Greek myths mixed with humour for West Wittering author

It has been released by Pegasus Publishers (Nightingale Books) at £8.99, available from Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith, Hatchards, Foyles etc.

Mark, aged 62, explained: “The book was actually written many years ago. When my children were young, I used to read the Greek myths to them at bedtime and started making up hopefully funny verses to amuse them. Like all parents of young kids, I was often exhausted at the end of a long day’s work and often found myself falling asleep whilst reading to them so decided to make up and write something that would amuse the reader as much as the readee thus hopefully keeping him/her awake! The book is largely written on two levels. On one level young children will hear/read just the narrative and learn about the myths, and on another level the adult reader can enjoy the puns and double-entendres eg when the Greeks head to Troy to rescue Helen, whom Paris has abducted, we can read that ‘The saying that was now upon everyone’s lips/was that Helen had launched over one thousand ships/But others less friendly and not quite as nice/Said she looked like she’d pushed out the boat once or twice!’ Readers over a certain age may well enjoy the cheeky pun in the last line of that verse!

“It’s also interesting that a unit of beauty, clearly a very subjective topic, has been referred to humorously by commentators as a milli-helen, a neat reference to those thousand ships.

“I also found it interesting that the Greek gods and goddesses, widely thought of through re-telling of the myths – which were seldom, if ever, written down but rather passed down through generations in words – as super-powers, were often outed as liars such as when Odysseus tells the Cyclop giant Polyphemus that his name is Nobody and also were often flawed characters. Even Zeus gets tricked by Prometheus with his gifts in Pandora’s Box.

“The verses I started making up were expanded, at my children’s request, into a full book. I was working in the city at the time and would write a few more verses and poems every night. After a few months, I had a complete manuscript. After a few attempts to find a publisher, which was very hard as an unknown author, I put the manuscript in a drawer and largely forgot about it. Almost two years ago, a house move resulted in my finding the manuscript in a packing case and I decided to try to get it published again. I sent a synopsis to Pegasus Publishers/Nightingale Books and they liked it and took me on. Over the next 18 months or so, the manuscript became a complete and checked book, and wonderful illustrations were added by the team at Pegasus. The finished article was published by Pegasus.

“I held a book-signing evening in my local pub in West Wittering on the evening of publication day, and was delighted and humbled that over 60 people attended. This gave me hope that the book could appeal to a wider audience and not just to children whose parents/schools were introducing them to the Greek Myths.

“The book is available on Amazon and in all good bookshops. It can be found by searching under Myrthful Myths. I am very glad that I deliberately mis-spelt mirthful! Or Mark Abbott. Thanks to some very positive reviews already posted by purchasers, it can now also be found by just searching Greek Myths books, but a certain amount of scrolling down is required! Not being called Stephen Fry is a disadvantage for an author of books on the Greek Myths! An E-book version is also available.”