I’m so pleased to welcome Sherry Ficklin here today to Dark Faerie Tales. The first book in her Gods of Fate series, Foresight, was recently released in July. The second book in the series is called Second Sight, and is scheduled to be released in September 2011. You can read an excerpt from Foresight here.
One lucky commenter will have a chance to win a giftpack that includes a book tote, bookmark, button, and random goodies.
Because Greek Mythology Kicks Ass
By Sherry D. Ficklin
Okay, not just Greek mythology. Any mythology. These are timeless stories of tormented lovers, brave heroes, terrible injustices, and often, of overcoming earth shaking obstacles. Show me one modern hero that could take on all 3 Gorgons. No? How about a pair of perfect lovers that have to fight an entire pantheon of Gods to be together? Nada.
So… I’m a geek. I love curling up and reading the Iliad (after watching a classic Star Trek episode). I love being drawn into battles with Hydras, Nymphs, and twisted Demi-gods. And I wanted to bring that kind of story to life again. I love teen lit, but was tired of weak heroines and muddy stories. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Twilight as much as the next girl, but the character of Bella irked me. I needed a strong, fierce heroine I could go on an adventure with. Perhaps you’ve noticed a trend in paranormal book covers? On the front of almost all of them there is one, buff chick (usually wearing scraps of leather)kicking the ass of something or just standing there looking battle ready. That’s because we want strong female characters. We need Buffy. We love Buffy.
Enter Foresight, the first book in The Gods of Fate series. Meet Grace Archer, a typical teenage girl with a long buried secret. Her mother was Pandora, and now it’s up to Grace to protect her mother’s deadly box.
You may think you know this myth, but you’d better think again. It wasn’t HOPE that Pandora managed to stuff back in that box, it was something much more sinister.
With any reinvention of a classic story it’s important to both stay true to its roots and at the same time present it in a way that surprises people, challenges the way they think about an old idea.
Writing Foresight was very easy for me. I’ve always been a writer. When I finally sat down and decided to write a novel, I had no intention of it being published. I had a story in my head and I had to find out how it ended. So I wrote. And Wrote. And before I knew it, I had a book. Then two. Then three.
I took pieces of everything I loved to read, fantasy, romance, adventure and shook it up and poured it into the book. Because of this, Foresight is hard to pin into any one genre or category. And that’s okay because the characters are strong enough to hold their own.
I get a lot of calls and e-mails from writers asking the same basic questions.
What should I write?
Write what you love, what you would want to read. It’s the only way to find happiness and fulfillment in the act of writing. Everything else will fall into place, promise.
How do I know when to submit my book?
You don’t. It will be a constant evolution. I suggest going over a manuscript (with a crit group or beta readers) at least 3 times before you even think of submitting. Then read it one last time, out loud, to someone. Do a final polish. Then, consider sending it around.
How did you do it?
I got rejected a lot. Everyone does. The trick is to take criticism when it’s offered and move forward. Publishing is hard and slow. Just never give up.
Author Bio:
A former military brat, and later military wife, Sherry grew up all over the country. Now transplanted to Colorado she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuation number of chickens and houseguests. When she’s not busy writing Sherry can often be found haunting the racks at her local bookstore with a white hot chocolate in one hand and a stack of books in the other.
You can visit Sherry around the web here: Website | Blog | Facebook
GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES:
One lucky commenter will have a chance to win a giftpack that includes a book tote, bookmark, button, and random goodies.
To enter, leave a comment below answering the following question:
Who is your favorite mythological hero or heroine?
1. +1 entry for answering the question (required).
2. +2 entries for becoming a follower of this blog and Dark Faerie Tales on Twitter.
3. +3 entries for tweeting about this contest, blogging about it, linking via your sidebar etc…(please tell me where!).
4. Giveaway is open to everyone.
5. Please include your email address in your comment.
6. Giveaway ends Thursday, September 30th at 11:59 PM EST.
7. The winner will be picked with the help of Random.org.
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This series sounds like its going to be good. I really enjoyed Gena’s Lords of the underworld series that has greek myth intertwined in it. I follow and tweeted at 
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