My mind is filled with cataclysm and apocalypse. I wish for earthquakes, eruptions, flood.

There is no law that gods must be fair, Achilles,” Chiron said. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Do you think?

and her skin shone luminous and impossibly pale, as if it drank light from the moon.

A part of what makes myths live is their multiplicity, the way different voices retell them in every generation. Homer survives because his poetry was outstanding, yes, but also because he's been passed down by so many by luminaries like Vergil and Ovid, Shakespeare, James Joyce and Margaret Atwood, but also by countless others. I wanted to do my part for these tremendous stories.

In making Achilles and Patroclus lovers, I wasn't trying to speak for all gay men, just as when I write straight characters, I don't claim to speak for all straight people. My job as an author is to give voice to these very particular characters - these two men, in this time, and in this place

Perhaps it is the greatest grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.

He is more worth to you, perhaps. But the stranger is someone else's friend and brother. So which life is more important?