Goddess of Buttercups & Daisies: A Novel

Martin Millar

May 2015 · Catapult

About this ebook

Aristophanes is inconsolable—his rival playwrights are hogging all the local attention, a pesky young wannabe poet won’t leave him alone, his actors can’t remember their lines, and his own festival sponsor seems to be conspiring against him, withholding direly needed funds for set design and, most importantly, giant phallus props. O woe, how can his latest comedy convince Athenian citizens to vote down another ten years of war against Sparta if they’re too busy scoffing at the diminutive phalluses? And why does everyone in the city-state seem to be losing their minds?

Wallowing in one inconvenience after another, Aristophanes is unaware that the Spartan and Athenian generals have unleashed Laet, the spirit of foolishness and bad decisions, to inspire chaos and war-mongering in Athens. To counteract Laet’s influence, Athena sends Bremusa, an Amazon warrior, and Metris, an endearingly airheaded nymph (their first choice was her mother Metricia, but she grew tired of all the fighting and changed back into a river).

Dashing between fantastical scenes of moody and meddlesome gods, ever-applicable political debates in the senate, backstage scrambling for the play, and glimpses of life in Ancient Greece, Martin Millar delivers another witty and comical romp for readers of all ages.

About the author

Martin Millar was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but has lived in London, England, for a long time. He has written a lot of things--novels and plays and short stories and articles. His newest novel is Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me, and it's set in Glasgow. Millar has written six other novels: Love and Peace with Melody Paradise; Milk, Sulphate and Alby Starvation; Lux the Poet; The Good Fairies of New York; Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving and Ruby; and The Stone Age Diet. Millar likes Jane Austen novels, and wrote a stage play of Emma. He even wrote the novelization of the Tank Girl movie. Last, but not least, as Martin Scott, Millar writes the Thraxas series of books. There are five so far, and he won the World Fantasy Award for the first one. When he's not writing, Millar likes to watch Buffy The Vampire Slayer, read history books, especially if they're about ancient Greece, and play the flute.