Mythical Monday (7)

It seems there are many books based on or influenced by Myths and Mythological Beings.

There are so many different Mythology and Mythological Beings recorded. Some are very popular and well known, others not so much. There are many similar beings, yet different depending on the culture it’s based in.  The definition of Myth covers about anything in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy realm to me.

I’ve invited authors to share briefly the Mythological being or Myth that influenced their character(s) or story, or what their character(s) are based on influencing their books.  Hosting here, one author and being or myth per week.

This week we have:

Urban Fantasy author Kelly Meding

Talking of Titans.

"Of Heroes and Titans"

When Melissa first asked me to participate in Mythical Mondays, we both thought that my Dreg City booksTEMPEST (MetaWars 3) releasing next week, I thought it would be a fun challenge to look at this meme through the lens of the MetaWars world.  At first glance, there aren't a lot of mythical influences in this world of distrusted superheroes.  No vampire legends or Norse thunder gods to be found. The vast majority of my influences for MetaWars comes from comic books and their various film/television adaptations.  The books are about superheroes, after all.

would be a perfect fit. But with

Until I looked at the roots of my own fascination with superheroes, which goes back to the Wolfman/Perez run on "The New Teen Titans" in the early eighties. It was a team book, like Justice League or X-Men, with a group of characters working together toward a common goal.  But this series was unique in that it was about eighteen year-old former sidekicks trying to make it without their mentors.  The stories were action-packed, sometimes dark, often funny, and I got very attached to some of those characters.  And in many of those characters, you could see glimpses of mythical archetypes: Aphrodite, Hermes, Athena, and others.  Wonder Girl's backstory was rewritten multiple times, but it always circled back to Greek mythology.

It didn't hurt, too, that the Teen Titans once battled the actual, mythical Titans.  That was pretty epic.

The Greek Titans were the descendants of Gaia and Uranus (Earth and Sky).  They were the first pantheon of powerful beings, immortals with incredible strength and supernatural abilities.  The Titans were eventually overthrown after a ten year war in Thessaly, and imprisoned by Zeus and the other Olympians.

For centuries, long before Superman and Wolverine, man had superheroes in the forms of mythical gods.  Whether you look at the Greek/Roman pantheons, Norse myths, or Japanese myths, you'll find powerful beings whose battles against themselves and against mankind have spawned hundreds of stories and legends.  These "superheroes" threw lightning bolts, raced the wind, moved the oceans, and held the fate of thousands in their powerful hands—not unlike modern day superheroes.

In the MetaWars world, constant warring between heroes and villains devastated the country and its economy, leaving many cities in ruins.  It's up to a new generation of superheroes to win back the public trust and support that their predecessors destroyed.  So while I can't pinpoint one specific myth or being that directly influenced the MetaWars, the indirect influence is definitely present.

You can find Kelly:

Blog:  http://chaostitan.blogspot.com

Twitter:  @KellyMeding

Facebook:  ww.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Meding

Web:  www.kellymeding.com

Barnes & Nobles for Tempest.

The First two books in MetaWars: