Caenus and Kalliste: A New Beginning

As most of you who follow me know, I am re-writing Caenus and The Quiver of Artemis. Hell, it may even have a new name by the time it's done. What it will also have is more intense action and more developed relationships. And... more romance. Oh, rest assured, it's still PG-13 on the romance front. But their love is more intense. (I do have an alter ego Scott Noir... but he's not touching this story!)

So in the spirit of Valentine's Day and all, I decided to reveal a bit of what I'm re-writing... a teaser if you will. To set it up: Caenus has already met his fire-haired love interest at the Isthmian Games, and felt the bite of her sharp tongue and indifference, as she is over and done with egotistical princes. A few days later, Caenus notices her at a festival and decides to charge the windmill yet again.
 

I present to you... Caenus... and Kalliste (posing as Adriande)

He approached the beauty, who ate with her friends from an over-sized fivefold cup offering wine, cheese, honey, bread, and olive oil. As he approached and opened his mouth to speak, she slowly turned to look at him. Her torch-lit emeralds cast a spell upon him and not a word escaped his parted lips. She smiled broadly, flattered as much by his genuine attraction as by his humility, a trait she found scarce in other young princes.

Her friends both looked at her with arched brows. After a pause, she nodded them away and turned back to the Iolkosian.

"Caenus... is it?"
"Yes M'lady." he fumbled nervously.
"Has my name took leave of you this quickly?"
"No, no, nooo... Adriande... see, I remembered."
"Pretty brave of you to punch that bull in the nose, eh? Were you not afraid of that terrible beast?"
"Survival calls for many tactics," he began. "W-w-wait a moment... you were watching that contest?"
"Yes, I saw a little..."
"What of the race yesterday... did you see that as well?"
"Not much to see really, except the beginning and end..."
"D-d-did you see the end?" he interjected, his voice pitched highly.
"Quite a finish, I must say," she smiled. "You may just win this thing, eh?"
"Well..." Caenus cast his eyes downward. "Makedon... he is a divine warrior it seems."

Adriande rolled her eyes, shifting them furtively from side to side. She paused, chewing her olive oil saturated bread end. After washing it down with a sip of wine, she spoke slowly, "I shall make you a deal. If you can best him... if you can win these games... I shall clasp your hand in marriage."

Caenus' heart stopped, rejecting fully what his ears knew he had heard. The only life he felt was the energy he absorbed from her eyes looking straight into his. The only air he breathed was the air she exhaled before his face. What she had said was that... he could win the crown of laurels, his father's respect, and the hand of the goddess before him? When his heart began again, a trickle of perspiration divided his brow.

"M'lady, I now ha..."
"Please... call me Adriande."
"Adriande... I now have more motivation than should be allowed a single man."
"Indeed you do."

A wry smile brought a twinkle to her eyes as she gazed deeply into his. Detecting no ego, no agenda, and no malice... none of the attributes so loathed in Makedon... she decided that if this goatherder could actually win the games, he would be well worth the trouble that was certain to come. His eyes had invited her into his unguarded core and held her captive. Who was she kidding... win or lose... she was his. He just did not know it yet.

"May the gods favor your victory, Caenus. Fare you well tomorrow." She lightly grazed his muscular upper arm and then turned to rejoin her friends.

Caenus barely breathed in the moments it took her to leave him. A warmth brewed in is soul, fire radiating outward in concentric rings. He had fallen headlong under her spell, yet he still knew frighteningly little about the mystery girl.

Where did she live? Who was her father? And how, as radiant as she looked, did she have no claims against her? Caenus sensed he was being led into a hornet's nest, but he cared not.

An Homage To "The Lightning Thief"

Let me just go ahead and say it... I AM ADDICTED TO MYTHOLOGY!! There I said it! I feel like I need to go to one of those meetings sometimes... You know the ones...
"Hello, my name is Chris and I'm a mythology addict."
"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii Chris! You're among friends."

Seriously, I love all mythology: Roman, Greek, Norse, Celtic, Egyptian... you name it... I love it!

