Gods Galore Series by Rupert Stanbury #GreekGods #Fantasy #Comedy




1) What inspired you to become an author?

I’ve always been fascinated by the Olympian Gods since being a schoolboy when I read the great classical works by Homer and Virgil about the Gods’ role in the Trojan Wars.
Anyway, a few years ago I was rearranging my bookshelf and saw a very old copy of Homer’s The Odyssey. I pulled it out and decided to read it again, which of course took me back into the whole world of Olympus and its Gods. This exercise got me wondering about what these gods were now up to in the 21st Century. In particular, I felt someone should write a comedy about how they were coping, or not coping, in the modern world. Since I’ve always been a great fan of Terry Pratchett, I thought about writing a Terry Pratchett type book about these gods. 
I then forgot all about it until sometime later the Covid pandemic struck. Being in lockdown, I needed a project and, remembering the gods, I decided to have a go at writing about them. The result was my first book - Gods Galore.

2) How did you come up with the title for your latest book?

It was fairly easy. Pimlico People is about two of the Greek Gods coming to live in Central London for a time to get a better understanding of how we humans lead our lives. They live in Pimlico, a well-known area of London, so the name Pimlico People effectively chose itself. 

3) Do you title the book first or wait until after it’s complete?

I’ve written and published three books so far and, in all instances, I’ve decided on the title very early on. I view writing a book as having 4 main components – title, cover, plot and finally, the words. I’m currently working on my fourth book and have already got the first three sorted, so you could say I’m three-quarters of the way there. There’s just the last small item of 100,000 words to write!!!

4) Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on a true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?

My latest book, Pimlico People, is set in an area of London where I’ve lived most of my adult life, so many of the places I refer to, I know intimately – even the pelicans in the nearby St James’s Park!

Because it’s set in London, the book has lots of typical London characters such as taxi-drivers (cabbies) who often use phrases in ‘Cockney rhyming slang’ – a type of ‘language’ particular to the East End of London.  For example, ‘trouble and strife’ means ‘wife’, ‘Barnaby Rudge’ is ‘judge’, and ‘Oliver Twist’ is ‘pissed’. Pimlico People happens to have a cabby who has the crazy name of Octavian Stegosauras, so you can imagine, he’s a bit of a character! 

5) Is there a genre that you’d like to write that you haven’t tackled yet?

Yes. I currently write fantasy / comedy books about the Greek Gods in the 21st Century. However, I would like to write a ‘serious’ book about a number of the Greek Myths such as Perseus and the Minotaur, Jason and the Golden Fleece, the Twelve Labours of Hercules etc.
I’m actually very active on TikTok and give 3-5 minute talks on these subjects on a regular basis. I’ve decided I’m going to turn all these videos into a book, which I’m hoping to publish by the end of 2025, even if this somewhat delays Book 4 of the Gods Galore series.

6) Of all the characters you’ve ever written, who is your favorite and why?

I’ve got two favourite characters who’ve appeared in all three of my books. These are Hebe, the Goddess of Youth, who is a bit of a ‘pocket rocket’, and Cerberus, the Underworld’s 3-headed Guard Dog. Let me say a little about Cerberus:

In Classical Literature, Cerberus was a ferocious animal. However, in my first book, Gods Galore, he met a young teenager called Vesta who over time managed to mellow him. She   taught Cerberus all about friendship and he now has a long list of pals, including the poets, Homer and Virgil and Hades’s wife, Persephone.

I should say that when I first started writing about the Greek Gods in modern times, I never intended to create Cerberus as a significant character. However, he seemed to take over my pen as he became involved in more and more absurd situations.

Cerberus is actually a firm favourite of many of my readers, so perhaps the final say should come from one of my book reviewers on Amazon and Goodreads:

“No matter how many Gods I came across within the story, my favourite character has to be Cerberus with his "Woof, woof" and "I'm the Head of Internal Security" in Hades. His clumsy, way over the top fashion had tears of laughter running down my face so many times throughout the book.”     
 
7) Who designed the cover of your latest book?

The covers for both The Four Horsemen and Pimlico People were designed by a professional illustrator in the UK called Tim Stringer. Tim is autistic and is the son of a long-standing friend of mine and former work colleague, who takes an active interest in what we’re doing together. I suspect this is to ensure that I behave myself because we spent 10 years in the same firm, so he knows what I’m like!

8) If this book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any details you can share?

The three books I’ve published so far are often referred to as a series, but they are all written on a stand-alone basis. The same will apply to the fourth book which I’m currently working on. This is going to be my most challenging work so far. It’s mainly based in the Underworld - I’m planning to fuse a plot involving 1) the pre-Olympian gods (known as the Titans), 2) King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; as well as 3) Satan and his followers, as depicted in Milton’s Paradise Lost. I’m about a quarter / third of the way through it, so I suspect it won’t be finished until Spring 2026. 

