I've been an extremely avid reader of Greek mythology (Iliad, Odyssey, Edith Hamilton's book, the Dulares book, you name it) since I was nine, and what always bugged me about Greek mythology is that even the writers of the so-called "comprehensive" books on Greek mythology always left out or glossed over the homosexual relationships in mythology. The myth about Zeus and Ganymede and the myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus (as two examples) are some of my favorite Greek myths, but they get passed over even in the best mythology books, and if they don't get passed over, the myth is far too short to tell a really in-depth, interesting story.

At this section of the library, you'll find the Lust Opera, or the Lust Opus series: it's a series of my personal elaborations on the "gay mythology" :P in Greek literature. I am far from done, as I have finished only three myths - Opus 5, Opus 2, and Opus 4 - and have at least three more planned, but please enjoy what I've completed so far. I spent most of 1997 and 1998 writing poetry and non-mythology type fiction, so that is why Lust Opus 5 was written in 1995, Lust Opus 2 was written in 1996, and Lust Opus 4 was written three years later, in 1999.

I'd like to point out that since I do elaborate on the Greek myths, I realize that purists will disapprove of that. However, I'm actually a Greek mythology purist myself, and I am NOT trying to do a "Hercules and Xena" thing here. In stories like the kind you see in shows like Hercules and Xena, they not only elaborate on the Greek myths, they CHANGE the *original integrity* of the myths themselves. I have tried my hardest to merely ADD onto the original Greek myths without sullying their integrity. This is why at the beginning of each Lust Opus story I've retold the original Greek myth that inspired the story, so you can compare the rest of what I've written in my story to that myth I placed at the beginning and judge for yourself how good or bad of a job I did in my efforts to ADD and not CHANGE.

Anyway, I'll shut up and let you get on with the reading. Hope you enjoy it. :) Oh yes, and one final thing: I've also written a few mythology-type stories that have nothing to do with the Lust Opus series, and you'll find those here as well.

Lust Opus 2 - The Creation of Aquarius
The second story I wrote for the Lust Opera, and still my favorite. Even the best Greek mythology books gloss over the most well-known gay myth in Greek literature - that of Zeus' only homosexual relationship with Ganymede, the youngest son of King Tros of Troy and the best looking youth in his day. In this short story I begin by retelling the basic storyline that one would find in any good mythology book, and then I attempt to flesh out the bare parts of Zeus and Ganymede's ultimately tragic story.

Lust Opus 5 - The Thirteenth Labor of Heracles
The first and shortest story written for the Lust Opera. In Greek mythology, the great Heracles (Hercules) had one male lover, Hylas. In this short story I begin with the basic storyline that one finds in any good mythology book, and then I attempt to look at how Heracles might have met Hylas. This story is rather undeveloped, as it was also a writing assignment that I had to make short since I had a word limit. I hate word limits. XP *L*

Lust Opus 4 - The Creation of the Hyacinth (Tigers Till Dawn)
The third story I wrote for the Lust Opera. I dunno... This is my most "ambitious" story yet for the Opera, but I'm not really pleased with the way it turned out. It's written in a style that is VERY different from the style of the other two Opera stories, and to me that's part of what makes this story both better and worse than the others. I should have just written it in the style that I did the others, but I can't change it now, as I can't ever bring myself to redo anything I write, especially if it's completed - even if I don't like the way something turned out I'm too much of a sentimentalist and a pack rat to throw it out or rewrite it. *L* But anyway. This story is an elaboration on the very short myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus.

Humanity: Imperfection, Opus 3, Sol, Milky Way
This is a myth I wrote that has NOTHING to do with the Lust Opera; in fact, for eleventh grade English, we were required to write a creation myth, and this was mine.

The Verdant Grin
This started out as an assignment for tenth grade English class, when I was fourteen. For the assignment, we had to write a story, and we were required to include a scene that described, at length, a type of wallpaper. *L* Yes, I kid you not: wallpaper. xp I've revised the story twice since it was written: in the first revision, the only major change I made was to make the main character, a prince, be in love with a prince from a neighboring country as opposed to a princess from a neighboring country. :p *L* In the second revision, the only major changes I made were to certain parts of the ending. I plan on rewriting and expanding on the whole story and taking out the bit about the wallpaper altogether, since to me that seems to be the weakest part of the whole story. That's why I usually hate assignments in creative writing that they give you in class, cause it's always the stuff that you're REQUIRED to include in your story that ends up being the weakest part about it. Still, for a story that I wrote when I was fourteen and only did two major revisions on, I think this is pretty good... even if I still hate the bit about wallpaper! *L* :p

Vale's Younger Brother
This is a really bad myth I wrote for tenth grade English class, when I was fourteen. It isn't THAT bad, but compared to other stuff I've written, it's quite bad. *L* XD Our assignment was to incorporate allegory and alliteration into our stories, so I wrote a "coming of age" story. *L* It's pretty cheesy, as you'll see when you read it. You gotta forgive me! *L* ;p

In Luce Umbrarum
"In Luce Umbrarum" (which is Latin for "In the Light of the Shadows") is a really bad short story for various reasons; first of all, I wrote it when I was like fourteen or fifteen. :p More importantly though, I had to write this as a requirement for Latin class for a national short story contest organized by JCL (the Junior Classical League, which is the national Latin club). That would have been alright, but since the contest had rules and crap I had a really tiny word limit, and that really ruined the story cause I had to cut out a LOT of stuff from it. Even the title of the story was chosen FOR us - it had to be titled "The Life of *insert name here*" (I titled it "The Life of Iacobus" when I submitted the story to the contest, but the real title I wanted was "In Luce Umbrarum"). Nevertheless, for all these limitations, my story placed second in the nation at the Advanced level. *rofl* Amazing, considering the fact that I think this story really SUCKS. :p *L* I don't do a great job of selling my own writing, do I? XD