Mythical Monday (28)

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/Romance author O.M. Grey

Talking of "Seductive Succubi".

Seductive Succubi

Constance Saggese is the perfect woman. Every woman. She is the demure virgin. The ignored wife. The experienced concubine. The lonely crone. Whatever her lover most wants, she complies. In the end, however, her will alone shall be done.

Always her will, and after five hundred years exacting justice for violated women, she's gotten pretty good at spotting evil men.

Constance is a succubus, but unlike succubi in popular mythology, she is not a demon. Not really. Historically, a succubus is a female demon or supernatural entity who tempts and destroys men through sexual intercourse or through sexual dreams, feeding off of the innocent man's life-force. These creatures often cause illness or even death, according to religious traditions. Like many Judeo-Christian religious traditions and mythologies, a feminine power is demonized and portrayed as an evil temptress whose raison d'être is to destroy the poor, innocent, unwitting man by exploiting his sexual desires. Historically, the truth is almost the exact opposite. Men in power, like bishops and archbishops, abuse their position to "seduce" and control women, then hide behind lies and piety. Centuries of pedophilia in the church have been swept under the rug and hidden behind rhetoric. Of course, these predators don't only exist in the church. Sex scandals break out rather consistently around high ranking men in corporations, politics, and educational institutions.

I've turned the succubus around in Avalon Revamped. She is, indeed, a supernatural creature who feeds of men's sexual energy, but she targets only the wicked. The rapists. The lotharios. The predators and abusers. She sacrifices herself again and again for the greater good. When she has irrefutable proof of their evil deeds, she exacts her punishment and ensures each suffers as much agony, fear, and pain as each of their victims. True justice is served. She is the anti-antognist to Arthur's anti-hero.

Arthur Tudor, a vampire for nearly four-hundred years, finds himself bored with life and love, yet again. His tolerance for his newly-turned girlfriend Avalon wanes, and he's again on the prowl for fresh blood to drink and succulent flesh to pierce. While investigating a series of mysterious disappearances, the couple come face to face with Constance. The supernatural trio joins forces to stop a serial rapist and murderer.

Similar to the new perspective on the succubus, the anti-hero vampire shows his true sociopathic nature in Avalon Revamped. Vampires are little more than fantasy versions of sociopathic narcissists. Charming and seductive, captivating and erotic...yet completely empty. Soulless. They manipulate their targets to feed off their life-force, casting them aside once they're no longer useful. Vampires have been deeply romanticized in popular fiction over the past twenty or thirty years, but they are, indeed, monsters. We must never forget that for all their charm, they are killers. Even the hero vampires of Buffy and the like are the anomaly, struggling against their nature to be a better man, to stop hurting others. They are the equivalent of the self-aware sociopathic narcissist. A rare thing, indeed. Arthur is not such a creature. He is a spoiled, former heir to the English throne still looking for that narcissistic myth of "perfect love," and he thinks he finds it in Avalon Revisited. However, in Avalon Revamped, the sequel of sorts, Arthur is once again bored and even angry when he realizes Avalon is a woman, not a perfect fantasy-come-true. Avalon Revamped shows what happens the day after "Happily Ever After," when the princess realizes Prince Charming isn't such a prince, nor is he that charming.

Set in Victorian London, Avalon Revamped is a Steampunk horror novel about justice, retribution, and redemption. It's available on Amazon in paperback and on the Kindle.

C. L. Stegall, author of The Blood of Others, says this about Avalon Revamped:

"Every once in a while I get the opportunity to read a piece of work that makes me think, 'This is the one the will put this author on the map of the reading world.' Avalon Revamped is that book for O. M. Grey. It deals with some horrific truths and should be read by every person on the planet. It is a great adventure, with serious underpinnings that elevate it into a higher realm of genre literature."

If you haven't yet read its predecessor, Avalon Revisited, you can also get it through Amazon, Kindle, and other eBook versions via Riverdale Ave Books. It was an Amazon.com Gothic Romance Bestseller, and it won the Steampunk Chronicles Readers' Choice Award for Best Novel in 2012.

For more of my published words, including short stories and poetry, please visit my blog http://omgrey.wordpress.com.

Thank you for reading. May you all find peace.

Author Bio:

Olivia M. Grey lives in the cobwebbed corners of her mind writing paranormal romance with a Steampunk twist, like the Amazon Gothic Romance bestseller Avalon Revisited and it’s newly released sequel, of sorts, Avalon Revamped. Her short stories and poetry have been published in various magazines and anthologies, like SNM Horror Magazine andHow the West Was Wicked. Ms. Grey also blogs and podcasts relationship essays covering such topics as alternative lifestyles, deepening intimacy, ending a relationship with love and respect, and other deliciously dark and decadent matters of the heart and soul.

Read more by O. M. Grey on her blog Caught in the Cogs, http://omgrey.wordpress.com


Find O.M. Grey:
Site:  caught in the cogs
Facebook:  O.M. Grey Author page
Twitter:  @omgrey

Find the books on Amazon:

Avalon Revisited

Avalon Revamped