves in between me and the Steele wielding zombies.

“Go!” Poseidon shouted, trident swinging in a wild arc. T-Mobile ducked around the blow, slashing at Poseidon, but got intercepted by a crew-member acting under the influence of my charm. I ran, Poseidon on my heels. The crowd split in front of me, forming a narrow hallway that closed behind us as we ran. A living shield.

Scattered within the crowd I could pick out the passengers that weren’t under my control just waiting for us to get close enough to strike. “Red dress! Glasses! Waitress behind the table!” I shouted warnings to Poseidon as soon as I picked out the passengers who would attack, glancing back to gauge his success.

Poseidon’s trident flashed. Now I understood why Demeter and Hades had been so determined to get him on their side against Zeus. Poseidon wasn’t just powerful. He fought in a way most gods were too complacent to even consider. I couldn’t tell where his powers stopped and his physical prowess began. A flash of green lightning erupted from the trident, followed by a punch, a kick, a shield inverted around a passenger to restrain them. He seemed to be everywhere at once until they tried to strike back, and then he was nowhere. “You’re incredible!” I hadn’t meant to speak out loud, and by rights I shouldn’t have even been audible over the fight, but somehow Poseidon still heard and flashed me a grin.

“You sound surprised. I thought that was common knowledge.” His grin faded. “Watch out!”

I ducked as another charmed passenger broke through the crowd, slashing at the place I’d been with the shimmering stake. Poseidon was there in a flash. The passenger went flying into the wall as limp as a rag doll.

We broke free of the bar and dashed through a hallway decorated to resemble the night sky. If anyone thought it odd that we were running like our lives depended on it, I didn’t notice. “Where are we going?” I cried.

“Water.”

Right. I veered toward the atrium as the hall opened up into a lobby full of gift-shops, tables, and photographers posing random passengers in front of pretty backdrops. The charmed passengers were right on our heels. “This way!” I cried, rushing across the atrium and up the curved, golden staircase.

I shrieked as a hand closed around my ankle and yanked me down the steps. For a second, all I could focus on was the Olympian Dagger centimeters from my face. The weapon didn’t move. My gaze shifted up the arm of the passenger carrying the Steele. His face contorted in a grimace of agony. With a violent jerk he was flung off of me, and slammed into the wall by an invisible force.

“What?” Leaping to my feet, I found Poseidon, one arm up as he cast and recast a shield to keep the passengers at bay almost as fast as they slashed through it, the other arm stretched toward the man, trident extended. “How did you do that?” Telekinesis was not in our skill set.

“Salt water,” Poseidon panted, the strain from casting a new shield every time the Steele broke through his existing one and doing whatever the hell he’d just done to that passenger evident on his face. “Run!”

I scrambled up the steps, mind reeling. There were whispers, rumors, that the original six were capable of manipulating the human body via built in fail-safes. A control for each god. Water for Poseidon, trace minerals from the earth for Demeter, and the four aspects of the soul, living and dead, for the rest. But I’d only heard rumors. Precious little information about human creation had passed down the bloodlines.

And no one could say for certain whether those same controls were built into us. Forget that for now! How have you not been cut? I’d been knocked over, pushed, and outright missed a statistically improbable number of times not to have sustained a single injury from the Olympian Daggers.

This fight didn’t make sense. I’d been on this ship surrounded by these people for the last day and a half. Why not take me out then?

Maybe I’m not the target.

What if I was just in the way? Poseidon was the one they addressed at the beginning of the fight. He’d been behind a shield almost the entire time he’d been on board. Maybe they’d attacked like this because taking down his shield would be noticeable no matter what they did. If you can’t go for surprise, go for strength?

I burst through the exterior door and slammed into the railing, gasping for breath.

“Stay against the rail.” Poseidon instructed, sliding to halt in front of me. He drew in a deep breath, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Here?” I took a nervous look around. The bit of deck we occupied reminded me of a sidewalk. The narrow strip of white wooden planks and painted metal rails ran parallel to the main lobby, separated by windows and glass doors. The charmed passengers stood in an open doorway, hacking at Poseidon’s shield. If we kept running down this deck, we’d be at the pool. I could hear Caribbean music and laughter coming from that crowd. What if they were armed too? I glanced at the exterior steps, wondering if we had time to make it up one more deck.

