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24-499: After being missing for fourteen years, private investigator October "Toby" Daye returns to a human world that presumes her dead. Reluctantly, she returns to the politics and dangers of faerie society and gradually becomes both feared and celebrated as a hero among the fae. In addition to episodic villains, the series contains several overarching plot lines and antagonists. The demigod -like Firstborn Eira Rosynhwyr repeatedly confronts Toby in her attempts to gain power. The local Queen has

48-597: A compelling heroine in a secret folklore-filled world that still feels fresh and dangerous after all this time." American actress Felicia Day says it is, "Top of my urban-paranormal series list!" The October Daye series was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024. "Rat-Catcher" and "In Sea-Salt Tears" were both nominated for the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novelette . The first nine books were originally published as mass market paperbacks . Book Ten, The Brightest Fell (2017),

72-524: A demigod after his 46 BCE victory at Thapsus . However, Dio was writing in the third century CE — centuries after the death of Caesar — and modern critics have cast doubt on whether the Senate really did this. The first Roman to employ the term "demigod" may have been the poet Ovid (17 or 18 CE), who used the Latin semideus several times in reference to minor deities. The poet Lucan (39-65) also uses

96-530: A human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the " divine spark " ( divine illumination ). An immortal demigod often has tutelary status and a religious cult following, while a mortal demigod is one who has fallen or died, but is popular as a legendary hero in various polytheistic religions. Figuratively, it is used to describe a person whose talents or abilities are so superlative that they appear to approach being divine. The English term " demi- god"

120-630: A mortal scholar. Abe no Seimei , a famous onmyōji from the Heian period was supposed to be one. His father, Abe no Yasuna (安倍 保名), was human. Still, his mother Kuzunoha , was a Kitsune , a divine fox, being this the origin of Abe no Seimei's magical prowess. In the indigenous religions originating from the Philippines , collectively called Anitism , demigods abound in various ethnic stories. Many of these demigods equal major gods and goddesses in power and influence. Notable examples include Mayari,

144-502: A seemingly unfounded vendetta against Toby. Centuries-old conflict between Oberon , Titania , Maeve , and Janet of Caughterha threatens the safety of Toby and her allies. McGuire has released more than forty short stories and novellas set in the October Daye universe. Some are available through anthologies alongside authors such as Charlaine Harris , Kelley Armstrong , and Tanya Huff . Others are available as bonus content in

168-514: A step beyond most nymphs. These were the hamadryads , who were an integral part of their trees, such that if the tree died, the hamadryad associated with it also died. For these reasons, dryads and the Greek gods punished any mortal who harmed trees without first propitiating the tree-nymphs. (associated with Oak trees) The dryads of the ash tree were called the Meliae . The Meliae sisters tended

192-635: Is a calque of the Latin word semideus , "half-god". The Roman poet Ovid probably coined semideus to refer to less important gods, such as dryads . Compare the Greek hemitheos . The term demigod first appeared in English in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, when it was used to render the Greek and Roman concepts of semideus and daemon. Since then, it has frequently been applied figuratively to people of extraordinary ability. In

216-477: The Ashvins ). Queen Kunti had previously conceived another son, Karna , when she had tested the mantra out. Despite her protests, Surya the sun god was compelled by the mantra to impregnate her. Bhishma is another figures who fits the western definition of demigod, as he was the son of King Shantanu and Goddess Ganga . The Vaishnavites (who often translate deva as "demigod") cite various verses that speak of

240-411: The ancient Greek and Roman world, the concept of a demigod did not have a consistent definition and associated terminology rarely appeared. The earliest recorded use of the term occurs in texts attributed to the archaic Greek poets Homer and Hesiod . Both describe dead heroes as hemitheoi , or "half gods". In these cases, the word did not literally mean that these figures had one parent who

264-793: The Devas are stated to be subordinate to Vishnu, or God. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada , the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) translates the Sanskrit word "deva" as "demigod" in his literature when the term referred to a God other than the Supreme Lord . This is because the Vaishnava tradition teaches that there is only one Supreme Lord and that all others are but His servants. In an effort to emphasize their subservience, Prabhupada uses

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288-845: The Hindu epic Mahabharata , the five Pandava brothers and their half brother Karna , fit the Western definition of demigods though they are generally not referred to as such. Queen Kunti , the wife of King Pandu , was given a mantra that, when recited, meant that one of the gods would give her his child. When her husband was cursed to die if he ever engaged in sexual relations, Kunti used this mantra to provide her husband with children fathered by various deities. These children were Yudhishthira (child of Dharmaraj ), Bhima (child of Vayu ) and Arjuna (child of Indra ). She taught this mantra to Madri , King Pandu's other wife, and she immaculately conceived twin boys named Nakula and Sahadeva (children of

