Fit for the Gods: Greek Mythology Reimagined

by Jenn Northington (Editor), Sharifah Williams (Editor)

Overview

An anthology of gender-bent, queered, race-bent, and inclusive retellings from the enchanting and eternally popular world of Greek myth, featuring stories by:

Marika Bailey • Alyssa Cole • Zoraida Córdova • Maya Deane • Sarah Gailey • Zeyn Joukhadar • Mia P. Manansala • Juliana Spink Mills • Susan Purr • Taylor Rae • Jude Reali • Suleikha Snyder • Valerie Valdes • S. Zainab Williams • Wen Wen Yang

Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, and the other denizens of Mount Olympus feel almost as present and larger than life today as they did when they were worshipped as gods. Humanity has been telling and retelling stories about the characters from Greek and Roman myth for centuries—heck, the Romans liked the Hellenic originals so much, they remade them faster than Marvel remakes Spider-Man movies. And from Virgil's Aeneid to Xena: Warrior Princess to Percy Jackson to The Song of Achilles, the obsession has never waned.

Yet Fit for the Gods shows how these stories still have a power of metamorphosis that would impress Ovid. Brave, bold, and groundbreaking, the stories in Fit for the Gods will be like ambrosia for those craving fresh interpretations of their favorite myths, and give long-time fans a chance to finally see themselves in these beloved legends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593469255
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2023
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

JENN NORTHINGTON is the co-editor of the Locus Award-nominated anthology Sword Stone Table, a former bookseller, and a current reviewer, podcaster, and editor with Riot New Media Group.
S. ZAINAB WILLIAMS is a writer, editor, and illustrator based in Asheville, NC. A podcaster and director of content for Book Riot, and a member of PEN America’s Literary Awards Committee, she spends most of her days thinking about how to make the world of books and reading more inclusive and progressive.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Jenn Northington & S. Zainab Williams

The Gorgon Confessionals
Zoraida Córdova

Dion and the Maenads
S. Zainab Williams

Tiresias
Zeyn Joukhadar

Wild to Covet
Sarah Gailey

Pescada
Juliana Spink Mills

Pickles for Mrs. Pomme
Susan Purr

The Ship of Thea
Suleikha Snyder

The Furies Detective Agency
Mia P. Manansala

Atalanta Hunts the Boar
Valerie Valdes

A Heart Inured to Suffering
Jude Reali

Trembling Aspen; Or, To Shiver
Marika Bailey

Stasis (Bastion in the Spring)
Alyssa Cole

The Eagles at the Edge of the World
Taylor Rae

The Words from the Mountain
Wen Wen Yang

No Gods, No Kings
Maya Deane

Acknowledgments
About the Editors
About the Contributors & Story Notes

Editorial Reviews

By masterfully playing with race, gender and queerness, this refreshing anthology reimagines the classics of Greek mythology.”
—Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine

“An anthology of gender-bent, queered, and multiracial retellings of the most popular and epic Greek myths. . . . Fit For The Gods offers a refreshing look at those tales.”
—Brea Baker, Elle

“An all-star group of authors . . . subvert the canon of Greek mythology. . . . Puts a more diverse, inclusive twist on the classic tales. . . . There’s something for everyone in this collection.”
—Elizabeth Held, Parade

“Smart, playful, funny, and insightful, these stories scratched an itch I didn’t even realize I had. Such a pleasure to see these familiar tales spun in a brand new, and beautiful way. I had a blast with this book.”
—Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women

“There's nothing I love more than reimagined myth, and this anthology is exactly what I love—full of wild, wonderful reimaginings that add to the longstanding tradition of mythological retellings. From emotional and fantastical, to evocative and sexy, there's something here for everyone. Fit for the Gods reads like the nectar of them.”
—Sarah MacLean, bestselling author of Heartbreaker

“Sure, Zeus could transform himself into a swan. So what? The authors of these stories have done one better: transforming ancient myths into something bright, strange, and new. From shadowy soirees to futuristic floodwaters to the pale blinking of distant galaxies, Fit for the Gods proves once and for all that even the oldest myths truly are ever-relevant.”
—GennaRose Nethercott, author of Thistlefoot

“Fit for the Gods reimagines, subverts, and expands the Greek mythological canon in thrilling and inspiring ways, across space and time and perspectives and genres. The labyrinth as an escape room for a last-ditch intervention, the Furies as a Filipino-American detective agency, Odysseus trapped by their spaceship's AI—every story in this brilliant collection is both a surprise and a satisfying delight.”
—Jane Pek, author of The Verifiers

