Rachel Alexander's Blog, page 433
February 29, 2016
Destroyer of Light book giveaway contest
Hey guys! I’m here to tell you about this amazing fanfiction turned book about Hades and Persephone. It’s a wonderful, amazing and beautifully written. I read the fanfiction when it was still on ao3 when I was in a really dark time in my life and it helped me so much. It made me forget about my depression and I was with Persephone and Hades.
This story is about the myth of Persephone and Hades and how they meet and fall in love and all the setbacks the other gods put in their way. The first five chapters are on ao3 still but I think you should buy the book. The first part Reciever of Many is on Amazon. And the second part is coming out soon! Go buy the book and enjoy! It’s by Rachel Alexander and she’s awesome!
The marriage of Hades and Persephone blossoms and their...
The marriage of Hades and Persephone blossoms and their mysterious grove in the world below thrives…
…while the sunlit world withers.
Demeter holds out in Eleusis, pushing both mankind and the gods to frozen starvation in order to reclaim her daughter. The newly married rulers of the dead must reach an accord with Persephone’s mother to stay her deadly course— and come face to face with sacrifice, responsibility, and the balance of power among the gods.
Destroyer of Light concludes the erotic romance begun in Receiver of Many: a battle of wills among the gods is writ large across the dying earth, a cruel sorcerer-king faces his trial, and the King and Queen of the Underworld realize a destiny that the Fates alone could have foreseen.
Destroyer of Light, the sequel to Receiver of Many, debuts on March 20, 2016. Available for Preorder in Paperback and eBook
kata-chthonia:
The marriage of Hades and Persephone blossoms...
The marriage of Hades and Persephone blossoms and their mysterious grove in the world below thrives…
…while the sunlit world withers.
Demeter holds out in Eleusis, pushing both mankind and the gods to frozen starvation in order to reclaim her daughter. The newly married rulers of the dead must reach an accord with Persephone’s mother to stay her deadly course— and come face to face with sacrifice, responsibility, and the balance of power among the gods.
Destroyer of Light concludes the erotic romance begun in Receiver of Many: a battle of wills among the gods is writ large across the dying earth, a cruel sorcerer-king faces his trial, and the King and Queen of the Underworld realize a destiny that the Fates alone could have foreseen.Destroyer of Light, the sequel to Receiver of Many, debuts on March 20, 2016. Available for Preorder in Paperback and eBook
February 28, 2016
kata-chthonia:
* * * * * *Only two weeks left to participate in...
* * * * * *
Only two weeks left to participate in the Destroyer of Light SIGNED COPY Giveaway ContestAnd no matter how many or how few followers you have, you can absolutely enter the contest!
Again, if you need my help at all, like specific quotes from the book for a gif set, please let me know and I’ll try to help you. (ex: “you know that one thing that persephone said to hades during the ___ scene about ___?” really helps me narrow it down!)
Remember, I’m choosing five random winners so your odds are even better than the Receiver of Many Giveaway Contest. Just be sure to post your entry no later than Midnight, Tuesday March 15 to qualify.
Hi! I made a post about your books a few days ago and I wondered if you saw it
I definitely did!! I’m reblogging the DoL promos in the order received one per day at around 3:00 pm Pacific time.
Destroyer of Light
Hi guys, I just wanted to write a little about Rachel Alexander’s book “Destroyer of Light” which the next installment of her series about Hades and Persephone. (The first book is Receiver of Many). I was lucky enough to stumble upon her work at @kata-chthonia and was completely fell in love with her retelling.
The transformation of how the maiden Kore who finds her inner strength to become the Iron Queen, is not only realistic but leaves you rooting for her to realize her greatness in a patriarchal world.
Being an English major I have been exposed to good, bad and ugly writing. Rachel Alexander’s stands out like a gem that I want to rediscover over and over again.
I can’t wait to get my copy of “Destroyer of Light” and I’m happy and grateful that she sharing her talent with us.
If you are interested in the Hades and Persephone saga that is consistent with the classic tale but with a feminist edge do yourself a favor and check out this series.
Pre-Order Destroyer of Light Here
The marriage of Hades and Persephone blossoms and their...
The marriage of Hades and Persephone blossoms and their mysterious grove in the world below thrives…
…while the sunlit world withers.
Demeter holds out in Eleusis, pushing both mankind and the gods to frozen starvation in order to reclaim her daughter. The newly married rulers of the dead must reach an accord with Persephone’s mother to stay her deadly course— and come face to face with sacrifice, responsibility, and the balance of power among the gods.