“Here.” Poseidon’s shield broke and I felt the power ricochet back to him. “Can you break the charm?”

I hesitated. I’d never succeeded in freeing Persephone from Zeus’ charm, no matter how hard I’d tried. And I’d tried hard. But I’d gotten enough practice in to have plenty of theories for how breaking charm could be done. “I can try.”

Poseidon nodded. “Try then. I’d rather not have to kill anyone.”

“Really?” It wasn’t like I thought Poseidon enjoyed death and violence…much, but I hadn’t expected him to care one way or another about whether the people attacking us lived or died. I was a bit surprised he hadn’t just sunk the whole ship the moment they attacked.

Poseidon shrugged, and added. “I don’t want to give Hades any excuse to come to my realm.”

Right. Gods had to respond to divine causes of death. Figures that’s what Poseidon would be worried about right now. The sea god turned to the door the passengers would come through any second. “I’ll buy you as much time as I can. You may want to duck.”

I dropped to my knees, hands going over my head as a wall of water rushed above me, whipping around the deck as the charmed passengers poured through the doorway.

Go inside, nothing to see here. My stomach twisted as I let that command blanket the ship, fueling the order with every bit of power I could manage. Get to your room and stay there until morning.

The effort of maintaining hold of so many passengers twisted my stomach into painful knots. Oh gods, this hurts! Water roared around me, disrupting my concentration. Squeezing my eyes shut, I waited until I could sense the passengers under my control retreat all across the ship. I imagined doors closing, and gave them a few seconds to get settled, making sure to leave a strong desire imprinted in their minds to stay put until sunup before releasing them from my charm. Even out of my control they would most likely obey the subconscious command. Now I could assume that anyone out and about was against us.

I narrowed my focus, ignoring the passengers who I could influence in favor of those who were under foreign control. They were all headed toward this deck.

How many in total? I gave up counting at thirty and shifted my focus to the eight fighting Poseidon.

I could sense the charm holding them, but something about the power signature seemed off. Charm was like a thread of power extending from god to man. A thread. But the charm holding the humans hostage wasn’t a solitary thread but many weaving together like a rope.

“There’s more than one controller,” I realized.

“What?” Poseidon shouted.

My answer got swallowed in the roar of the water. PC lunged at Poseidon, but was whipped away by the current. The water animated and whirled around Poseidon, suspended in the air like the arms of an octopus, lashing out every time one of the passengers got too close. But he wouldn’t be able to keep up the fight forever. I gritted my teeth and focused on gathering more power.

We weren’t dealing with another deity like me or some super-charged Titan. What was it Hades told me Zeus had said? “You think you saved the world by killing me, but you’ve doomed it. What’s coming is worse. And Hades, they’re armed.”

They’re armed. Plural. This was a group. An army even.

I kept my eyes closed, tuning out the screams, grunts, and occasional flashes of green lightning to separate each power signature I found connected to one of the charmed passengers. The threads of power were braided together in an intricate chain of charm.

But the woman in the pink dress did fight the foreign control. Maybe she wasn’t the only one. I opened my eyes for a second. The jerky movements of the passengers confirmed my theory. Gritting my teeth against the gut-wrenching pain that came with using my powers so close to Poseidon, I focused on a single thread of charm, ignoring the rest of the rope for now.

The individual threads were weak.

“Aphrodite!” Poseidon snapped. “Any time now!”

More passengers joined the battle. I hadn’t opened my eyes to check, but I could sense them. How many? Ten? Twelve? “I’m trying!” I focused on channeling my power through the gaps between threads of charm. Sweat bathed my face. Using my powers shouldn’t hurt this much.

Almost got it. I pushed at the gaps, pouring more and more power into the effort.

