I know I said I wasn’t going to do a character interview this week, but the more I thought about Cee’s Share Your World questions, the more one of my characters from The Trials of Hercules was nagging me to take part in the weekly blog event.
The nagging character is Hermes, the messenger god. Hermes ended up being my favorite character to write. Although he has a small role in this first book of the series, he’ll be taking on a more vital role in Book Two (The Voyage, due out around mid-2015). Being a messenger for the gods, Hermes has been known to be a bit of a gossip. He also takes a great deal of pride in his wings, which he can often be seen preening when he thinks no one is looking.
And now, the interview…
Question: If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be?
Hermes: Oh, that’s a fun one. I really enjoy your Jerry Springer-type talk shows with all the shouting and drama, so I definitely think I’d bring out Hera and Zeus to start. Even on a good day, the tension between them is enough to make milk curdle. See, Zeus seems to have an inability to stay faithful to Hera, and Hera tends to be a bit catty toward his lovers and his bastard children. Okay, maybe catty isn’t right. Cruel might be a better word. Then once they had gotten settled in, I’d bring out Zeus’s latest mortal lover, Alcmena. Gods, the way he goes on about her, well, let’s just say it’s good he’s immortal because Hera wanted to kill him. She’s pregnant and I can totally picture doing one of those big “Who’s the Daddy?” reveals on the show.
Q: What can you always be found with?
H: My winged helmet. Isn’t it gorgeous? (Shows it to me as he strokes the wings that flutter just above the ear area.). Depending on the season I go between my winged sandals (he holds up a foot to show he’s wearing the sandals today) and winged boots, but the helmet is always with me.
Q: What is the most fun thing you did in school?
H: Well, the gods don’t really go to school. We just kind of know things. But when I was very young, I escaped my crib and hid Apollo’s cattle from him. Then I dashed back to my crib and put on the innocent act when Apollo came in accusing me of stealing his stupid cows. He looked ridiculous shouting to Zeus and blaming me. I mean, how stupid does it make him look that a baby outsmarted him? Zeus thought the same thing and laughed in Apollo’s face. Now, whenever I see Apollo, I can’t resist mooing at him. Drives him nuts.
Q: What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
H: Um, besides flying? I suppose I’d have to say I’m the only being that can regularly go in and out of Hades’s realm. Most people have to go through the trouble of dying first and even the other gods need me to get them past the entrance. I do worry about singeing my wings while I’m down there, though; and if I’m down there too long, it can take days before I fully get the sulfur stench out of my wings.
Thanks for reading everyone! And if you need to catch up with the interviews, I’ve sat down with:
Feel free to browse them. Or, if you want to know more about the first book in the series, you can always take a peek at the Media Kit for The Trials of Hercules (PDF).
Image Credit:
Hermes fastening his sandal, Copy of Lysippos from the Louvre. Taken by Ricardo André Frantz (User:Tetraktys), 2006. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Tammie Painter 