Destroyer of Light concludes the erotic romance begun in Receiver of Many: a battle of wills among the gods is writ large across the dying earth, a cruel sorcerer-king faces his trial, and the King and Queen of the Underworld realize a destiny that the Fates alone could have foreseen.
Destroyer of Light, the sequel to Receiver of Many, debuts on March 20, 2016. Available for Preorder in Paperback and eBook
* * * * * *Only two weeks left to participate in the Destroyer...
* * * * * *
Only two weeks left to participate in the Destroyer of Light SIGNED COPY Giveaway ContestAnd no matter how many or how few followers you have, you can absolutely enter the contest!
Again, if you need my help at all, like specific quotes from the book for a gif set, please let me know and I’ll try to help you. (ex: “you know that one thing that persephone said to hades during the ___ scene about ___?” really helps me narrow it down!)
Remember, I’m choosing five random winners so your odds are even better than the Receiver of Many Giveaway Contest. Just be sure to post your entry no later than Midnight, Tuesday March 15 to qualify.
The Underworld
Why is the ruler of the Greek underworld called Hades?
Hades (Aidou “of Hades”) meaning “the unseen one”, is the place where the souls go after death. Aidoneus is a striking similar name (Aidouneus, Aidou “of Hades”, -neus is maybe neos “young one”; what? Hades’ young one? Does that even make sense?)
Hades (Aidou) starts as the name of a place. The Land of the Unseen, a dark, windless place where the dead go. Then it becomes the name of its ruler, Hades first-born of Kronos and Rhea (respectively the deification of the concept of linear time and of the earth fertility). In other versions the eldest is Hestia, Hades the second-born, but he is the first son anyway. He gains the epithet polydegmos “receiver of many”, for being the “host” to his own sibling as they get swallowed by their father.I don’t really get how naming your first son as the place where the dead go could sound like a good idea. Unless…
When Kronos is king on Olympus, what’s exactly going on with humans? At the beginning of his reign its seems like things were going very smoothly. It’s the Golden Age: humans do not need to cook their food, or hunting it; there is no need for work. Everything is ready when they need it.
One myth says that humans gained mortality when they started killing for food, and thus eating death itself while consummating the meat of their preys. The Greeks seemed aware of the whole ordeal “I eat food, the food turns into blood”, thus they define the gods as “deathless and bloodless” (in their veins runs “ichor”), since they consummate ambrosia and do not need to kill for sustenance. [i’ll probably need to talk about this more extensively, in another post]
So, during the reign of Kronos humans do not die?
It seems like this is the case, since they are not killing for food. This humans, they were different from us. They probably didn’t have a distinction between females and males (if we follow the myth of Pandora, the first woman was created only under the reign of Zeus). Only the gods are in possession of the necessary sophistication to recognize a feminine and a masculine, but a straight-forward definition of male and female as contrappose seems unlikely: they may present themselves as more towards one side of the spectrum, but they don’t appear very keen on being one or the other (they often change sex/gender). [another thing to talk about in another post. someday.]
Anyway.
The underworld is called “Aidou”, genitive. So this place was probably nameless before, and not used to store souls. There was Tartarus, yes, but not the Underworld. So it gets its name from its ruler, Hades. This is the land of Hades. Why give a child this kind of name? Because he is hidden from sight, after being swallowed by Kronos. Hades is the guardian of a prison, Tartarus, and the accountant of the dead when humans starts dying. He gets the lot that seems less valuable and turns it into the biggest kingdom of the three (the dead outnumber the living).
The reason The Underworld pops up as Haidou “of Hades” in your translation is because there is a first part to that. The full name of the Underworld was “Domos Haidou” which means House or Domain of Hades. The Theoi Khthonioi were the gods who dwelled in Domos Haidou, among them, Hades himself, who was usually referred to in epithet as the All-Receiver or the Unseen One, so that the Greeks wouldn’t invite death into their homes by speaking his name. He was named as the “Receiver of Many” in mythology because all people’s souls were destined to go to him as death was universal.
According to Hesiod, there were five ages of mankind. The Golden Age was populated by the Golden Men, who did not die from old age, did not have to hunt or grow food, and didn’t get ill. But their kind passed away from the earth, and Kronos created the Silver Men, when lived like children and didn’t mind the gods. Then the Bronze men, who warred with each other so terribly that they did not last long. Then the Heroic Age, where most of the heroes of mythology played out their stories before the present age (the Age of Iron) which as Hesiod said in Works and Days is characterized by hardship and toil.
