Aztec Myths & Tales

by Jake Jackson (Editor), Anthony F. Aveni (Foreword)

Delve into the great myths of the Mesoamerican powerhouse civilizations in this fine new addition to the gorgeous Flame Tree Epic Tales series.

This fascinating collection explores the history, culture, gods, calendar, myths and tales of the Aztec people, the Incas, the Mayans and other Mesoamerican and Central American peoples, from migration legends to the origin myth of the Five Suns. Though the Olmecs (1250–200 BCE) were the first civilization in Mexico, the Aztecs (1325–1521) were Mesoamerica’s last dominant indigenous civilization and often the one that is thought about, without understanding the region's rich diversity. Like the other Mesoamerican cultures, Aztec gods and myths reflected a natural philosophy where ideas concerning life and death were linked symbolically to the earth, sky and sea in a grand cosmic scheme. Their religion was dominated by the tribal war god Huitzilopochtli, the rain/fertility god Tlaloc and the supreme deity Tezcatlipoca, the Lord of the Smoking Mirror. This collection brings together the stories and the history into a fine and collectable new volume in the Flame Tree Epic Tales series.

The Flame Tree Gothic & Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Genres: Mythology, Native American

432 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

SF and dark fantasy author but also a writer/creator of practical music books - Beginner's Guide to Reading Music, Guitar Chords, Piano Chords, Songwriter’s Rhyming Dictionary and How to Play Guitar. Other publications include Advanced Guitar Chords, Advanced Piano Chords, Chords for Kids, How to Play the Electric Guitar, Piano & Keyboard Chords, Scales and Modes and Play Flamenco. Also editor of Mythology books 

Released EP Jakesongs on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, LastFM, etc and on CDBaby. Lifelong passion for fantastic worlds of any kind, from movies to fiction, art to music, posters, album and paperback book covers.

Jake Jackson is the artist name for Nick Wells, Publisher of Flame Tree Press / Flame Tree Publishing.

Reviews

[Paul Lunger · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Aztec Myths & Legends" edited by Jake Jackson is a well-intentioned book that gets into the legends and folklore of the Aztecs and beyond but also get sidetracked by references to other things within its pages and at times could've been better organized. It still though is an interesting read for folks with an interest in these stories and will add to the historical knowledge of these peoples.

[Milan Urbáni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miestami fascinujúca a miestami veľmi nudná kniha, napísaná v trochu nešťastnej forme. Kým samotný obsah je veľmi fascinujúci a často sa s ním v hodnovernej forme nestretávame, ale kniha je štruktorovaná ako bloky textu v ktorých sa človek stráca hlavne s rôznymi názvami v jazykoch s ktorými sa človek nestretne. Myslím si že hlavnou sťažnosťou je pre mňa absencia ilustrácií ktoré by toto dielo veľmi obohatili a zároveň dali kontext možno strácajúcemu čitateľovi. Zaroveň sekcia kde boli zpísané texty Európskych objavovateľov a ich reakcii na architektúru a kultúru týchto kultúr, bola za mňa nevkusná a čítala sa tak zle, že som knihu asi na pol roka nechal nečítanú. Najlepšie časti sú určite priamo mýty o ktorých som čakal že bude celá kniha a nie len menšia zadná polovica. Samozrejme možno len nie som na takýto typ literatúry stavaný a pre niekoho je toto úplne najlepší čitateľský zážitok. Pre mňa zaujímavá téma(z ktorej som si veľa zobral) ale vysoko skrytá v zlej forme knihy ktorá sa väčšinu času číta ako wordovský dokument. Verím že keby redaktor trochu pozmenil formu a obsah knihy tak by finálny produkt vyzeral oveľa lepšie. 5.5/10

[Maria Levato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome source on Mesoamerican mythologies.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

read the introduction then skip to page 212. Will save a lot of time reading unnecessary stuff.

[Andressa Da Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

My information on the three cultures’ myths and deities were quite limited so this was a tremendous help