As you know, I am myself re-penning a young adult, Greek mythology based novel. And, so I am all about hyping and promoting the category of YA Mythology based novels. This is why I am sooooo excited to see Rick Riordan's masterpiece- Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief- come to the big screen. It was an awesome read and I expect it to be an even awesomer movie! (Don't you worry, I know awesomer isn't a word... but sometimes it's fun to pretend ;-)

If you've lived under a rock recently, and aren't familiar with the book and story, here it is in a nutshell...
Set in modern day New York, young Percy Jackson discovers he is the demigod son of Poseidon, Greek God of the Sea. Together with a satyr and another demigod daughter of Athena, Percy embarks on an odyssey of sorts to recover Zeus' stolen thunderbolt. But can he find it in time to save the Gods of Olympus from going to war with each other?
Here's a redesigned cover of the book:

 

Here's the movie tie-in cover for the book:

So, like i said, the movie looks really exciting: Here's a link to the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOZmpR6s6Fg

 I hope you all enjoy it as much as I will!! See you at the movies!

Ancient Greek Lunar Months of Maimakterion and Poseideon

Maimakterion (lunar month from our current November to December) began the winter season. Thus, citizens prayed to Zeus to calm his blustering winds. A sheep was sacrificed and it's fleece considered magical.

Maimakterion gave way to Poseideon (lunar month from December to January). The eighth day of the lunar month was sacred to, who else... Poseidon!

A festival waged on in his honor recognizing the importance of the sea. It is interesting to note that the number eight was significant to Poseidon. The festival honoring him was held on the eighth day of the month. Eight letters spelled Poseidon. Later, the planet named Neptune (Poseidon's Roman equivalent), was the eighth planet from the sun.

In the last half of Poseideon, A Dionysian festival was held, including a procession of men carrying phallus, men carrying cakes, and revelling singers. An icon of the God of Libation was brought into the city's center to represent Dionysis coming.

Toward the end of the month, another larger festival roared to life in which women danced around a giant phallus. Later in the evening, men were admitted and a great orgy took place for the remainder of the night. And we wonder where we got our wild New Year's Eve celebrations from?

Author Kelly Gay, Interview and Giveaway

Enchanting Urban Fantasy Author Kelly Gay stopped by Susan Adrian's blog to talk about her debut novel (on shelves now!), THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS. And there's a contest and giveaway involved... what could be better?

Kelly Gay will surely become one of my favorite authors because we have kindred spirits... she was reading Herodotus when she was TEN YEARS OLD!!! That's hot!!!

So click here to go read her interview. And then, you can enter to when a copy of her debut book! Be thinking about this before you enter to win a copy of her book... What's Your Favorite Mythological Character?

Of course mine is Kheiron, the mythic centaur trainer and mentor to many of the legendary heroes.

A Double Shot Of Espresso, with a side of Award Nomination!!

Today is a great day! I feel like I've been injected with a double shot of espresso.
I have been taking a break from the @OfKingsAndGods Saga.

In October, I had been furiously editing on Caenus 2.0, tentatively named Caenus And The Return To Ares' Alter (the first book in the series was Caenus And The Quiver Of Artemis.

Then in November I shifted gears to launch my alter ego, @ScottNoir-- Scott Noir's Smoldering Prose who writes Steam-Up-Your-Glasses Romance.

It was during November (National Novel Writing Month- NaNoWriMo) that I participated in and won NaNoWriMo. penning 50,000 words in less than 30 days!! Here's a link to my event recap. Now in December I'm reconnecting with friends and family after a tumultuous estrangement in November. Anyone who participated in NaNoWriMo knows what I'm talking about. A writer can spend great spans of time in solitary confinement, writing their little heart away.

Sooo, today a couple of things happened that gave me a little shot in the arm. First I hit 1,000 tweets on my @OfKingsAndGods Twitter page. That's a milestone of sorts. And, sure... there are others who tweet way more than I do. But I'm proud of my production. My tweets are quality. I'm not just hooked up to some automated tweeter.

Secondly, I recently discovered that my debut novel, Caenus And The Quiver Of Artemis had been nominated for a the 2009 Cybils Award for YA Fantasy and Science Fiction. Wooo-Hooo!!! I am humbled and honored to be mentioned in the same breath with some of the books and authors on the list!!

Happy!! Happy!! What a way to celebrate a recently observed birthday... 39 years strong and young am I. Cheers to all and enjoy your Holiday Season!