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ZEUS RISING
ZEUS RISING
A NOVEL BY LOUIS ANASTAS
Zeus, yes the god and former tyrant, is living anonymously in the hills of Los Angeles when he gets an unexpected marriage proposal, which triggers a mid-life crisis. He fights to find renewed purpose and even considers coming out of the shadows and reclaiming his power. Things get worse when an ancient, vengeful force closes in on him and his loved ones. Zeus considers reassuming his powers, since everything is on the line.
Living forever has many problems, like losing everyone you love and carrying around baggage from countless lifetimes. In this memoir, Zeus recounts memories of the Big Bang, the early development of humankind, ancient battles for democracy, and the rise of America—he has seen it all. And, he's met everyone from Socrates to Washington to John Lennon. Zeus has evolved to have great empathy for our plight—life and death—and now embraces democracy as humankind's best way forward.
"A humorous, if imperfect novel built of ancient ideas."
-Kirkus Reviews
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LOUIS ANASTAS
Writer | Director | Storyteller
I currently run an LA-based creative agency where I have written, produced, and directed videos and interactives for great tech brands like Boeing, GE, L3Harris, and SureFire, among others.
I've continued to create more personal work including a feature film and a dozen screenplays, two of which were optioned. And I have written my first novel, ZEUS RISING that is focused on grand themes I've been exploring my entire life. It was published in early 2020. Read more below.
I currently live in Los Angeles with my wife Nicole and our two daughters Sophie and Isabel. I am a first-generation American whose family immigrated from Greece in the mid-20th century. My allegiance is to people-powered democracy, just like Zeus and millions of others.
An excerpt read by John Kapelos
John Kapelos, the accomplished actor from The Breakfast Club, Roxanne, and Justified, reads an excerpt from Zeus Rising. This is near the middle of the book where Zeus heads back to Greece to clear his head and discover who is behind the danger in L.A.
CHAPTER ONE
I am long forgotten but I do hope to change that. It has not been easy hiding out all this time. I’ve been invisible for millennia and it no longer sits well with me. I might as well come out and state my identity. It is the one name, other than Jesus, that stands out across all cultures. And if it does not, it should. My name is Zeus.
In my native tongue it is pronounced Zefs, but the name of the nation from which I sprang is Hellas, and that has long been overrun by the more vulgar term Greece. Let’s go with Zeus. There are more significant battles to wage. You may think that these pages represent the rantings of a crazy man, but I assure you that I am very sane, and I am not a man.
I was truly a king, but I have adjusted to life without power. It has been dreadful at times, but I persist. Most do, but not as long as I have. And I have grown cold to this world, but I have compassion for those around me who do not have nearly enough time to make sense of it all. I look like man, and I feel like man, but I am not a man. I am not coming out of the shadows just yet, but perhaps this lays the groundwork for doing just that.
What are my goals for this revelatory tome, and why now? I suppose it’s to let people know that they are not alone in their worries. This is cliché and not entirely true. Perhaps it is to let everyone know that the best traditions of the West, namely a search for truth, beauty, and freedom, are still vital. The most important element, eleftheria, what you call freedom, is something I’ve come to embrace, although it was at the heart of my ouster as king. It’s probably not that either. I hope you indulge me in using this literary exercise to find myself. I sound like a snowflake, but that is what I am setting out to do. I am no different from Hemingway or Kazantzakis really.
And, America, if you don’t wake up soon – the place I now call home – you will come to miss your freedom greatly. Power will revert to the hands of the very few, or the one, and when that happens it will take a hell of a long time, and a lot of bloodletting, to get it back. Lincoln was right, you are the last best hope of Man.
NOTE: Much of the book is comprised of scenes driven by dialogue that's set in present-day L.A. and ancient times, but this is the first part of chapter one where Zeus sets the context for his memoir.