We wonder how people hope to avoid their fate with strange hand gestures. No different from making the sign of the cross, right? About as effectual, too.
The concept of people descended from gods isn’t a new one. The Greeks had entire mythos devoted to mortals born from divine couplings between deities or a deity and the odd luckless mortal. But those are bare-bones stories, often meant as cautionary tales and usually ending in tragedy. A hero develops hubris and thinks he deserves a spot at the Olympian table because his great-granddad is Zeus. A son of Apollo gets blasted with divine fire when he brings someone back from the dead.
However, there are other tales of immortal-descended humans whose gifts/talents/powers are used to help others. There may be glory for them—but often not. Such is the case of moirae, descendants of the Greek Fates: Clotho, who decided a mortal’s life (king, pauper, fisherman, et al.); Lachesis, who measured out the length of their life line and Atropos, she who snipped the thread when a person’s life was done. You can see them in the Disney film “Hercules” where they play a small but significant part of the plot. Here lie other mortals sprung from other beings as well—you hesitate to call these “gods”.
But having such humans in a novel is new to me. These unique quantities and the off-kilter worldscape intrigue and mesmerize. There was some vague cataclysm known as the Collapse and this wrecked orb is what is left in its wake. The city of Alante is a crippled and drowning place, one that seems to be slowly submerging into a watery element yet never quite managing to sink entirely. It’s an environment that crawls with rodents and has ineffectual bridges built for the cats that must stalk them. Mob gangs and corrupt cops permeate the plot and bring their own level of problems and solutions for the populace. Yet it possesses an eerie beauty under three moons and contains a melting pot of cultures that no doubt lends it an inner richness.
This is shaping up to be quite the fantastic tale. Let’s see what fate brings.
The concept of people descended from gods isn’t a new one. The Greeks had entire mythos devoted to mortals born from divine couplings between deities or a deity and the odd luckless mortal. But those are bare-bones stories, often meant as cautionary tales and usually ending in tragedy. A hero develops hubris and thinks he deserves a spot at the Olympian table because his great-granddad is Zeus. A son of Apollo gets blasted with divine fire when he brings someone back from the dead.
However, there are other tales of immortal-descended humans whose gifts/talents/powers are used to help others. There may be glory for them—but often not. Such is the case of moirae, descendants of the Greek Fates: Clotho, who decided a mortal’s life (king, pauper, fisherman, et al.); Lachesis, who measured out the length of their life line and Atropos, she who snipped the thread when a person’s life was done. You can see them in the Disney film “Hercules” where they play a small but significant part of the plot. Here lie other mortals sprung from other beings as well—you hesitate to call these “gods”.
But having such humans in a novel is new to me. These unique quantities and the off-kilter worldscape intrigue and mesmerize. There was some vague cataclysm known as the Collapse and this wrecked orb is what is left in its wake. The city of Alante is a crippled and drowning place, one that seems to be slowly submerging into a watery element yet never quite managing to sink entirely. It’s an environment that crawls with rodents and has ineffectual bridges built for the cats that must stalk them. Mob gangs and corrupt cops permeate the plot and bring their own level of problems and solutions for the populace. Yet it possesses an eerie beauty under three moons and contains a melting pot of cultures that no doubt lends it an inner richness.
This is shaping up to be quite the fantastic tale. Let’s see what fate brings.