By Autumn Daughetee

Getting furious has never sounded like so much fun. By “furious” I am referring to the proposed comic book series The Furies. I recently had the opportunity to speak with the creator of The Furies, referred to here as WH in order to protect his or her secret identity.

The Furies is one of Kymera Press’ proposed future projects. In mythology the furies were female spirits of justice and vengeance. That screams comic book to me as well as being a perfect fit with Kymera Press’ goal to create strong female characters.

Autumn: What was the genesis for The Furies? Where did the story’s inspiration come from?

WH: “Several years ago I saw a painting on Greek mythology which depicted three women hovering in the air over a man trying to run from them and it was clear they were inflicting some form of mental torment on him. The painting was labeled The Furies and it intrigued me. So, being a good writer I immediately Googled ‘The Furies’ to find out more about them. Basically, back in the days when Greek mythology ruled and there was no CSI or Law and Order to track down wrongdoers, the Furies were gods who mentally tormented people who committed crimes and seemingly got away with it. I thought about that and wondered if there was a way to create a modern day analogy to the Furies. I began to think about how would they be created today and what kind of powers would they have that would allow them to torment people for crimes they committed. l started thinking about genetically based mental powers and specifically what would be a form of psychological justice. (It probably helped that my Ph.D. was in psychology.) I came up with the idea that real punishment would be if the person who inflicted harm could be made to actually experience and feel the pain they inflicted on others. So that became the psychological power my modern Furies would have. Then it was a matter of coming up with a scientifically logical way that this could have come about and building a story about modern day Furies.”

Autumn: The heroines in The Furies seem like they’ll be strong, positive role models for girls and young women. Was this intentional? And will this be a constant consideration going forward?

WH: “I don’t know if the intent was to create role models for girls and young women, but my only child is female, so from that perspective any female character I create, and I have created others, would tend to be someone strong and independent. As for going forward, I think I will continue to write strong female characters, which now that I think about it, probably has a lot to do with my mother and her two sisters who migrated from the south to the Northeastern part of the United States when they were young. Maybe my being drawn to three powerful women had more to do with my upbringing and subconscious imprinting than I realized until just now.”

Autumn: I’m always interested in how authors see their own stories. How would you describe/classify The Furies?

WH: “While on the surface the story could be classified as a paranormal thriller, for me it has always been about alienation and coming to grips with being different and learning how to live with that and accepting who you are. It’s about three women born and raised with a power they don’t understand, alienated from each other because the power affects them differently and alienated from their past and alienated from society in general. They have been on the run their entire lives, have no real family or friends and live on the fringes of society getting by as best they can. When they are eventually tracked down they have to face the truth about their powers, come to grips with them and ultimately decide how they will live and act with the extraordinary powers they possess. Of course, it wouldn’t be an entertaining story if along the way they didn’t do some serious damage to people and property with their powers.”

Autumn: Why do you think The Furies is suited for the comic book/graphic novel format? Is there a reason you chose this over a traditional novel for telling the story?

WH: “Graphic novels and comic books have long proven they are excellent and respected vehicles for telling stories in any genre. This is especially true if the stories lend themselves to being told with great graphics. I think there is plenty of action in The Furies with strong characters who do big things as opposed to sit around and talk a lot. Like film, graphic novels are stories told primarily through pictures. I see The Furies working well as a comic book or a feature film or TV series. Plus I think it would be pretty cool to be part of creating a comic book series.”

Autumn: What is your favorite thing about The Furies?

WH: “My favorite thing about the story is the powers these young ladies have. I think it is a unique power and the fact that each has dealt with it in their own way in the beginning gives the story interesting psychological avenues to explore and raises the question of what would you do if you could make people feel things they’ve done to you or to others. Would you use your power to heal, would you abuse it for personal gain or would you use it to take out some very nasty people in the world? These are some of the questions we get to explore in The Furies.”

Would you like to help make projects like The Furies possible? Then, support our Kickstarter campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/812703115/gates-of-midnight or simply help us spread the word about Kymera Press. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Check us out on Pinterest and Instagram.