I am thrilled to be reading in soon (I have one secret manuscript/story to read then am all over this!!!) but I am thrilled to be involved in this blog tour and thrilled to welcome Alexandra Sheppard onto the Pewter Wolf, chatting about why having an immortal family is a whole heap of trouble. What do you expect when Zeus is your father and your half siblings are gods...?
Before I throw you over to Alexandra, I just want to thank her for finding time to write this some piece for The Pewter Wolf. And thank you to Harriet at Scholastic for asking if I wanted to be involved in this tour!
OH! If you want to say hi to Alexandra, why not pop over to her website at alexandrasheppard.com or pop over onto twitter and tweet her at @alexsheppard!
Now, over to Alexandra!!!
Why Having an Immortal Family Is A Whole Heap of Trouble
Meet Helen. She’s fourteen, lives in North London and has a love-hate relationship with her family. In many ways, Helen is just your average teenager… Apart from the fact that her dad is Zeus, head of the gods, and her half-siblings are Olympian gods made famous in Greek mythology.
Being half-mortal sounds like it should be fun. But for Helen, it’s way more trouble than it’s worth. Aside from the fact that absolutely no one can know about her family’s true identity, Helen is the only half-mortal in a family full of super powerful, super beautiful beings. Unlike Hercule or Achilles, she doesn’t have any special powers. Helen feels like she doesn’t fit in anywhere.
Even if we can’t relate to being half-mortals, the feeling of not quite fitting in...we can all relate to that, right? Here are a few ways in which having an immortal family is ruining Helen’s life.
Their true identity must be kept top-secret. Or else. After centuries of stultifying boredom on Mount Olympus, the gods made a deal with the ruling powers - they can live on earth provided they keep schtum about their true identity and don’t use their powers. If any mortal finds out they are gods? They (and Helen!) will be packed off to Mount Olympus faster than you can say tzatziki.
But they can’t help being...well, gods. So Helen has to make sure her home life and social life are kept well and truly apart. This means no sleepovers, no friends round for Netflix binges and definitely no house parties. To make matters worse, Helen has to lie constantly to her friends when her family don’t always play by the rules.
They are impossible to impress. When you’ve lived for thousands of years, you have seen and done it all. Quite literally. Helen’s experience of the world just can’t compare with several centuries’ worth of experience. They are world-wise, jaded and quite often indifferent to the things that are new and exciting to Helen. When you haven’t even been on a plane and they have travelled the world over, it’s understandable why Helen feels like she doesn’t belong.
They don’t understand everyday teen woes. Exam stress? Cute boy not texting back? Seriously bad hair day? Well, don’t bother telling the gods because their eyes will just glaze over with apathy. What they see as real problems (their lack of fame and adoration, for example) will always be more important than Helen’s.
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