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Fifty leading writers retell myths from around the world in this dazzling follow-up to the bestselling My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. Icarus flies once more. Aztec jaguar gods again stalk the earth. An American soldier designs a new kind of Trojan horse--his cremains in a bullet. Here, in beguiling guise, are your favorite mythological figures alongside characters from Indian, Punjabi, Inuit, and other traditions.
Aimee Bender retells the myth of the
Titans. Elizabeth McCracken retells the myth of
Lamia, the child-eating mistress of Zeus.
Madeline Miller retells the myth of
Galatea. Kevin Wilson retells the myth of
Phaeton, from Ovid's
Metamorphoses. Emma Straub and Peter Straub retell the myth of
Persephone. Heidi Julavits retells the myth of
Orpheus and Euridice. Ron Currie, Jr. retells the myth of
Dedalus. Maile Meloy retells the myth of
Demeter. Zachary Mason retells the myth of
Narcissus. Joy Williams retells the myth of
Argos, Odysseus' dog.
If "xo" signals a goodbye, then
xo Orpheus is a goodbye to an old way of mythmaking. Featuring talkative goats, a cat lady, a bird woman, a beer-drinking ogre, a squid who falls in love with the sun, and a girl who gives birth to cubs, here are extravagantly imagined, bracingly contemporary stories, heralding a new beginning for one of the world's oldest literary traditions.