My Muse is insisting that the title for my upcoming submission to the Storytime Blog Hop is Hera on a Harley.
(Really Muse?)
It’s got a real Grumpy Old Gods vibe, which shouldn’t be surprising since I’ve shifted gears for a few days to work on Grumpy 6 which will be out in March.
The Muse also insists that Hera is wearing a custom designed and embroidered motorcycle jacket with fabulous peacocks all over it (thing probably weighs a ton). I can’t find anything like it anywhere.
The Harley has a custom peacock paintjob. Specifically, she has a 1949 Harley Hydro-Glide which I didn’t know existed until I started searching the internet for the exact motorcycle in my head.
I have no idea how that thing got in there – I blame going to car shows to look at 1938 to 1939 Buicks for the Ghost Car in the Topeka series. I started digging around there it was: the original year came with a gorgeous peacock color, and while it would be a travesty to do what I’m going to do to this motorcycle in the story (so much bling), I am going to point out that it wasn’t a classic when Hera bought it – she picked it up from the showroom in 1949 after she left Zeus for the last time and gave up her title as Goddess of Marriage.
Hera gets a bad rap-she plays the villain in a lot of Greek mythology. I’ve been planning to do something with her since we first started Grumpy Old Gods. There’s something sad about how she’s portrayed – left with nothing but her pride as her family consistently sides with her philandering spouse.
When you get into the myths, she’s actually pretty fascinating. I had no idea she’s faced down giants herself in the original conflict with the titans. She kicked Ares’ butt during the Trojan War.
I think reading up on all that is where this badass version of Hera sprung from.
The story will drop Wednesday, January 25th, here on my blog. There will be links to the other writers who are posting stories. If you are a writer, there’s still time to submit a story:
