Okay, here's the thing... if you're going to make mythology queerer, Greek myths are an interesting choice, because the ancient Greeks had a very different view of queerness than the modern West. I was really expecting to enjoy this, because I have a degree in ancient Greek lit and archaeology. I am queer. I was ready.

But the thing is, I don't understand what Gold is trying to add here, or why Greek mythos is the framework. I didn't feel like this particular queering of this mythology was subversive. It didn't feel like it added anything in its execution. And if the poems are meant to be personal (in other words, using the existing mythology to address Gold's own sexuality, rather than the the other way around), then why not use the form more effectively? The Hesiod is referenced, but the poetic form of the Hesiod isn't employed. I don't feel like I came into this anthology with an agenda, although maybe I did, because I was left struggling to understand the reasoning behind this merger.

I know I'm a big ol' Classics dork and could, quite literally, write an essay on why this frustrated me. I didn't feel like the collection was poorly written, so I'm still giving it three stars, but I was actively frustrated by some of the choices here.

My thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Usually, my three-star ratings are reserved for books that I am utterly lukewarm towards, but in reading this I ended up feeling like that Eric Andre meme, shaking this poetry collection over my head and shouting, "Let me in!" There's something in here, for sure, but it's not working for me.

I don't normally pick up poetry but anOther Mythology by Maxwell I. Gold is a collection of beautifully written poems that gave me a new perspective on the myths of old. I really loved this and would recommend to anyone who even has a passing interest in mythology or who enjoys poetry.
I have added the author's previous works to my seemly never-ending TBR but I cannot wait to see what he comes out with next.

"I’d cross the seas, traverse the cosmic sands if it meant I’d hold you again."

AnOther Mythology is a collection of short poems with a new perspective /take on the stories.

"Sometimes the darkness weighed down on my body until I felt as if I was going to be crushed like another piece of rock and ruin."

This has some great quotes in it. And hits a lot of plus's. I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it. Especially if you enjoy mythology like I do.

I received this arc from Netgally for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for an advanced reader copy.

Gold re-examines Greek Mythology under the LGBTQIA+ light in this short poetic prose collection.

In all honesty, I found this one a difficult read. I think the cover and premise are really strong but the writing itself doesn’t quite live up to the hype. I was struggling to envision what Gold was trying to portray, with some of the pieces only evoking a scan of a thesaurus and little else.

In this short poetry collection, Maxwell I. Gold examines queerness and identity through the lens of Greek mythology.

I'm all about prose poetry, but unfortunately, these poems didn't quite do it for me. My biggest concern was that I had trouble parsing the images that Gold was trying to create. I found myself re-reading lines trying to understand meaning, but often came up flat. A lot of flashy, showy words were being used, but I didn't feel that they added up to anything.

I'm very appreciative of prose poetry, and generally liked the formatting choices of the poems. Overall, though, I did not connect with the collection.

3/5 Thank you to NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for an advanced reader copy.

I love Greek mythology retellings and was drawn to the idea of this collection being inspired by myth and reclaimed for LGBT representation. However, in deconstructing these myths, I felt that there was a lot of work placed on the reader to make connections and meaning. I also needed to Google many of the myths/gods to understand the context of the poem such as Thanatos, Croesus and Pangu.

3.0/5.0

A short collection of queer re-imagined mythology poems. Although the writing style was impressive and poetic I found it a quite challenging read.

Maxwell I. Gold is a Jewish American multiple award nominated author who writes prose poetry and short stories in cosmic horror and weird fiction with half a decade of writing experience. Some of his books include Oblivion in Flux: A Collection of Cyber Prose from Crystal Lake Publishing and Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums from Hex Publishers. He is a five-time Rhysling Award nominee, and two-time Pushcart Award nominee. His newest collection is anOther Mythology, which is a bold retelling of traditional myths to be more queer-inclusive.
Gold, in his end author’s note, argues that his purpose in writing this book was that “it didn’t matter how we as queer people were seen, but it mattered how we saw ourselves” and “These are myths that are meant for us.” It is understood that the target audience for this book is specifically the queer community, written almost as a triumphant reclaiming of thousands of years of heteronormative patriarchy. This energy permeates the poetry in this collection, and anyone reading it will thoroughly enjoy it.
One way Gold approaches this collection is to take a known myth and make one of the characters gay, thus subverting and reclaiming the narrative. For example, the original myth of Endymion and Selene tells the story of a man, either a shepherd or astronomer, so in love with the moon and she, in return, in love with him that she convinces Zeus to keep him eternally youthful and asleep so she could gaze upon him. In Gold’s retelling, Endymion is a beautiful, lithe gay youth who has no interest in Selene at all and “refused the advances of the terrible moon,” who in return, bleeds “light and lust from its rocky innards across the valleys, through the forests…” This is a dark retelling, but one that reclaims the myth by recasting the titular characters as a gay man.
Elsewhere, Gold reinterprets the idea of himself and his queerness as their own myths, such as in “The Myth of the Flood,” which begins “Smothered by the wrath and ruin of my tears, the cities were eventually swallowed by the myth that was my body.” This poem does not retell a myth, per se, but uses a mythic archetype as a vehicle in the metaphor of the speaker’s grief over personal shames and torments. The grief and suffering itself becomes mythic in scope, allowing the reader to fully ache along with the speaker of the poem. These poems work seamlessly with the other mythic retelling because Gold’s voice is consistent, which leads to a seamless collection.
Overall, anOther Mythology is a really strong collection. It’s a shorter collection, but it’s tight and consistent. Furthermore, because of its mythic retelling and scope, this book is rich and worth rereading. Maxwell I. Gold has created a series of new myths specifically for the queer community, myths that are both dark and scary as well as fierce and triumphant, and any fans of speculative poetry, specifically mythic and cosmic, will want this book on their shelf immediately.

Gold reframes mythology from a queer, intersectional lens, and I absolutely loved it. His prose poetry is evocative and thought-provoking; something I’ll want to return to over and over again.

This is a must read for queer fans of mythology, and I think a second reading deserves a highlighter and annotations. There’s much to be mined from these poems.

Thank you to NetGalley and Interstellar Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A short poetry collection of Queer Horror Mythology from a new perspective taking the power away from the toxicity of the original texts and also focusing mostly on Hell, um big yes. This was right up my alley.

The writing is dense with metaphors and if you don’t know much about Greek Myth in particular the Underworld you might get a bit lost in this collection. However it is a gorgeous new look into the old myths.

This felt like if the video game Hades was in dramatic prose. Glorious.

Special shout-out to: I am Death (Thanatos’ Arrogance), Drag Queen of the Underworld and I am Dead (Hades’ Plea).

Also the cover is phenomenal.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC, Maxwell I. Good for writing it and Interstellar Flight Press for publishing it. Out 04.09.23

An inventive, creative, collection, the only disappointment I found in reading this collection was reaching the end too soon. Brevity aside, this collection is full of evocative, lyrical, bite sized, poems that attempt, and mostly succeed, at completely recontexualizing some of the most famous world myths through a queer lens. The Fates, the primordial abyss before creation, The Flood, and Persephone, all get their due in this collection, each with their own wonderfully original musing.
Overall, this was an interesting read I quite enjoyed. I would be excited to read anything else this author creates.

Glorious and poetic language. However, the writing is challenging and esoteric. There is a lot to decipher—filled with metaphors that need to be unpacked. Quite scholarly and probably best suited for those who have a strong background in mythology.

AnOther Mythology is a book of poetry surrounding the themes of mythology and fantasy. It was a short read but very beautifully written, and as someone who does not read much poetry, I had a lot of fun reading this book as the mythological elements really appealed to me. I would definitely recommend this to fans of mythology, or anyone interested in reading short books and/or poetry, as this was a great book and I really enjoyed reading it.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

I'm a big fan of poetry and an even bigger fan of Greek mythology and so I went into this with high hopes,

But even though I did appreciate the queer representation here, and do understand what the author was trying to do, the collection didn't work for me as a whole. Pieces like "I am Dead" had sections like

They

Always

Forget,

which don't really work for me personally. And sentences like "men who think themselves more pretentious than the stars" don't make sense; why would you want to think of yourself as pretentious? Pretentious people don't think thatv they're pretentious.

I am not sure how to accurately rate this, because as it turns out - my brain and poetry don't really work well together. I can read the poems just fine, but it's the deeper understanding of poems that my brain struggles with. So I don't really feel I can say anything with regards to the poems.

I really did like the queer representation and retelling of the Greek mythology.

Thank you to Interstellar Flight Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

I thought Maxwell did a great job of blending mythology and queer representation well! I would love to further explore the author’s works as this collection’s prose was well thought out and executed!