9) When you’re not writing what do you do? Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?

I go to the gym 3/4 times a week; I read a lot; living in London means I’m able to be an avid theatre goer; and I travel 3/4 times a year – last two trips were to Athens (Greece) and Bologna (Italy) respectively. I also spend time socialising with friends – most of whom are not great readers, but I’ve managed to persuade a number of them to delve into my humble scripts. 

10) What books are in your to-read pile?

I read all sorts of genres. Here’s my current ‘to read’ pile, a number of which I’ll tackle when I go on holiday to the South of France later in August:

• Paradise Lost – John Milton – currently reading for 3rd time.
• The Night Fire – Michael Connelly
• Dragonsdawn – Anne McCaffrey
• Le Morte D’Arthur – Sir Thomas Mallory
• The Girl of His Dreams – Donna Leon
• Romala – George Eliot
• The Patience of the Spider – Andrea Camilleri
GODS GALORE
Gods Galore Series
Book One
Rupert Stanbury

Genre: Fantasy / Comedy
Publisher: Troubador / Matador
Date of Publication: 28 October 2021
ISBN:878-1800465305
ASIN: B09KM9JV2S
Number of pages: 344
Cover Artist: Dave Hill

Book Description:

The Olympian Gods have made it to the 21st century AD. We may not have heard much about them in the last two thousand years, but they’re still controlling what we humans are up to – or at least they think they are.

The reality is that the Gods are like us – they’ve got problems!

Zeus is still Top God on Mount Olympus, but he’s got issues with many of the younger gods. His brothers, Hades and Poseidon, have issues with themselves – they’re getting too set in their ways ruling the Underworld and the Seas; they probably need a job change.

But help is at hand from an unexpected source – we humans.

It’s surprising what a dose of good common sense can do for even the most powerful of the gods, especially when it comes from a couple of teenagers!




THE FOUR HORSEMEN
Gods Galore Series
Book Two
Rupert Stanbury

Genre: Fantasy / Comedy
Date of Publication: 17 April 2023
ISBN: 979-8366008495
ASIN: B0C2Q4G268
Number of pages: 337
Cover Artist: Tim Stringer

Book Description:

The Four Horsemen is the second book in the Gods Galore series about the Olympian Gods in the 21st Century AD.

The gods are still trying to control what we humans are up to. Unfortunately, they’re not being particularly successful. The world is experiencing both plague and famine which Zeus and the Gods’ Council never approved. What’s going on?

Athene’s determined to find out, but before she can get going the God of War initiates an attack on Poseidon’s realm. It’s now all out conflict and the gods are taking sides – one side, in particular.

Wherever there’s a fight, Hebe’s involved. She soon signs up to an army regiment which is full of soldiers even smaller than she is. But war these days involves brains and not just brawn and there’s plenty of both ready to be deployed in this fight!



PIMLICO PEOPLE
Gods Galore Series
Book Three
Rupert Stanbury

Genre:Fantasy / Comedy
Date of Publication: 28 October 2024
ISBN: 979-8338117200
ASIN: B0DL5XTHMH
Number of pages: 339
Cover Artist: Tim Stringer

Book Description:

Pimlico People is the third book in the Gods Galore series about the Olympian Gods in the 21st Century AD.

The Goddesses Artemis and Hebe are staying in Central London to obtain a better understanding of the lives of ‘normal’ people.

To their surprise, they soon encounter a plot to blow up a foreign embassy. Add to that a sophisticated operation involving the theft of valuable paintings from a major art gallery, and the two goddesses begin to question what a ‘normal’ life is all about.

Meanwhile, in the Underworld Cerberus encounters another dog who, amazingly, only has one head! How will they get on?


EXTRACT FROM PIMLICO PEOPLE – THE PARK 

The location for this extract from Pimlico People is St James’s Park in Central London.

The reference to Blefuscu and Lilliput are to two islands in Gulliver’s Travels where people are only about six inches tall. The people of these islands are often in conflict with each other.

Both Iris and Hebe are Greek goddesses. Cerberus is a three-headed dog living in the Underworld. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders is a Lilliput army regiment; Rach is also from Lilliput. Finally, Slasher and others are swans living in the park.

 

As this small armada was making progress, exciting things were beginning to unfold on West Island where four Blefuscu commandos still remained, together with a couple of swans. None of them knew precisely what their role was, other than to be ‘back-up’, so they just rested on the ground expecting to have a quiet time until their comrades returned. They were therefore surprised to hear a paddling noise from the lake and even more surprised when a large black dog with three heads emerged. All these heads had the same face which bore a remarkable resemblance to the Goddess Iris.

The dog raced along the ground towards the commandos. It snarled and growled as it moved at speed, its three mouths spitting out saliva and showing a large number of very sharp teeth. The commandos tried to get up and run, but the dog was on them before they could get away. They were by now all terrified and started to scream.