312-567: The Tagalog moon goddess who governs the world every night, Tala, the Tagalog star goddess, Hanan, the Tagalog morning goddess, Apo Anno, a Kankanaey demigod hero, Oryol, a Bicolano half-snake demi-goddess who brought peace to the land after defeating all beasts in Ibalon, Laon, a Hiligaynon demigod who can talk to animals and defeated the mad dragon at Mount Kanlaon, Ovug, an Ifugao thunder and lightning demigod who has separate animations in both

336-654: The demigods in Chinese mythology , Erlang Shen and Chen Xiang are most prominent. In the Journey to the West , the Jade Emperor 's younger sister Yaoji is mentioned to have descended to the mortal realm and given birth to a child named Yang Jian. He would eventually grow up to become a deity himself known as Erlang Shen. Chen Xiang is nephew of Erlang Shen, birth by his younger sister Huayue Sanniang who married with

360-613: The devas' subordinate status. For example, the Rig Veda (1.22.20) reads, " oṃ tad viṣṇoḥ paramam padam sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ ", which translates to, "All the suras [i.e., the devas] look always toward the feet of Lord Vishnu". Similarly, in the Vishnu Sahasranama, the concluding verses, read, "The Rishis [great sages], the ancestors, the devas, the great elements, in fact, all things moving and unmoving constituting this universe, have originated from Narayana," (i.e., Vishnu). Thus

384-867: The immediate pre-Roman period, the Celtic Gallaceian tribe in Portugal made powerful, large stone statues of deified local heroes , which stood on hill forts in the mountainous regions of - what is today - Northern Portugal and Spanish Galicia . In Hinduism , the term demigod is used to refer to deities who were once human and later became devas (gods). There are two notable demigods in Vedic Scriptures : Nandi (the divine vehicle of Shiva ), and Garuda (the divine vehicle of Vishnu ). Examples of demigods worshiped in South India are Madurai Veeran and Karuppu Sami . The heroes of

408-713: The novels from minor character perspectives. The October Daye series has appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list . Publishers Weekly calls the books "a pulse-pounding, often surprising tale" and "a tightly plotted adventure." The magazine says of Night and Silence, "McGuire continues to put her heroes through harrowing emotional and physical dangers while peeling back more layers in an increasingly complicated mythos. There are significant payoffs for longtime readers as she calls back to numerous elements from previous books. Toby’s combination of pragmatic heroism and relentless self-destruction makes her

432-518: The print editions of her books (beginning with Once Broken Faith), her website, and to her Patreon subscribers. The short stories typically explore alternate character points of view and form their own story arcs over multiple installments. Recurring narrators include love interest Tybalt; Toby's Firstborn aunt the Luidaeg; and characters in the Lorden family. Other one-off stories continue events of

456-499: The term is ofter used to refer tree nymphs in general. These were nymphs of the laurel trees. The Maliades, Meliades or Epimelides were nymphs of apple and other fruit trees and the protectors of sheep. The Greek word melas , from which their name derives, means both apple and sheep. The Hesperides , the guardians of the golden apples, were regarded as this type of dryad. Dryads, like all nymphs , were supernaturally long-lived and, like many, were tied to their homes, but some were

480-645: The term to speak of Pompey attaining divinity upon his death in 48 BCE. In later antiquity, the Roman writer Martianus Capella ( fl. 410-420) proposed a hierarchy of gods as follows: The Celtic warrior Cú Chulainn , a major protagonist in the Irish national epic the Táin Bo Cuailnge , ranks as a hero or as a demigod. He is the son of the Irish god Lugh and the mortal princess Deichtine . In

504-456: The upper and earth worlds, Takyayen, a Tinguian demigod and son of the star goddess Gagayoma, and the three Suludnon demigod sons of Alunsina, namely Labaw Dongon, Humadapnon, and Dumalapdap. Māui Māui Dryad A dryad ( / ˈ d r aɪ . æ d / ; Greek : Δρυάδες , sing. Δρυάς ) is an oak tree nymph or oak tree spirit in Greek mythology ; Drys (δρῦς) means "tree", and more specifically " oak " in Greek. Today

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528-502: The word "demigod" as a translation of deva . However, there are at least three occurrences in the eleventh chapter of Bhagavad-Gita where the word deva, used in reference to Lord Krishna , is translated as "Lord". The word deva can be used to refer to the Supreme Lord, celestial beings, and saintly souls depending on the context. This is similar to the word Bhagavan , which is translated according to different contexts. Among

552-460: Was divine and one who was mortal. Instead, those who demonstrated "strength, power, good family, and good behavior" were termed heroes , and after death they could be called hemitheoi , a process that has been referred to as "heroization". Pindar also used the term frequently as a synonym for "hero". According to the Roman author Cassius Dio , the Roman Senate declared Julius Caesar

576-509: Was the first volume released in hardcover . In 2019, DAW Books released a Rosemary and Rue 10th Anniversary Special Edition that included a new bonus novella, Strangers in Court . The first three books of the series have been translated to German. The first two books are available in French. Demigod A demigod is a half-god and half-human offspring of a god and a human , or

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