stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2015-06-22 02:12 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2015-06-22 02:12 pm
DANNY Detail
I'd always been long fascinated by Ganymede, the teenager who was kidnapped by Zeus to serve as his cupbearer on Olympus. Zeus sees Ganymede on the earth below, decides he's the coolest kid ever, changes into an eagle, and snatches Ganymede up to Olympus. Zeus then persuades Hebe to make Ganymede immortal, then dumps Hebe as his cupbearer and gives that exhalted position to Ganymede.
Only two and a half stories about Ganymede have survived--the story of his kidnapping, a mention in the Iliad about
Zeus giving Ganymede's father Tros a set of horses in payment for the loss of his son (that's the half), and a story in which Ganymede plays a game of dice against Eros, loses, and gets mad at him. That's it. Nothing else. But there are lots and lots and lots of painting and sculptures from ancient Greece depicting Ganymede, and it seems very likely that Ganymede was more popular than just two and half stories would indicate, and I always wondered what else he might have been up to.
When I got older and read the actual material instead of the summaries and children's versions, I learned that Ganymede was more than Zeus's cupbearer. Zeus also took Ganymede to his bed. This was part of Greek culture--a powerful man would often serve as a mentor/teacher/second father/love interest to a teenaged male. Usually the parents went along with this: "Good news, son! Your uncle has offered to be your mentor! His wine business is doing well, and he still remembers his sword work. We're so happy!" So Ganymede a mythological paralllel to this mortal custom.
The stories, however, never went into what it was like. What was it LIKE for Ganymede to be snatched away from his family and friends and suddenly make into the cupbearer and lover of the king of gods? You have the ultimate mentor, but it wasn't anything you'd asked for. Your culture teaches you that being taken to this guy's bed is a good thing, or at least something you can put up with because all of us men went through it, but how do you =really= handle it? (Unlike our culture, which treats sexual assault victims as lepers, Greeks saw this kind of thing as normal and acceptable and not at all shameful. And yet . . . )
The only way to find out what it was like was to write it myself. The trouble was the setting. Did I want to write ancient Greece and writing a straighforward fantasy novel, or could I get away with this in a modern setting and using characters who were parallels to the myth?
Ultimately, I settled on using both, and DANNY was born. And . . . wow. It was a p[owerful and difficult and heart-pounding book to write in all kinds of ways I never expected.
It's available at Book View Cafe and at Amazon.
Only two and a half stories about Ganymede have survived--the story of his kidnapping, a mention in the Iliad about
Zeus giving Ganymede's father Tros a set of horses in payment for the loss of his son (that's the half), and a story in which Ganymede plays a game of dice against Eros, loses, and gets mad at him. That's it. Nothing else. But there are lots and lots and lots of painting and sculptures from ancient Greece depicting Ganymede, and it seems very likely that Ganymede was more popular than just two and half stories would indicate, and I always wondered what else he might have been up to.
When I got older and read the actual material instead of the summaries and children's versions, I learned that Ganymede was more than Zeus's cupbearer. Zeus also took Ganymede to his bed. This was part of Greek culture--a powerful man would often serve as a mentor/teacher/second father/love interest to a teenaged male. Usually the parents went along with this: "Good news, son! Your uncle has offered to be your mentor! His wine business is doing well, and he still remembers his sword work. We're so happy!" So Ganymede a mythological paralllel to this mortal custom.
The stories, however, never went into what it was like. What was it LIKE for Ganymede to be snatched away from his family and friends and suddenly make into the cupbearer and lover of the king of gods? You have the ultimate mentor, but it wasn't anything you'd asked for. Your culture teaches you that being taken to this guy's bed is a good thing, or at least something you can put up with because all of us men went through it, but how do you =really= handle it? (Unlike our culture, which treats sexual assault victims as lepers, Greeks saw this kind of thing as normal and acceptable and not at all shameful. And yet . . . )
The only way to find out what it was like was to write it myself. The trouble was the setting. Did I want to write ancient Greece and writing a straighforward fantasy novel, or could I get away with this in a modern setting and using characters who were parallels to the myth?
Ultimately, I settled on using both, and DANNY was born. And . . . wow. It was a p[owerful and difficult and heart-pounding book to write in all kinds of ways I never expected.
It's available at Book View Cafe and at Amazon.