Fifty leading writers retell myths from around the world in this dazzling follow-up to the bestselling My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me.
Icarus flies once more. Aztec jaguar gods again stalk the earth. An American soldier designs a new kind of Trojan horse-his cremains in a bullet. Here, in beguiling guise, are your favourite mythological figures alongside characters from Indian, Punjabi, Inuit, and other traditions.
- Aimee Bender retells the myth of the Titans.
- Madeline Miller retells the myth of Galatea
- Kevin Wilson retells the myth of Phaeton, from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
- Emma Straub and Peter Straub retell the myth of Persephone.
- Heidi Julavits retells the myth of Orpheus and Euridice.
- Ron Currie, Jr. retells the myth of Dedalus.
- Maile Meloy retells the myth of Demeter.
- Zachary Mason retells the myth of Narcissus.
- Joy Williams retells the myth of Argos, Odysseus' dog.
If "xo" signals a goodbye, then xo Orpheus is a goodbye to an old way of mythmaking. Featuring talkative goats, a cat lady, a bird woman, a beer-drinking ogre, a squid who falls in love with the sun, and a girl who gives birth to cubs, here are extravagantly imagined, bracingly contemporary stories, heralding a new beginning for one of the world's oldest literary traditions.
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[The city was their home - ANTHROPEGENESIS, OR HOW TO MAKE A FAMILY BY LAURA VAN DEN BERG]***
(Penguin Books, 24 September 2013, paperback, 531 pages, bought from @AmazonUK)
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This is one of the best collections of contemporary short stories I've read in ages. I love myths so the odds of me liking this book were pretty high. Usually anthologies have a couple of weaker stories in them that sort of blend in, unnoticed with the rest. This wasn't the case for Xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths. Every story is fantastic. It was a sheer pleasure to read. Xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths covers an impressive range of styles and genres like a huge box (have you seen the thickness of this book? It's a doorstop!) of your favourite sweets. Each taste is a tiny bit nicer than the last one. I can't pick a favourite story because I really loved them all. Here's hoping Kate Bernheimer edits another stunning collection like this one.