Awakening Your Inner Goddess (Sans Fifty Shades of Grey)
When
I say girls need to awake their inner goddesses, I’m not referring to the kind
of inner goddess described by E.L. James in Fifty
Shades of Grey (though I’m not opposed to awakening that type either). What
I’m talking about is the warrior goddess of power inside each one of us, often
latent and unrecognized in girls who continue to live in a world where men hold
the highest offices in government, church, and the work force. Girls are less subjugated today than they
were fifty years ago, and although the playing field still isn’t perfectly
level, the real culprit holding back most girls is themselves. As Alice Walker
has said, “The most common way people give up their power is by believing they
don’t have any.”
At
the beginning of my Gatekeeper’s Saga,
a young adult contemporary fantasy based in Greek myth, fifteen-year-old
Therese Mills believes she’s the least powerful person on the planet. Her
parents have just died. Her aunt has come to live with her in her beautiful
home in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, but even though this means her
friends and school won’t change, Therese is ready to give up on life to join
her parents. Death, known as Thanatos, has other plans.
Thanatos
briefly meets Therese while she’s in a coma. Avoided by all gods and mortals
because of his job, he’s shocked when she throws her arms around him and calls
him lovely. He later makes a deal with his father, Hades, to go to the
Upperworld to meet her. In return, he must convince Therese to avenge the
deaths of her parents.
Throughout
book one, The Gatekeeper’s Sons,
Therese struggles with her feelings of ineptitude. Thanatos’s sisters, the
fierce and beautiful Furies, help her hunt for the killer, but their strength
and efficiency make her feel weak. She feels small and insignificant until she
learns her aunt’s life is in danger. The desire to protect her loved one helps
her rise above her self-pity to become the warrior she never knew she was.
In
book two, The Gatekeeper’s Challenge,
Therese is required to complete a set of five challenges designed by Hades, who
hopes to see her fail because he’s disappointed with the way things turned out
in book one. Once again, her desire to protect a loved one—this time
Thanatos—pushes her past her doubts and insecurities into determined action.
One by one, she faces each seemingly impossible challenge—including Ladon (the
one-hundred-headed serpent), the Minotaur, and the Hydra—because it’s the only
way to spare Thanatos from an eternity of torment.
The
third book of the saga, The Gatekeeper’s
Daughter, once again forces Therese to look inward. All gods and goddesses
serve humanity or the world in some way, and in order to remain at Thanatos’s
side, she must discover her unique purpose while protecting her loved ones
against antagonistic forces.
The
fourth book, The Gatekeeper’s House,
begins with an attack on the Underworld, and now that Therese is just like any
other god, she is without the special favors afforded to humans. She’s on her
own in this epic battle to rebind the unleashed souls and save the House of
Hades while helping the Furies discover the identity of the attacker. She has
to learn to put her big girl goddess panties on and run with the big girl
goddesses if she’s going to be relevant.
The Gatekeeper’s Secret and The Gatekeeper’s Promise complete this
six-book saga, but I can’t divulge more details without ruining the experience
for new readers. But I can say that throughout the series, power isn’t
something Therese derives from her environment, but something she finds within
her once she believes it’s there. Girls need to awaken their inner goddesses
and wield their power.
Readers
can start this series for free. Visit http://www.evapohler.com/books to download
your free copy.
A
second series, The Vampires of Athens,
explores similar themes. A teen from New York studies abroad in Athens and
learns that vampires and demigods are real at a time when war is brewing
between them. After making friends on both sides, she unwittingly becomes a
catalyst to an uprising led by Dionysus, lord of the vampires. When the adults
and gods do nothing to help, the teens are on their own and must find their
inner warrior if they’re to save Athens.
Although
the first book in the Vampires of Athens
isn’t free for purchase, for a limited time I’ll have it delivered directly to
your inbox. You just need to tell me where to send it. Go here to request your
free book: http://www.evapohler.com/facebook/.
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