Zoraida Cordova knows what’s what. Her story, “The Gorgon Confessionals,” opens Fit for the Gods by imagining that the gods, immortals, heroes and villains of Greek mythology are regenerating into the modern world, they have their memories, but not necessarily their powers. Through a documentary series, Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy, is examining the story of Medusa and Perseus through a series of interviews. Zeus is a Republican candidate for President. (Vote Hades!).
The stories by two of my favorite authors, Suleikha Snyder and Alyssa Cole dive deeply into the emotional core of their respective myths. In Snyder’s “The Ship of Thea,” a woman dealing with burnout and depression tackles a complicated escape room and discovers the prize is a second chance. Cole’s “Stasis (Bastion in the Spring)” might be my new favorite Hades and Persephone retelling.
The biggest surprise for me was Valerie Valdes’ “Atalanta Hunts the Boar.” I loved the scifi setting and the way Valdes took the names and the dynamics from mythology to tell the story of Atalanta and her (not so) himbo husband taking down a vicious killer. I have Valdes’ Chilling Effect on my kindle, and clearly I need to find time to read it.
One of the things I love about anthologies is getting to try new authors. I really enjoyed WenWen Yang’s “The Words from the Mountain.” I loved that Yang and Maya Deane’s (“No Gods,No Kings”) stories of sacrifice and liberation wrapped up the anthology.
I had to brush up on my mythology for a few of the stories. Knowing the relationships between characters in myth particularly deepened my enjoyment of Valdes and Mia P. Manansala’s (“The Furies Detective Agency”) stories.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Penguin Random House and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.
