Group Dynamics by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Group Dynamics by Nina Kiriki Hoffmanis a story in Daily Science Fiction about members of a self-help group. It's not an ordinary self help group; it’s a self help group for Supernaturals who are no longer so super as they once were. The viewpoint character, Eydis, can no longer affect people’s luck as she once could. Sometimes it bounces back. (I could not locate a deity by this name, though Ey + Dis means “good fortune” + “goddess” in Old Norse.) Her friends are an elf named Chandra and her wife, an angel named Iris. (In Indian mythology, Chandra is a lunar deity and in Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow.)
While the similarities between other members of the group and their mythological counterparts are tenuous at best, the same cannot be said of Zeus. This is the same Zeus we all know from Greek mythology and from the poem Leda and the Swan by Yeats. He is a narcissistic sex addict with the power to inflict himself on others. He has made the group meeting about himself and his whining. Eydis and her friends have had enough..
Eydis and Chandra and Iris are at the Santa Tekla Natural History Museum discussing their plans to breakaway and form a Zeusless support group when he appears in their midst. He attempts to seduce Eydis, but Chadra pulls her back to herself and she gives Zeus a response he’s had coming to him for 3000 years.
What does it all mean? Taking back one’s own power? Taking a stand with help from one’s friends? Standing up to the powerful and sexually exploitive? I leave it to the reader to decide.
References
- Daily Science Fiction. "Group Dynamics." Nina Kiriki Hoffman.
- On Group Dynamics. Philipp Michel Reichold. Apr 29th, 2019
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