Caeniad

The Caeniad contains what might seem to be glaring anachronisms, particularly Caenis' obsession with Achilles who--as she is constantly reminded--died before she was born. Actually the sources are clear that Achilles was born years after Caenis died. Nestor tells her story in the Iliad and again in the Aeneid, where he even tells the tale to Achilles himself. While I could be embarrassed by what appears to be a major oversight, I am comforted by the knowledge that such generational misplacement is common in Greek mythology. In the Caenis myth alone, if one tried to take all the sources at face value, it would look like she sired her own father.

The story takes place around the time of the Trojan War, which puts it squarely in the Bronze Age. But the world described is closer to Iron Age Greece. This was done mostly because the Iron Age is--as everyone knows--so much funnier than the Bronze Age. But this anachronism has classical precedent. The Iliad has the Trojan War in the Heroic Age, but other than all the bronze weapons and armor there is nothing really Bronze Age-ish about the poem. I figured if Homer could get away with it, so could I.

Wait . . . there is also the problem of the sources saying that Poseidon--not Priapos--transformed the innocent Amazon into the monster that she came to be. Hmm. Ok, forget everything I just said. . . . The following work is pure fantasy. It has no historical validity. The centaurs and satyrs should be considered pseudo-centaurs and -satyrs, and the gods that appear are but shadows of their extant and ideal forms.

--From the Foreword of "The Caenid"

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Unnatural Squire

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240 pages * First edition

ISBN 978-1-59092-203-3 * SRP $14.99

5.5 x 8.5 trade paperback

Cover art by Buster Blue

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