Bookish Thursday - Legends in a New Light - Guest Post by Betsy Ellor

While my review of the book will be posted on March 12, right now I would like to share a guest post from the author, Betsy Ellor. Check out WOW-Women on Writing and enter for a copy of the book by March 15. 

Please read and enjoy and come back next week for my review of Hera: Kingdom of Lies.

Legends in a New Light

By Betsy Ellor

What is it about myths that we just can’t get enough of? Norse gods dominate today’s movie screens. Contemporary teenagers battle ancient Greek monsters on Disney+. And Spiderman - a modern myth - gets a reboot every few years. What is it that keeps us coming back for more?

Simply put, myths are stories most people know - at least a little. We have cultural buy-in with them. This makes them comfortable, and our comfort allows the stories to be used like a mirror held up to society; the mirror’s framework remains constant, but what we see reflected changes with each new generation. Myths endure because how we see ourselves reflected in them evolves.

That’s exactly how I came to write Hera: Kingdom of Lies. I’ve loved mythology my whole life, but after I became a working mother, the portrayal of Hera in the old stories needled me. I could no longer see her simply as a petty, jealous villain. Hera was more than a villain; she was a leader, a protector, and a mother. Her dominions were marriage and motherhood, meaning it was literally her job to enforce the sanctity of those institutions, yet when she did so, she was labeled quarrelsome and difficult - labels that still get lobbed at women in leadership today.

Then I discovered that Hera was worshipped in ancient times as a powerful goddess-queen long before the myth of Zeus superseded her. That got me wondering: what if the myths we know were really motivated by the political maneuverings of a powerful queen and mother fighting for family and her realm, now that political order had been thrown into chaos, and her voice was stripped. The ancient stories remain as a mirror, but changing their motivations creates a new legend relevant to our times.

Hera evolves from an ancient villain to an overburdened heroine in the same way Thor evolved from a Norse religious icon to a bold comic-book hero to a Marvel superhero to a comedic presence in a series of internet shorts. Same hammer. Endless angles informed by each new storyteller.

Arthurian legends evolved in a similar way. Arthur and Merlin were once separate strands of folklore until someone in Anglo-Saxon Britain essentially fan-fictioned them together, and it stuck. The French later added Lancelot and the sweeping love affair with Guinevere. Same sword. Same kingdom. New emotional stakes for a new generation of storylovers.

We return to these stories to fall in love with familiar characters all over again and to see them from an angle we never expected. In Hera: Kingdom Of Lies, I hope readers find not a caricatured villain, but a woman doing her best to balance motherhood, marriage, and leadership; the same impossible juggling act so many of us know well. Myths endure because they evolve. The mirror remains, but the reflection changes. And if readers glimpse themselves in that reflection, I hope it empowers them to claim the role of hero in their own stories.

Betsy Ellor is a women’s fiction author and multi-disciplinary creative whose work blends intrigue, myth, and magic with strong, complex female leads. Her latest novel, Hera: Kingdom of Lies, delivers the origin story of Greek mythology told from the perspective of its chief ‘villain.’ It weaves gods, nymphs, dragons, sex, lies, and strategy into a fierce new legend that combines the social and political maneuvers of Scandal with the mythic, villain-redemption of Circe.

Betsy is also the editor of the anthology Heroic Care, author of the picture book, My Dog is NOT A Scientist, and scribbler of articles and stories for various outlets, including Spine Magazine, 5 Minute Lit, and The Creative Collective.

Connect with Me:

Linktr.ee: linktr.ee/betsyellor

Instagram: betsyellor

Facebook: betsy.ellor

Substack: betsyellor.substack.com

Threads: Betsyellor