Several years ago, I released my debut novel. The Goddess & The Bee is a young adult fantasy set against the myths and landscape of Ancient Greece. It’s got gods and goddesses, oracles, princesses, secret bodyguards, naiads, dryads, off-screen centaurs, betrayal, power struggles…the meat and potatoes of Greek mythology.
I’ve been stuck on Book 2 for quite a while, though. What can I say? Life has been a bit of a bear over the past few years for me. Anyway, when I heard there was going to be a Christopher Nolan adaptation of The OdysseyI thought it would be a good opportunity to piggyback and do a little promotion. Zhush up my awareness, get the media ball rolling for Book 2, stuff like that.
But I didn’t get very far with planning and then…the unthinkable. I didn’t really like this version of The Odyssey. Like, ew. Where are the gods and goddesses?
I did a post on Threads with my quick thoughts and the issues I had with the movie. And boy howdy, I got piled on by the Nolan bros who insisted I was uneducated and didn’t understand. That post got over 30,000 views. The follow-up post where I shared my credentials got 167.
Now, do I want 30,000 self-righteous dudes to know about me and my book? Not really, but I bet someone in that 30,000 would have liked my book, maybe a few someones. But when I first saw the movie, I was relieved I hadn’t linked any promotions. I hadn’t grabbed onto those multi-million dollar coattails, and I was relieved.
Whew.
Yes, I blew an opportunity to raise my profile and maybe see a few books. But I’m so happy for the way it played out because staying connected to something those Nolan bros liked would have left me with a multi-year sour stomach.
Anyway, Book 2 in my series is called Sworn to the Goddess, and it will be out…eventually. This one has Amazons, winged horses, at least one dragon, sacred springs, more Artemis, Ares, portals, and more betrayal.