“Give us a Mars bar or I’ll bite yer bums!” they heard, but it made no difference because the dog decided not to bite their bums; instead, it proceeded to kick them all into the water.

“Help!” screamed one of the commandos. “I cannot make ze swim! Help!”

The two swans were nearby in the lake and, considering themselves pretty tough, didn’t run away, but instead tried to help the commandos. However, the three-headed dog launched itself from the bank and landed on top of one of the swans. It gave the white bird a number of painful bites and used its powerful front paws to thump the swan in all sorts of sensitive places. Eventually, its victim was so battered and bruised the black dog left it floating on the lake.

The other swan by now had decided he wasn’t quite tough enough to take on a manic three-headed dog and had started swimming away. Unfortunately, it was now the next target for the Iris-Cerberus look-alike who, despite being a four-footed canine, could out-swim any of the St James’s Park swans. The dog soon caught up with the fleeing swan, jumped on its back and meted out the same treatment as it had given to its companion. Having left the second swan equally battered and bruised, the dog swam back to the Blefuscu commandos, who were still flailing around in the water. Three sets of jaws each took hold of a commando at the same time and then proceeded to toss them back onto the island. They were soon joined by their final companion as they lay moaning and groaning on the ground. At this stage the three-headed dog turned round and began to swim towards Duck Island.

The next minute a miniature boat arrived at West Island, having travelled along the length of the lake near the north bank. It had a silent motor, specially designed by Rach’s Special Projects team. A number of Argyll and Southern Highlanders disembarked, went over to the four Blefuscu commandos, tied their hands behind their backs while at the same time taping their mouths. They were put into the boat which set off on its return journey, again along the north side of the lake.

xxxxx

Meanwhile back on the lake, the adjutant and his three commandos were rapidly approaching the south-west corner of Duck Island. The commandos had already taken out a number of hand grenades while the adjutant was readying a bomb to create a Big Boom when Slasher became aware of something in the water approaching him at speed. Suddenly he jerked and let out a honk as he realised he was looking at a giant swan, which was at least five times bigger than him with a neck ten feet high. Interestingly, this swan had the Goddess Hebe’s face, although Slasher would not have been aware of that. He didn’t have time to let out another honk because the giant swan’s head swiped his own, knocking him on his side. He managed to right himself only to find that his adversary didn’t just have webbed feet, but also forearms with bright red boxing gloves which started bashing his head and thumping his body. After a short while the boxing gloves went under his belly and then threw him backwards into the air. When Slasher landed back in the water and his head resurfaced, he found he was due another good beating and bashing until he was left in an even worse condition than his two comrades who’d been attacked by the three-headed dog near West Island.

Slasher’s four Blefuscu commandos had fallen into the water shortly after the altercation with the giant swan had begun. Fortunately, they could all swim, but they did a lot of shouting for help. All their bombs and grenades had also fallen into the lake, so they were now useless, but this didn’t seem to matter. Getting to dry land was their key objective now. Creating a Big Boom at the Lilliput Embassy was no longer high on the agenda.

The other four swans and their commandos behind Slasher were soon aware that matters weren’t going to plan. They tried to move away from the giant swan and turned back towards West Island. However, they didn’t get very far because the giant swan hadn’t taken long to deal with Slasher and began chasing after them. It soon caught up with the two in the rear and gave them both the same treatment it had given Slasher. The other two, who were in the lead for a brief while, thought they’d got away, until one of them was hit very hard by a three-headed dog swimming directly at it with the force of a torpedo. As the swan tried to right itself while it’s four commandos were flailing around in the water, the three-headed dog jumped high into the air. It landed on the back of the final swan, again knocking its commandos into the water before starting to rough up the bird.

While the giant swan and the three-headed dog were having fun beating up Slasher, Spike, Spanka, Scorcher and Smog, the pelicans had stopped chanting “Oggy, Oggy, Oggy” from the lakeside. They got into the water and started looking for the commandos who were splashing around. When they found them, they gently picked the small men up in their beaks and carried them to Duck Island. They were joined by more miniature boats manned by members of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as well as the Lilliput Embassy’s security staff. Rach was also hovering overhead on her scooter, shining a powerful torchlight on the lake and calling out whenever she found one of the flailing commandos.

 

 Author Intro Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=33RW970lp04


About the Author:

Rupert Stanbury is a Cambridge University graduate. He was born in Manchester in the North of England but has lived most of his adult life in Central London.

He has always been an avid reader and in recent years decided to take up writing himself. His books have one overriding objective which is TO MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH!

His first book, Gods Galore, was published in November 2021 and this was followed by The Four Horsemen, in April 2023. His latest novel, Pimlico People, was published in October 2024. All three books are a mixture of fantasy and comedy about the Olympian Gods in the 21st Century.










at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Copyright © 2012 YOUR BLOG copyright Blogger Design by Parajunkee Design.