My stomach lurched. It was a good thing I was already sitting down, because there was no way I’d still be on my feet otherwise.

I felt the charm controlling them snap and my eyes flew open. “Got it!” I called triumphantly. “I–” I broke off with a gasp. The passengers hung suspended in a wall of water before Poseidon.

Mythology Monday on Tuesday: Poseidon

May 26, 2015May 24, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / 3 Comments

**posting delayed a day in honor of Memorial Day**

I turned to see a tall man striding toward us through the shallow surf. He had a flowing blond beard, a deep tan, and was dressed casually in board shorts and nothing else. I raised my eyebrows at his six-pack and gave Hades a speculative look. I’d never seen Hades with his shirt off. Were all gods built like that? I really hoped so.

“Poseidon,” Hades said in a civil voice. He shifted, subtly placing himself between Poseidon and me. “It’s been a long time.”

To anyone who hadn’t spent months overanalyzing Hades’ every move, he looked perfectly calm. But I could feel the tension radiating off him.

Poseidon stopped an arm’s-length away from us and looked at me. I saw his eyes and caught my breath. They swirled with shades of green, blue, and brown-white waves crested in miniature. They were so deep I could feel myself falling into them. I forced myself to meet the crashing and churning waves, not looking away until Poseidon chuckled.

“You’re the spitting image of your mother.” He grinned at me. “Uncanny. Pleased to meet you in person.” He extended his hand.

Hades pushed my hand down before it could meet his. “Don’t.” His voice was full of warning. I followed his gaze to Poseidon, confused by the sudden malice in Hades’ eyes.

Poseidon laughed. “Oh Hades, you’ve got it bad. There’s little need to worry. I don’t often have interest in children.”

Interesting wording. “Didn’t often.” “Little need.” No wonder Hades looked so tense. This guy was slimy. What would have happened if I’d shaken his hand?

~@~

In Greek mythology, Poseidon is god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses. He is one of the “big six” (thank you Rick Riordan); children of Cronus and Rhea which also includes Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Hades, and Hestia. Some versions of his birth-story indicate that he, like Zeus, was not eaten by Cronus, but hidden among a flock of lambs. His name may mean husband of the earth, which links him with Demeter, but that’s only one possible interpretation. He has also gone by Neptune and Nathus.

He competed with Athena to become patron of the city which would later be known as Athens (i.e Athena won). In the contest, whoever gave the city the best gift won. Poseidon stuck his trident in the ground and a salt-water spring popped up. Not seeing the use in salt water, the city chose Athena’s gift of the olive-tree.

Poseidon was once stripped of his divinity by Zeus, and sent to work for King Laomedon of Troy way before the Trojan war. He and Apollo built the wall around the city. When the wall was done and his divinity returned, he sent a sea-monster to attack Troy, which Hercules defeated. More on this myth in this blog.

He was married to Amphitrite, a once powerful sea-goddess in her own right in Ancient Greece that was eventually downgraded to a simple sea-nymph that was the daughter of Nereus and Doris Or Oceanus and Tethys, which either makes her a Nereid or an Oceanid sea-nymph. Their children included seals, dolphins, Triton, and in some myths daughters named Rhode and Benthesikyme. Poseidon either saw her dancing and carried her off, or had his dolphins track her down after she rejected Atlas and convince her that Poseidon was awesome.

Poseidon was married, but he had many, many, many other trysts, most of which were not-consensual. In one version of the myth, he made Medusa famous by raping her on the steps of the temple of Athena (she’d been running there in hopes her patron-goddess would save her from Poseidon. Athena instead made Medusa into a monster for defiling her temple.

He also raped Demeter. She turned into a horse and tried to flee, but he turned into a stallion and they had one to two (depending on the myth) horse babies named Desponia and Areion. Areion could talk. These were the horses Persephone met on Cumberland Island in Daughter of the Earth and Sky.

