Guest Post – Hera: Kingdom of Lies by Betsy Ellor
Synopsis
Rich with betrayal, desire, and divine intrigue, this origin story of Greek mythology told from the point of view of its chief villain weaves gods, nymphs, dragons, sex, lies, and strategy into a fierce new legend. Hera: Kingdom of Lies combines the social and political maneuvers of Scandal with the mythic, villain redemption of Circe. Here’s what it’s about:
Before the gods became.
Before humankind was imagined.
Before Olympus was more than mist on a desolate mountain — Hera reigned.
When the war hero, Zeus, takes power and moves Hera’s statues aside to make room for his own, the queen of heaven must find her place in a new order. At first, drawn in by Zeus’ charm, she quickly realizes she wants no part of life with this petty, egocentric dictator. When she refuses to marry him, what began as seduction becomes a snare. Trapped into marriage, Hera learns that power can still be forged through cunning, seduction, and unexpected alliances. But after she gives birth to the God of War, her influence begins to crumble — and his lust threatens to tear the kingdom apart.
Amazon
Guest Post
Making Peace with Your Inner Dragon
By Betsy Ellor
Sweet. Pleasant. Accommodating. These are words often used to compliment women. We are praised for being gentle and tender. Unfortunately, the world also requires us to be fighters. We must advocate for our children in our school systems, firmly establish ourselves in our careers, battle bureaucracies for the health of our loved ones, and fight to have a voice in the future of our communities. But when our sharp edges show, and we refuse to comply, we are labeled difficult, too much or not nice.
The emotional gymnastics are exhausting.
That’s where I was when I discovered a dragon named Ladon. When I began researching the Greek goddess, Hera, for my latest novel, I stumbled across a fascinating tidbit about an immortal serpent who guarded Hera’s sacred golden apple tree. This dragon had one hundred heads that spoke in one hundred voices. In Greek myth, monsters are usually mute and mindlessly vicious, but this one clearly had something to say.
What if this dragon was not a monster, but the one who saw things clearly? What if his fierceness was not brutality — but perception sharpened into action?
When I was drafting the book, my own life was in upheaval. My marriage was ending, and at the same time, I was starting the journey of understanding my son’s neurodiversity. At home, I was a tender-hearted hearth-keeper, building a secure new home, cheerleading, and offering understanding and support. Outside my home, I had to be a dragon, establishing a new career as well as fighting for the resources and accommodations my son needed.
In the novel, Ladon fights when he must, but he longs for stillness. For many of us that feels familiar. We want calm, but the world sometimes demands that you grow teeth. And then, like the dragon, many will judges you for the very fierceness it forced you to develop.
Hera knows this tension intimately. As the Goddess of Marriage and Motherhood, she is trying to hold together a kingdom and a family under relentless scrutiny. When she enforces boundaries, she’s called jealous. When she protects what is sacred, she’s labeled quarrelsome. Like Ladon, she must be both tender and ferocious. And like Ladon, the world judges her based on only part of that picture. She is portrayed as the villain, but I was interested in writing the origin story of the Greek gods from her perspective.
Spending time with Hera and Ladon, helped me make peace with something that duality and I hope that readers will find that, too. Remember:
Being fierce doesn’t make you hard. Being soft doesn’t make you weak. Perhaps the real monster was never the dragon, but the idea that a dragon can’t be driven by love under the armor plating.
About the Author
Betsy Ellor lives in a house filled with color and chaos. When not at her desk, she’s hiking, gardening, or annoying her teenage son. She’s the editor of the anthology Heroic Care, author of the picture book, My Dog is NOT A Scientist, from Yeehoo Press, and scribbler of articles and stories for various outlets, including Spine Magazine, 5 Minute Lit, and The Creative Collective.
