March 2012 midnightwriters.webs.com midnight.writers2013@gmail.com
Unfortunately, there will be no Ask Aphro & Dite this month. We seem to have “technical difficulties.” Aphro and Dite feel completely awful about this and will make it up with lots and lots of cookies to everyone who asks. Yum. In the meantime, please enjoy this random picture of a wombat. Courtesy of Google.
Musings of Hades
Athena’s Corner
Ah, spring. ‘Tis the season when pheromones hover in the air and everyone goes… nuts. Completely and utterly nuts. Eros says it isn’t him, but I trust him about as far as I can throw him – though since I’m a god and everything, I can actually throw him pretty far, so that’s probably not the right analogy. Whatever. It’s not like the pheromones affect me when I’m all the way down here in the Underworld. Unlike Persephone. Who’s going to be heading back up to Earth soon. Since it’s going to be spring. And it’s all part of that pomegranate agreement. And Demeter oh-so-kindly sends me postcards every other day with pictures of her and Persephone doing their annual trip around the world. Demeter’s always traveling. I swear she’s been stricken with wanderlust. Back when I first… escorted Persephone down to the Underworld, I didn’t really ask for Demeter’s permission beforehand, so she was left in the dark about where her daughter was. Demeter took an unapproved sabbatical to wander around like a hermit-tramp-person who looked like an old crone, completely forgetting the fact that mankind was, oh, I don’t know, starving? One of the places she stopped at was a city called Eleusis, and she was resting by a well when the daughters of the city’s king came to fetch water. Now, there’s this thing called Greek hospitality (xenia for you nerds out there), which is basically this: if you’re not nice to travelers, then Zeus will smite you. So the daughters asked Demeter/the old lady if she wanted to stay at their home while she was in town, and Demeter agreed. The girls’ mother – a.k.a. the queen – hired Demeter as her infant son’s nursemaid, and Demeter was so thrilled by the family’s xenia that she decided to make the kid immortal. Which would’ve been great if she’d actually asked the parents first, especially since the way Demeter went about immortalizing the baby was by sticking him in the ashes of the burning fireplace. Obviously, when the boy’s mother saw this one day, she freaked out. Nothing compared to Demeter’s usual reactions when something happens to her kid, but Demeter took this as some kind of personal insult (Hello? You stuck her child in the fireplace) and, to appease her, demanded that the town build a temple in her worship. No biggie. Anyway, Persephone’s leaving soon, so I should go help pack her bags. I think I’ll sneak in a present for her to give to Demeter. Maybe one of those “Hades + Persephone 4ever” aprons in the gift shop.
Digit: Annabelle Monaghan, June 2012 Farah Higgins lives a normal life, except for her mathematical “gift” that earned her the nickname Digit in middle school. When her mathematical skills help her uncover a terrorist group’s plans, she and a hot young FBI agent go on the run. As the stakes get higher and the romance gets hotter, will Digit be able to survive? This book is amazing, one that I actually stayed up late to finish (which I have never done before, believe it or not). I have to admit it is a bit of a beach read (simple and predictable), but only a bit – mostly it is full of action and suspense with a bit of romance thrown in. Cinder: Marissa Meyer, January 2012 Cinder is an automaton, working hard to earn money under her stepmother’s orders, when the prince shows up and turns her life completely upside down. Cinder becomes involved in a race against time to save her sick stepsister, the prince, and the whole world as the evil Lunar queen ascends to Earth. This book is a great adaption of Cinderella that will keep you turning pages until the very end – and then make you wish that the sequel were already published. This is an interesting take on Cinderella that will keep you thinking about it long after you turn the last page. Special thanks to Sra. Steele and acknowledgement to Hades, Athena, Hippolyta, and Hermes.