Book excerpt: 30-Second Mythology offers the shortest path to a world of gods and monsters. So much modern culture traces its origins back to Greek and Roman mythology (witness 2010s Clash of the Titans and Percy Jackson and the Olympians). The stories provide wonderful references to make your conversation more heroic and raise your imagination closer to the gods. Sail through these fifty 30-second legends to discover what Hercules did to deserve his twelve labors, why Odysseus took ten years to travel 500 miles, and how Narcissus found the love of his life. The perfect reference book for creative writers, it covers gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, story locations and the great storytellers. There are also condensed versions of the tragic tales alongside explanations of their modern legacies: from the Oedipus Complex to the Narcissus Syndrome.