“These stories reimagine classic Grecian mythological characters in diverse, inclusive, and thought-provoking new ways. . . . Sure to change the way you look at Mount Olympus forever.”
—Susie Dumond, Book Riot

“The retellings’ variety ensures there’s plenty to enjoy. . . . This collection should please Greek myth fans who want to approach familiar stories from a queer, feminist perspective. Recommended.”
—Erin Niederberger, Library Journal

“Intriguing. . . . Captivating. . . . A collection of impressive breadth that will reward the mythically minded.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Journey to Mount Olympus this summer with an anthology that puts an inclusive spin on your favorite Greek myths through authors playing with genre, sexuality, gender, and more.”
—Kelly Gallucci, We Are Bookish, "30 Summer Books to Have on Your Radar"

From the Publisher

07/01/2023

Regenerated gods and monsters share their secrets on a talk show. A Hades and Persephone romance plays out on an Earth ravaged by ecological devastation. Trans oracle Tiresias navigates a house party and the other guests' preoccupations with gender. These stories and more fill this anthology. Greek myth retellings are popular, and this time- and genre-spanning collection brings an antipatriarchal twist to the trend with stories from authors across genres, including Mia P. Manansala, Valerie Valdes, and Alyssa Cole. Many stories highlight women sidelined or left unknown or unheard in the original myths, such as Sarah Gailey's "Wild To Covet," granting Thetis agency around her prophesied son, or Marika Bailey's "Trembling Aspen; Or, To Shiver," Daphne's breathtaking manifesto after becoming a tree. Also among the many standouts in this collection are "The Eagles at the Edge of the World" by Taylor Rae (a take on Aeneas and Dido where two Kumeyaay women flee rising waters to rebuild their nation) and "A Heart Inured to Suffering" by Jude Reali, a spacefaring take on Odysseus. The retellings' variety ensures there's plenty to enjoy. VERDICT This collection should please Greek myth fans who want to approach familiar stories from a queer, feminist perspective. Recommended.—Erin Niederberger

Library Journal

Greek mythology is reimagined through contemporary authors and talented narrators in this dynamic short story collection. A pantheon of all-star performers, including Soneela Nankani, Robin Miles, and Donnabella Mortel, creates listening experiences that are at times poignant, joyous, and thoughtful. Stories incorporate mythological characters and themes to explore contemporary characters' relationships with gender, sexuality, agency, and the sentience of various life-forms. Other tales are more clearly aligned with their Greek namesakes. Notable selections include a wild night in the Willamette Valley wine country with a reincarnated Dionysus in "Dion and the Maenads" (Nankani); Miles's rooted musings as a woman transformed by Apollo in "Trembling Aspen; Or to Shiver"; and the noir-styled "Furies Detective Agency," featuring a trio of formidable sisters (Mortel). J.R.T. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2023 - AudioFile

2023-05-24
Greco-Roman epics live again in this intriguing anthology of retellings from diverse authors.

In the introduction to their first anthology as an editing duo, Northington and Williams invoke childhoods spent with d’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths, and that affection is clearly shared with the 15 writers who transform stories of the Greek and Roman pantheons across lines of race, gender, sexuality, and genre in this collection, with mixed but often captivating results. Many of the strongest entries take the biggest risks regarding style and setting and prioritize examination of a theme over strict adherence to every plot point in the source material. Sarah Gailey’s “Wild To Covet,” which has a kinship with the stranger interludes in the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? places Thetis’ journey from wild girl to wife and mother of Achilles (here, “Esau”) in American folklore. With admirably efficient storytelling and evocative prose, Gailey interrogates who and what is untameable. Who and what is capable of love is at the heart of another standout: Alyssa Cole’s poignant and richly imagined SF Hades and Persephone reinvention, “Stasis (Bastion in the Spring).” In a nice editorial touch, both “Stasis” and the stunning story that follows it, Taylor Rae’s “The Eagles at the Edge of the World,” concern themselves with the aftermaths of climate apocalypses—in the latter, a girl who’s one-quarter Kumeyaay is our Aeneas, attempting to find a new homeland with her mother in a flooded world. While not all the contributions are of the same caliber, the anthology ends in a blaze of glory thanks to Maya Deane’s incandescent “No Gods, No Kings,” which chronicles the Amazon queen Murina’s contribution to the fall of the Titans.

A collection of impressive breadth that will reward the mythically minded.

Kirkus Reviews