He may have been the father of Theseus, more on him in a future blog. He tricked a woman named Tyro who was in love with a river god into sleeping with him my disguising himself as the river god. He seduced one of his granddaughters named Alope by disguising himself as a kingfisher. She had a child and left it outside to die, but a passing mare and some shepherds saved it. Her father walled her up in disgust, but Poseidon sort of saved her by turning her into a spring.

Amymone was rescued from a sater by Poseidon and in gratitude bore him a son.

There was one romantic story that didn’t end in rape. He fell in love with a mortal named Cleito, and created a sanctuary for her on top of a hill surrounded by rings of water. She gave birth to five sets of twin boys, and the first became the founder of Atlantis.

Poseidon was also father to several monsters, giants, and cyclopes by way of Gaia and other monsters.

Poseidon plays a vital role in Homer’s The Odyssey, keeping Odysseus from his home for a great many years out of spite. He plays a lesser role in The Illiad, where he took the Greek’s side in the battle.

I don’t gloss over Poseidon’s dark side in my books. He’s a pervert, and a creep. Frankly, most of the myths featuring Poseidon disgust me. But I can’t deny his important role to Greek mythology, which is why he still has a role in my books.

For Real Friday: Manipulation

May 22, 2015April 20, 2015 / kaitlinbevis / Leave a comment

“You think you changed?” Poseidon laughed, and moved toward me, the filtered lights making the sea god look like he was moving in stop motion. “Why? Because you rebelled against Zeus?”

“I was created to be loyal to him,” I pointed out. “So…yeah. I’d say I’ve got some experience with change.”

“No, he created you to have to be obedient to him.”

I tilted my head, not sure what he was getting at with the distinction and he laughed again.

“It never occurred to you to wonder why he didn’t bother to make you want to obey?” Smug, self-satisfaction permeated the sea god’s voice.

Where was Poseidon going with this? “Because he was a heartless bastard that didn’t care what I wanted? Why bother with the extra effort of–“

“What? Ensuring you wouldn’t spend every waking moment of your life trying to find a way around how he’d made you? You think that would be more work?” He smirked and shook his head as though astounded by my stupidity. “He gave you a personality, Aphrodite. He didn’t even have to bother with that. You were disposable to him; he could have made you an empty shell. Do you actually think the personality that you got was an accident?”

“I–” I broke off, drawing back. I hadn’t thought of that. “What?” I shook my head, trying to dispel the horrible suspicion forming there. “Stop it.”

“He liked a challenge.” The colored strobe lights glittered against Poseidon’s teeth. “Even when he had a sure thing. Unquestioning compliance would have bored Zeus, and you–“

“Stop!” I stepped away from Poseidon, back coming up against the shield, but he bridged the distance, his words filling in blanks I didn’t want filled.

Poseidon gripped my arm so hard I saw stars. “You’re nothing but Zeus’ plaything. You haven’t changed, Aphrodite.” He gave me a rough shake and I cried out in pain. “You did exactly what you were designed to do. He just never anticipated losing, and, don’t flatter yourself, you had nothing to do with that, either. He lost because he didn’t see Demeter’s sacrifice coming.”

“I said stop it!” I tried to pull my arm free, my shriek surprising even me. It wasn’t until clarity dawned in Poseidon’s expression that I realized how befuddled he’d looked before. He let me go so fast I stumbled into the shield that surrounded us. “Aphrodite, I’m–“

“Don’t!” I backpedaled to the side and away from him in a futile attempt find a weak spot in his shield, my breath coming in sharp gasps. “You’re–” I tried to say ‘wrong,’ but the word wouldn’t form. No, no! I wouldn’t believe him! I tried again. “Everything you just said is– You’re just–“

Poseidon lowered the shield and I fell backward, crashing to the floor. “That wasn’t about you. I–“

“You’re scum!” I scrambled to my feet, cradling my arm. The people near me stopped dancing. “Persephone was right about you. You’re nothing but slime.” I turned and stumbled out of the club, shoving past people until I could break into a run. When I reached the door to my suite, I stopped, realizing I didn’t have a key.

