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A Goddess’ Curse by Luciana Cavallaro, author and historian.
See trailer below for ‘Accursed Women’ anthology including this short story and 4 others by the same author…
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Drake Dabbler, a young journalist prone to theatrics, interviews an older woman of incredible beauty and stature. He reaches out to the studio audience to help him create a festive mood which he is sure will encourage the interviewee to reveal innermost secrets about her life and loves. After all, no other person has ever been granted an interview with her and this could be a career-changing event for him. As far as he’s concerned, this is rock star level entertainment.
But he is playing with fire, for she is no mortal woman; she is Hera, Olympian Goddess and Queen of the Gods. Wife and sister to no less a supreme being than Zeus! As the interview progresses, Dabbler’s hubris begins to show as he flirts while Hera seems to play the game, albeit reluctantly at times. Like most modern celebrities, Hera finds the media tedious with their probing questions and intrusions. Then Dabbler delivers a ‘Gotchya’ to the Queen which annoys her even more. One thing you do not want to do, is annoy Hera. However, Dabbler misses the cue that his ‘quarry’ is inwardly seething; Hera so skilled in the art of revenge, narrows her ice blue eyes. She who has battled with some of the most powerful gods and goddesses in history is pressed, by this young man, to disclose the incestuous nature of her and her family’s relationships.
Dabbler doesn’t stop there, though. He brings up her husband Zeus’ numerous affairs and resultant illegitimate children. Her smile puts the young man at his ease, and this spurs him on. He then has the audacity to question Hera about their disabled child Hephaistos and the circumstances of his conception and birth. Dabbler continues to embarrass the goddess with insults and questions about the intimate lives of her and her family. By now there is a disconnect between Hera’s smiles and her eyes.
Perhaps Dabbler’s preoccupation with thoughts of the awards he thinks he is going to win for this interview distract him from the changes in the Queen’s tone and the fixation of her eyes on his. He dares to accuse her of what he sees as past excesses in war and her manipulative behaviour. In her own defence, Hera protests: ‘We are divine…..We epitomise everything mortals aspire to be’. It becomes alarmingly clear at the end of the staged drama just where Dabbler’s aspirations will lead him.
I enjoyed the detail about the lives and loves of gods and goddesses in this story. Tales about Hera’s far-reaching power are riveting and her intrigues are sometimes surprisingly human. Luciana Cavallaro is a wonderful short story-teller who knows her Greek gods intimately. If you are interested in ancient Greek history and the Olympian world, you will love this book as much as I do. Available here in e book format via AMAZON
- Anne Frandi-Coory 7 September 2013
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Luciana Cavallaro has published an anthology of five Greek classics including ‘A Goddess’ Curse‘
anne frandi-coory 