I've known for a while about Virgin Steele and their metal compilations, The House of Atreus I (1999) and The House of Atreus II (2000), both based on Aeschylus's The Oresteia.  Not knowing much about metal, however, I simply haven't known how to present the material until now.

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Having just finished friend Alyx J. Shaw's surreal, metal novel Gryphons, I have lately found myself susceptible to certain vicious plot bunnies better suited to Metalocalypse than Greek mythology. However, I think Dethklok would probably approve of this catalog of Most Metal Deaths in Greek Myth:

• Antinous: Most arrogant and mean-spirited of ( Read more... )

At last, a genealogical chart I can be satisfied with.  Note: the actual image is larger, and will show up clearer in the book.  (I hope).

Also, I should be finishing the rough draft of The Young Lion this evening.


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The Perseid grave circle referred to in the story is Grave Circle A, in which Heinrich Schliemann discovered five intact shaft graves.  The dead buried here were loaded down with gold and other fabulous treasures, including the so-called Mask of Agamemnon.  These graves date from between 1550-1450 B.C., too early to belong to the later Atreid kings ( Read more... )

In a dynasty noted for its skeevy, bloodthirsty characters, Aegisthus son of Thyestes probably ranks among the slimiest of all.  This sliminess begins with his conception, but first we have to go back a little, to when Atreus and Thyestes, the brothers Pelopides, vied with each other for the vacant throne of Mycenae.

Atreus discovered a golden ( Read more... )