Written by Ryan Foley and illustrated by Sankha Banerjee, Stolen Hearts: The Love of Eros and Psyche is the latest in the Campfire Graphic Novel Mythology Series. The myth is framed as an object lesson on the power of love to overcome all obstacles. Demiarties, a female tutor, tells the story to her teenage charge who is having problems with the family of the young man she is in love with. The young man's mother feels she is not good enough for him.
"Take two prominent families." Demiarties tells her. "Have two young members of the families be in love. Add a disapproving mother who wants to keep them apart ... that is a tale as old as time itself." Psyche's story, she goes on, is a story of "romance, trust, separations, second chances, and a very powerful disapproving mother."
The story she tells follows the traditions fairly closely. Aphrodite, jealous of Psyche's beauty, sends her son, Eros to use his arrows to cause her to fall in love with some foul creature. Eros, however, succumbs to her beauty and falls in love with her himself. When Aphrodite refuses to relent in her animosity to Psyche, Eros vows to withhold love of all kinds from the world and eventually Aphrodite is forced to give in.
The story continues with the strange marriage between the lovers, Psyche's failure to obey the command that she not look at her husband, her various labors to make up for her failure, including her descent into Hades, and of course her final transformation into a goddess. Foley tells the story in a straightforward manner, but never loses its magical quality. The young adult is the audience Campfire generally aims at, and this is just the kind of tale that can capture their target audience's imagination and encourage further exploration.
Article comments
1 - Ryan Foley
Mr. Goodstein,
I would like to thank you for the kind words regarding STOLEN HEARTS. I believe that you perfectly personified the true intent of the story. It is my belief that true love is not found, it is forged. It is forged through hardships and trials but in the end it can rise above all obstacles. I feel that this is a universal truth and I was so happy to bring this story to light.
Sankha is tremendously talented and I could not be happier with the finished product... well, maybe if it sold a boat load of copies I would be happier. ;-) I appreciate your comments, truly. As a novice writer, you always wonder if your story comes across. You hope it does but you never really know until a stranger comes along and tells you that you write with "flair." I am doing all I can to not do my Ric Flair impersonation right now. Woooo! (Couldn't help it.) Thank you again and I hope you will look into my other work as well. Campfire has more of my myth stories coming!