“Come on!” I slammed against the door over and over again. He was wrong. Poseidon was wrong; there was nothing more to it. He didn’t know what he was talking about. He’d never been in my head. He didn’t know what it was like day in and day out fighting every instinct Zeus had given me.

But I was letting Zeus define me. I let the things he’d done control my reactions. He pushed left so I moved right. In the end, everything I did still led back to him.

“No!”

“Aphrodite?” A hand touched my shoulder.

I jumped with a shriek, backing into the door with enough force to hurt, hand poised on the knob like I had any prayer of opening it. When I registered Adonis standing there, I went limp against the door, hand to my chest, struggling to draw breath into my lungs. “Don’t do that.”

“Are you okay?” Adonis’ gaze latched on to my arm, which was fast turning into a mottled purple mess, and he hissed. “Did Poseidon do that? Why isn’t it healing?”

“I can’t–” I gasped again. “I can’t breathe.”

“Here.” Adonis unlocked the door and reached for me, but I jerked away from him.

“Don’t!” I stumbled into the room. “Oh gods, he’s right,” I realized, voice breaking. I stepped out of my shoes, moving on autopilot into dark the room, stopping when I reached the half-wall that separated the kitchen and dining room. “He’s absolutely right. He could have made me love him.”

“What? Aphrodite, what happened back there? What did Poseidon do?” Adonis followed me, stopping just short of the kitchen wall. “Hang on.” He flipped a switch and light flooded the suite. “Did he–“

“Zeus could have made me love him.” The flat of my hands pressed against the countertop. I stood hunched over, elbows locked, hair falling in my face as I stared down at the matte, white surface breathing hard. “He could have just made me.”

“That would have been horrible.” The confusion in Adonis’ voice would have been comic under any different circumstances. “But I don’t see what–“

“I could have been happy.” A sob worked its way up my throat.

~@~

Manipulation plays a pretty big part in the Persephone trilogy. The most overt example is charm, but its there in other ways. Demeter doesn’t have charm and can’t even lie, yet she still manipulates Persephone into thinking she’s heard one fact over another.

Charm, mind-control, and the like have been in fiction for as long as we’ve been telling stories, and as I’ve said so many times before, to learn a societies fears, read their fiction. Mind control is a pretty interesting case of this though because on the one hand we’re afraid of it and on the other hand there’s this air of inevitability behind it. Manipulation is a part of life. We like to call it socialization even. It’s not always a bad thing. If humans didn’t react to things in the predictable ways they did, culture and society wouldn’t exist.

Because it’s sometimes benevolent, you might not think of it as mind control, but it fits every aspect of what we’ve created in fiction. Here’s a tongue in cheek article that goes into it more than I particularly want to, but in summary….

We’re socialized from a very young age into accepting certain rules and standards as right and wrong. I’m not just talking about morals, if someone looks into your eyes in passing for more than five seconds, your social response is to be creeped the frick out. That’s not an instinct you’re born with. We’ve been socialized to react that way.

On the darker side, politicians play on emotions to gain your vote. Stories, real and otherwise, are framed in such a way that they control how you sympathize with the people within them. Language is power and make no mistake it is deftly wielded. I mean, market research exists. The purpose of that is solely to determine how to best manipulate people into wanting a product or to keep watching a show or to feel a certain way toward a certain thing. It is so well known that we play on peoples emotions and manipulate their thinking that no one really thinks about it, its a given.

So what makes manipulation and mind control so much more frightening in fiction? Personalization. Unless you’re talking overt mind-slaves like POD people, large scale mind control in fiction just doesn’t have the same kick to it as that creepy guy behind the secure door in the prison who somehow talks people into blowing their own brains out just by talking to them. Knowing the Master hypnotized everyone into voting for Saxon is somehow not as terrifying as Ella, a girl who *has* to follow orders being ordered to be happy (not act happy, BE happy). There’s something sinister about the personalization of manipulation. That’s why gas-lighting someone is pretty universally considered a reprehensible thing, but the existence of commercials…not so much.

What do you think makes mind control scary and why is it different than the subtle and not so subtle ways we’re already controlled?