I was reading Plato in middle school and ended up with a PhD in comparative literature, so mythology is not a hobby for me, it is the thing under everything I write. Most of my novels are built on old myths: fallen angels, Orpheus, the Oracle of Delphi, Aztec death cults. Over the years I have written a lot of guides to the gods and stories themselves. This page is the map. Start with a culture, or jump straight to the myth you came for.
Greek mythology
- Greek gods and goddesses: the complete pantheon guide Titans, the Twelve Olympians, Hades and the underworld, the heroes, and who first wrote the myths down.
- Fauns vs satyrs: what is the actual difference? Fauns are Roman, satyrs are Greek, and they stand for very different ideas.
- The myth of Sisyphus: why being damned forever made him happy The boulder, the hill, and what Camus did with it.
- Prometheus: the fire thief who challenged the gods A Titan who took on Olympus for our sake, and paid for it every day.
- Eros and Psyche The god of desire falls for a mortal, and the trials that follow.
- Orpheus and Eurydice The greatest musician who ever lived walks into the underworld to bring back his wife.
- Orpheus, Dionysus and Bulgaria (lesser known Greek myths) Written from Bulgaria, where Orpheus was supposedly born, right after I finished my PhD.
- The Odyssey: the epic journey that defined adventure I stumbled into Homer by accident, not in a classroom. This is why it still works.
- Best books for teens based on Greek mythology The YA novels that borrow from these myths, and do it well.
- Orpheum (Gods of Music and Madness, book one) My own Orpheus story, finished after readers complained about the cliffhanger.
Norse mythology
- Norse mythology: gods, giants and the doom of Ragnarok Odin, Thor, Loki and Freya, the nine realms on the World Tree, and the prophesied end.
- Who is Fenrir, the wolf in Norse mythology? The chained wolf the gods feared, and the part he plays at Ragnarok.
Roman, Celtic and Slavic
- Roman mythology: the pantheon, tales and lasting legacy How Rome absorbed the Greek gods almost wholesale, and what it kept of its own.
- Celtic mythology: the lore of the ancient Celts The Tuatha De Danann, the Ulster cycle, and the Irish, Welsh and Gaulish traditions.
- What are the Slavic gods and their legends? A pantheon that was never written down the way the Greek one was, which is exactly why it is so strange.
Myths from elsewhere
- The Rainbow Serpent in Australian Aboriginal culture A creator woven into land, rivers and rain, and one of the oldest continuous myths on earth.
- The wendigo: real Algonquian legend vs horror movie myth The spirit of winter and hunger, and what the movies got wrong.
- Angel spirit numbers, guides and the higher self Where the modern angel-number belief comes from and how people use it.
If you want to see what I do with all this, the books page lists the series, and the free samples let you read the first chapters.
More on Urban Epics: mermaid lore, scary stories and monsters, ancient history, YA book lists, writing advice, my books and free chapters.
WORK IN PROGRESS...
