Mythological Romance: Out of Olympus series by Tina Folsom (Guest Post)

Today I would like to welcome back romance author Tina Folsom who is here to help us celebrate Mythology Romance with her Out of Olympus series! 

Greek Gods are naughty and live for fun and games

by Tina Folsom

I see Greek Gods as the ultimate hedonists. They live for pleasure, entertainment, and fun. Nothing they do is to be taken too seriously. There is so much mischief hidden within the pages of Greek Mythology that they probably contain several dozens of romantic comedies that only need to be extracted. And really, that’s what I did with A Touch of Greek and its sequel A Scent of Greek.

In A Touch of Greek, I picked Triton, the son of Poseidon and made him into a playboy, a seducer, a womanizer who just can’t help himself. He loves women, and that’s his downfall. He angers Zeus by seducing his current mistress and is punished by being exiled to the mortal world. Not everything I write about Triton is rooted in actual Greek mythology. It’s true that he’s the son of Poseidon and that he’s a water god, however, he never took a wife. He’s often depicted as half man, half fish, but I got around that problem by writing in my book that his lower half only turns into a fin when he swims in the ocean. Because for sure, we can’t have a hot hero who hasn’t got hunky legs and ... well, you know, the right equipment to pleasure his lovely lady.

When I decided on the supporting characters, I was imagining the Rat Pack, and I know I’m dating myself or at least my taste in music. For me that group of mischievous hunks had to include Dionysus, or Bacchus as the Romans call him. Wine is part of every debauchery, so the god of wine and ecstasy had to be part of the gang. I’ve always seen Dionysus as the bad boy of Greek Mythology, the party-animal, the one who lives life to excess.

The god of love, Eros, was another god who is not only extremely well known among romance readers, but also totally misunderstood. A little angelic boy with wings and a bow and arrow? I think not! Nothing angelic about that little devil, and please, don’t let me call him little, Eros is nothing of the like. He’s a grown god just as hunky as the rest of them, or why else would Psyche have fallen for him? Their love story is one of the most enduring in Greek Mythology, and probably one of the most well known.

Hermes, despite the fact that he’s the only Olympian among the quartet, was a god I felt really complemented the other three. In a way he’s wiser and more cunning than the rest of them. He’s often portrayed as one of Zeus’ confidents, however that doesn’t stop him from playing pranks on his father. The fact that Hermes ferries souls over the river Styx only added to the mystery of his character. There are so many facets to him that it’s hard to really capture him. After all, he’s also the god of thieves. He’s a bit of a Jack of all trades, he improvises, he thinks on his feet.

Overall, Greek Mythology provides an author with so many possibilities of wonderful, rich characters. We only have to reach out and grab them and make their story our own. The story of Eros and Psyche has been adapted so many times that we might not even notice anymore, but I can guarantee you, many books and movies we read and watch today will have elements of Greek Mythology in them. We only need to open our eyes and look around us. The Greeks are alive and well.

Thank you, Tina, for joining us today! If you would like to learn more about Tina's Out of Olympus series and check out her many other novels head on over to http://www.tinawritesromance.com/
You can also purchase A Touch of Greek for your Kindle or Nook for $4.99 and A Scent of Greek for your  Kindle and Nook as well!