Phoenicia Rogerson is altogether mortal with a rather less checkered past than Hercules. Herc is the result of a lifelong infatuation with Greek mythology and she is greatly enjoying being able to claim her book purchases are for work.

These days she lives in London, where she can often be seen trying to convince people that grammar is cool — no, really! — and jumping into freezing water, because you just can’t take the Cornwall out of the girl.

Welcome to the Hive, Phoenicia. Congratulations on your debut novel, Greek retelling Herc. 

Now apparently, this isn’t the story of Hercules… so who is it about and what can readers expect?

Thank you! Herc is about the people around him: his family, his friends, his lovers, even his enemies. It’s told from all of their points of view instead of Herc’s to build up a picture of what he was like and all the different roles he played in their lives. The tone really varies between chapters, depending on whether they loved him, or hated him, or feared him, and in the end, its up to the reader to decide what kind of man he was.

You give voice to a lot of the women around Hercules, did you have a favourite one to convey?

I loved writing Ariadne. She has such a clear viewpoint on heroes and what she thinks of them — nothing good! — because she’s seen the worst they can do. She’s not only survived to tell the tale, but now she’s in a position where she has more power than them, and she’s ready to use it. I had a lot of fun playing with those dynamics.

What made you want to tell this particular story, over any of the other numerous untold stories in Greek mythology?

Herc is the first hero I knew about, so his stories have always had a special place in my heart, and I’ve long grumbled about how much of them is left out, and how sanitised the versions we often see are, so I wanted to rectify that! Something I discovered while I was writing is how much I love the puzzle of fitting all the myths together so that they made sense, and working on a character as big as Herc really let me explore that.

And, other than Hercules, what are your favourite stories from Greek mythology?

I’m here for any story that shows the gods bickering amongst themselves, especially when there are competitions involved — though those never seem to end well for the judges! It’s amazing how many people thought it was a good idea to challenge the Muses to a singing contest…

Greek mythology retellings are still enjoying a resurgence recently. I’ve enjoyed works by both Claire North and Madeline Miller, but are there any other authors you’d recommend to our readers?

Many! On the Greek retelling side, I loved Natalie Haynes’ Stone Blind, Rosie Hewlett’s Medea, and Hollie McNish’s Antigone. For other mythologies, I’ll never stop recommending Joanne Harris’ Gospel of Loki and Vaishnavi Patel’s Kaikeyi!

We always appreciate a beautiful book cover! How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped the artist would portray?

I’m absolutely useless when it comes to visuals — there’s a reason I write prose! — so I wasn’t massively involved in my cover design until I got to see the first cover concept ideas, and then I found myself having all sorts of opinions! I absolutely love where we ended up with it, and I think Andrew Davis, the cover artist, is absolutely brilliant — so much so that I ended up knitting a jumper version of the cover.

What an excellent way of celebrating your book cover, as a crocheter, I wholeheartedly approve. You can check out the jumper on Phoenicia’s website, she’s even included the pattern!

This one is just for fun and is one of our favourite questions here on the Fantasy Hive: which fantastical mythical creature would you ride into battle and why?

Owlbear — because my 16 year old self fell in love with RPGs in a big way. I suspect I’d laugh so much making a combination of owl and bear sounds that I’d fall off, which wouldn’t be the most inspiring way to enter a battle, but I’d have a great time doing it.

Can you tell us a little something about your current work(s) in progress? Have you any upcoming projects which you can share?

Yes to an upcoming project, though the details are still secret for the moment… I can tell you it’s set in the same world as Herc!

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

For me, Greek mythology has always been incredibly fun, and I’ve loved how silly and tragic it can be — sometimes at the same time — so I hope I’ve managed to share some of that with the readers.

Thank you so much for joining us today!

Herc is out in paperback today! You can order your copy HERE