Clash of the Gods of Death

by Clarence Haynes

True believers, please know that Otherland’s third Mythic Fiction Book Club discussion will be this Friday, October 25th, 7.30 pm at the Otherland Bookshop. As per usual, we’ll have snacks, drinks and stimulating analysis.

We’ll be focusing on the recently released 2019 novel Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The book, an odyssey of sorts set in jazz age Mexico, follows the tribulations of Casiopea Tun, who unknowingly releases from a chest Hun-Kamé, the Mayan deity of death who was vanquished by his power-hungry brother Vucub-Kamé. With mortal and god physically linked, the injured deity informs Casiopea that they will be going to the city of Mérida, beginning a quest in which Hun-Kamé seeks to become whole again and regain power.

Moreno-Garcia spoke on her blog about the cultural origins of the underworld realm of Xibalba, where Hun-Kamé and his brother rule: http://www.silviamoreno-garcia.com/blog/welcome-to-xibalba/ She also discusses the role of owls in her work, inspired by the depiction of the birds in the ancient Mayan mythological text the Popol Vuh: http://www.silviamoreno-garcia.com/blog/the-owls/ (For more information on the Popol Vuh, please feel free to visit https://www.britannica.com/topic/Popol-Vuh and https://www.ancient.eu/Popol_Vuh/) 

Folklore Meets the Fantastic in MYTHIC FICTION

by Clarence Haynes

We’re thrilled to announce that Otherland’s first Mythic Fiction Book Club discussion is this Friday, April 26th, 19.30 at the Otherland Bookshop. We’ll be focusing on the novel Circe by Madeline Miller, a 2018 release which chronicles the life of the nymph widely known from Homer’s The Odyssey for her role as a witch with powers of transmutation.
Miller talked about the book last year on National Public Radio in the U.S.; the short interview is here.

Myths are ancient narratives hailing from a wide variety of cultures, presenting fantastic, nonscientific, often allegorical stories that have provided explanations to communities past about who we are and what surrounds us, including the origins of the world and nature’s inherent routines. Myths are also concerned with the stories of various deities—those divine beings who cultivate worship and act as a mirror to humanity—as well as the feats of extraordinary mortals.
In the Western world, the continuing influence of mythology can be seen in contemporary literary offerings that include psychodynamic nonfiction, novels, comics, TV series and films. (I have found myself particularly interested in modern, more progressive interpretations of Greek and Roman myth.)