WEEK ONE is a VERY big week, with the introduction of key characters and interweaving plots. Hang on to your seat, and welcome to the world of Beyond Big-G City!
City of Mount Olympus, June 20-June 26, 2025
Friday, June 20, starts badly for Hermes. His Olympus, Inc., boss, Veronica Zeta (a half-sister through Zeus), holds him accountable for climate change since he’s the god who taught mortals to use fossil fuels. In a scathing review she sets this goal: Hermes will lead the corporate-wide effort to curb global warming in two years. Veronica doesn’t know he’s already conducted numerous experiments to do just that, without success. She reminds him that he’s expected at her engagement party on Sunday.
The packed ballroom of the Odyssey Hotel, Sunday, June 22. Persephone, shy and clumsy agricultural goddess and wife of Underworld ruler Hades (who is also her uncle- -see how it is?), accidentally spills her Mai Tai on relatives as she scouts out a hiding place. She discovers her dear friend (and half-brother) Heracles looming behind a potted plant. Persephone and Heracles admire the elegant couple of honor, Veronica and her fiancé Clifford Essex (who, surprisingly, is no one’s half-brother), and silently fantasize about how lovely life could be if they, themselves, were free of their own overbearing spouses. The reverie is broken when Heracles’ bossy child, Aster, drags him away: her mama, the ill-titled Goddess of Youth, Hebe, has a migraine and wants to go home NOW!
Across the ballroom, David Bernstein helps Dionysus tend bar. Raised as a mortal, David started his master’s program at Athens U in 2015, and now qualifies for the century-long program’s first decade 6-month break! Instead of kicking back on a true vacation, he’s set himself a quest, to learn whatever he can about his mortal father. His only clue: David, Hera’s illegitimate son, was born in Galilee in the early years of BCE. He invites his best friend and unrequited romantic interest, Cleo Petra, to travel with him to the Holy Land. She wants to go, but, in her role as Hermes’ executive assistant, can’t possibly get away. David’s jealousy of Hermes causes him to make a highly inappropriate remark. Furious at David’s implication, Cleo storms away.
Poseidon, God of the Sea and perpetual womanizer, grabs the bottom of his daughter-in-law, Candy Smith. Candy’s husband, Jim Smith, squares off against Poseidon and receives a mighty punch. Pan, God of Herds and Flocks, flies drunkenly over the packed ballroom and ends the fight by dropping a barf bomb on Poseidon. So, pretty much the usual family party. . .
Whether hung-over from the engagement party or crushed by work-related stress, no one is at their best Monday, June 23. Hermes is furious when Cleo submits a vacation request. Cleo, regretting her argument with David, tromps to David’s apartment at Athens U to tell him she wants to join him on his quest. He answers the door in a bathrobe, bleary-eyed and unshaven. A female-sounding groan issues from his curtained sleeping alcove. Cleo quickly excuses herself and at last realizes that David is not just a friend- -he’s a real catch.
The woman in David’s bed is Monique Reynard, CFO of Aphrodite’s adult entertainment enterprise, Love, Inc. She is also Aphrodite’s daughter and, therefore, David’s cousin, which really bugs him on account of his mortal upbringing.
Jim Smith, a therapist as well as a son of Poseidon, wakes up with a shiner from his despised dad. He’s due at Apollo’s sanatorium, Olympus Rest, for a counseling session with Stella, the recently revealed eldest sister of Zeus, who is having periodic recurrences of possession by a sinister force known as The Power. Jim starts his analysis of Stella with a game of Stratego. Stella brilliantly outmaneuvers him on the game board while he observes intermittent sparks of her possession.
Hera, Goddess of Marriage, returns from her Olympus, Inc., workday and quickly downs two goblets of Chardonnay. Her Marriage and the Media campaign, designed to persuade mortals that marriage can be as exciting as a mid-life affair, is wildly successful. So successful that Aphrodite is perpetrating corporate sabotage against this program that is stealing market share from Love, Inc. Zeus arrives home from his day as provost of Athens U. He tries to ease Hera’s workplace fears, and mentions today’s one-on-one meetings with graduate students, including a session with David Bernstein. Zeus tells Hera of David’s quest to learn what he can about his mortal father, a tense subject as it is public knowledge that David is Hera’s one and only child out of wedlock with Zeus. Hera suspects David’s quest is part of Aphrodite’s sabotage campaign.
Candy Smith, whose bottom was earlier grabbed by Poseidon, is a mortal world celebrity and spokesperson for Hera’s Marriage and the Media campaign. On Tuesday, June 24, she meets with Monique Reynard of Love, Inc., for an exploratory meeting that might benefit Marriage and the Media. The proposal is simple: include fantasy costume gift bags, created by Love, Inc., in Marriage and the Media couples retreat packets. When Monique shows Candy a glossy, full-color catalog of themed costumes, she’s hooked! She’ll pitch the concept to Hera, but what will it take to persuade her boss to agree to a deal that will also benefit her arch-foe? Monique faces the same challenge with Aphrodite.
Wednesday, June 25, Athena, Goddess of War and Wisdom, and Olympus, Inc., Director of Armed Forces, hears an odd proposal from her second-in-command, Ares, God of War. Hermes asked Ares to train his wayward son, Pan, as an operative in the mortal world War Against Hunger. Warlords are interrupting deliveries of humanitarian supplies to refugees; Pan’s expertise in hard partying could be a useful tool in distracting them from harassing their own people. Athena recognizes the value of fighting fire with fire and sends Ares to recruit their new agent.
Thursday, June 26, everyone catches their breath!
For juicy details, and to find out what happens next RIGHT NOW, go to: https://www.susandmatley.com/beyond-big-g-city/
Book Three in the series, Beyond Big-G City employs a large cast of characters. The volume includes an appendix listing these folks, with short bios. If you are new to the series, there’s also a section recapping the world of the story: About Olympus, Inc.
