Elysium: Modern Myths of Immortality

by Rodopi Sisamis

In this collection of stories that mingle love with the horrors of mortality and loss, Immortals stalk the earth. Some search for those they’ve lost, others desperately try to escape their fate, while others are haunted, and trapped by humanity.

For most humans, there is the release of death to look forward to as freedom, but no such consolation exists for the Immortals and their subjects, who are destined to remain on the wheel of life – forcing them to make their own peace, and happiness at last.

204 pages, Paperback

Published December 13, 2015

About the author

Rodopi Sisamis was born in New York City, and has been writing stories since she learned how to hold a pencil. She received a Bachelor's in psychology, and creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University, although it was her time as a student in Brooklyn College that shaped her most as a writer.
Rodopi lives in Brooklyn with hellion triplets, a shadow dog and a reincarnated cat named Sally. Her stories have appeared in several anthologies including She Walks in Shadows, The Queen of the Sky Who Rules Over All the Gods, and The Daughter of the Sun.

Reviews

[Edward Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Immortals mortal, mortals immortal, living the death of those, dying the life of these," (Heraclitus, frag. DK 62). This famous, engimatic Heraclitean maxim expresses perfectly the spirit that runs through this collection of short stories, which often take tropes from the urban fantasy genre as the jumping off point for the author's own, much more original and authentic reflections upon the way in which mortals and immortals trouble one another. The stories are at their best, I think, when the proportion of the elements crafted afresh by Sisamis outweighs definitively the elements that come off the shelf, but for others I suspect the presence of genre elements will help them to touch bottom. A very promising debut, in any event.

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories was a surprise. Like other reviewers have mentioned, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly exceeded my expectations, especially as a debut. Some of the stories were heartbreaking. Avalon particularly was difficult to read, however there are happy endings for some of the characters, which I was grateful for. Contagious was the scary one in the bunch. I didn't even realize it had frightened me until much later when I found it coming back to me in the quiet moments of the day. Very unsettling, and the only story that didn't involve love as a force of redemption or hope. I sincerely hope the author turns some of these stories into novels, because the worlds are rich, and fantastic, while still being realistic. If she does, I look forward to reading them.

[Asta Schmitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Sisamis' contribution to Cthulhu's Daughters so I was expecting a lot from Elysium. It ended up being a slightly underwhelming experience. Some of the stories were very good (Devotion is my favorite) but most felt like they would've benefited from an extra round of editing.

I appreciated how the writer doesn't seem to think in genre boundaries. Sisamis is talented, the potential is there but good ideas don't automatically translate into a good story. Arsinoe for example is an intriguing tale of time travel but it seems like the author herself couldn't keep track of all the different characters. Two stories left me cold because the protagonists themselves had zero empathy. On the whole I often needed more clarity and structure in what she was trying to communicate.

On top of that her subject matter (supernatural immortals) basically offers endless possibilities yet it struck me at the end of the book that Sisamis seems to be repeatedly using the same story elements. I'm not sure if it was just too much romanticism for my taste or too many idealised descriptions of women's looks and hetero sex. Probably both.