Have a Hot Time, Hades! is Book I in Kate McMullan's
Myth-O-Mania series, published in 2002. Hades recalls how he helped overthrow his
Archnemesis Dad, Cronus the Titan, from ruling the universe, only for Hades' conceited brother Zeus to get more than his fair share of the credit.
This book provides examples of:
- Androcles' Lion: Hades protects the puppy Cerberus from dog-kicker Zeus, so when Echidna later attempts to strangle Hades, Cerberus convinces her to let him free.
- Archnemesis Dad: Hades' father, Cronus, swallowed him, Poseidon, and their sisters as babies, just to prevent a prophecy that one of Cronus' children would overpower him. When Rhea feeds him an herb that makes him cough up their now-grown offspring, they all act understandably pissed towards him.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Some of Typhon's and Echidna's babies, whom Hades encounters while saving Zeus, grow up to become either enemies or allies of Hercules.
- Chicken Joke: When Thalia asks the gods, "Why did the chicken cross the road?", Hera guesses, "To be sacrificed to the gods, of course." Thalia corrects Hera with the original punchline, eliciting laughter from the other Muses.
- Companion Cube: Young Demeter acts very protective of the rock that Rhea feeds Cronus in lieu of baby Zeus. In the next book, Hades finds it unsurprising that she grows up to become Persephone's doting mother.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": The cyclopes Thunderer and Lightninger forge lightning when presenting Zeus with the Bucket O'Bolts.note They also forge Poseidon's trident and Hades' Helmet of Darkness, but those aren't relevant to their names.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter title has a pun regarding either heat or light.
- Key Confusion: Underworld jail keeper Campe challenges Hades and his brothers to find the key to the Cyclopses' and Hundred-Handed Ones' cell, among the countless keys she carries. Zeus and Poseidon each try to find it in the big stack of keys attached to her brass ring, but both end up choosing incorrectly. Hades figures that Campe must keep the right one in a place where she could easily find it, then correctly guesses that she wears it on the gold chain around her neck.
- The Olympics: Hades and his siblings, with help from Zeus' children, the Cyclopses, and the Hundred-Handed Men, compete against the Titans in this to decide who should live on Mount Olympus.
- On the Next: In the epilogue, Hades offers to tell Hyperion how Persephone became his queen.
- Token Good Teammate: Hyperion betrays the Titans when he sits out the Olympics, then tells Hades and his teammates where to find the Cyclopses and the Hundred-Handed Ones, who could help overcome Cronus.
- The Unfavorite: The Cyclopses and the Hundred-Handed Ones became banished to Tartarus after Sky Daddy deemed them uglier than their siblings, the Titans.
- You Do Not Want To Know: When discussing the realms of the Underworld in the introduction, Hades uses this phrase in reference to the torture inflicted upon the souls of the wicked. (The glossary reveals that it involves fire and lava.)
