- K. A. Meng
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
I've known Robert for a while, and I'm happy to share his first published full length novel, along with being the first Moorhead Friends Writing Group author spotlight I share. I have yet to read it all of mortal.exe, but since we're in a writing group together, I've had the pleasure to read bits and pieces of it as he drafted and edited it.
About the Author:
Robert Moore, Jr. is originally from the Mississippi/Louisiana Gulf Coast. He’s called many other places home at one point or another, including west Texas, Georgia, Ohio, and now North Dakota. In his day job he’s the Teaching Lab Supervisor for the Department of Physics & Astrophysics at the University of North Dakota. In addition to writing stories about gods, goddesses, myths, fables, and science fiction, he has interests in dinosaurs, planet formation, and astronomy in general. He also enjoys fishing, hunting, and riding his motorcycle when the cold allows.
Social Media Links:
Instagram: @digitalmythsbooks
YouTube: @RobertMooreJr-Author
Mel is a goddess, the daughter of Hades and Persephone—which makes going to college a bit difficult. When the other Greek gods take notice, fitting into the mortal world becomes the least of Mel’s worries.
Lines are drawn. Warnings become attacks.
Caught between what the gods want her to be and what she wants to become, Mel must choose a path before one is chosen for her.
Will Mel live up to her name, Mellontikos, “belonging to the future,” or give up her
future to live in the past?
K.A.M: Robert, please tell where did you get your idea for your book?
Robert: Strangely enough, the idea for this book came from a meme. I’m sure a lot of people will remember it. The picture had Gal Gadot on one side of Emilia Clarke and Jason Mamoa on the other. It had a caption saying something to the effect that the picture looked like a giddy college student trying to hide the fact that her parents were demigods of the Underworld. For whatever reason, I latched onto the idea. Only I thought, why demigods of the Underworld? Why not the King and Queen of the Underworld? And so the daughter of Hades and Persephone went to college.
At first the story was a short story of about 4,000 words. I cut a lot of what I wanted to write out of that short story though. When it was done, I started pitching it to various magazines and got editor feedback from one of them. This editor, I won’t name the magazine, said that there was too much exposition, that they’d started skimming before the halfway point. I thought about this, in particular why there was so much exposition, and it was mainly because of all the things I’d cut out. Thus a short story became a novel.
K.A.M: What is your favorite character in your book and why?
Robert: I have two honestly. One is Sarah, the mortal BFF of my goddess, Mellontikos (Mel). The other is Persephone.
Sarah is a favorite because she’s brash and bold. She exemplifies what I’d hope I’d do if I found out my best friend was a god or goddess. Not only that, but in the end, she’s ride-or-die. She’d face down the gods with a squirt gun if that’s what it took to stand beside Mel.
As for Persephone, I’ve always thought she was great, even before I started writing. She was kidnapped and promised to Hades by Zeus without her consent. From such an inauspicious, and frankly vulgar, beginning, she became a queen to be reckoned with: regal and the one that Orpheus himself appealed to for the release of his beloved. At the same time, she’s a dual goddess, because she’s also Kore, goddess of Spring and Growth. I’d like to think I was able to capture both essences, even if you don’t see her as Kore in this book. Oops! That’s a spoiler for Book 2, isn’t it?
K.A.M: Is there any scene in your book based on real life? If so, what?
Robert: I can’t say that there is a particular scene that’s based on real life, no. At least it’s not there intentionally. Still, we all put something of ourselves and our experiences into what we write, so I’m sure it’s there. It just wasn’t done consciously.
K.A.M: What inspired you to write a story on Greek Mythology? And why did you choose the daughter of Hades and not the other gods?
Robert: This answer goes hand-in-hand with the first question. That said, I could have written the story with a different mythology. The gods of the Underworld could have been Osiris and Isis after all. The issue is that I didn’t feel I knew the stories of Osiris and Isis, or any of the other traditions well enough to model my story on them. Add that there were certain aspects of the overarching story that simply worked best with Hades and Persephone. I won’t say more on this point though because it would give some pretty heavy spoilers for Books 2 and 3.
As for the second question, that really is answered by the very first question above. I needed a god and goddess of the Underworld, which effectively rules out any of the other Greek deities. For what it’s worth, though, I do have at least two side stories churning in my head that may turn into adjacent novels. How do these titles sit with everyone: The Gospel of Eris: Revolution in 7/8 Time and The Red Tide: Ares Unleashed? I don’t know that either will make it out of the planning stage, but they are rattling around.
Excerpt:
Mel had only been at Cal Tech for a few weeks, but it already felt like home. Enough so that she didn’t really want to visit her parents and Olympus just yet. Another bothersome element of the trip was that she couldn’t wear her usual jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes. She’d become used to such comfortable clothing, but they would never do for a trip home, much less to Olympus for the Equinox celebration. Thus, for the occasion, she was dressed in a pale blue chiton that left her shoulders bare, a cream-colored skirt, and flat sandals that laced up her calf. Instead of her hair being loose down her back, it was curled and tied up at the back of her head in nice folds with a leather cord. She laughed at the thought of Sarah and her new friends not recognizing her dressed like this. It was time to go, though, so she picked up a package of treats for Cerberus on the desk. Thinking of her old friend made her smile. It had only been a matter of a few weeks, but she did miss Cerberus.
She looked at the picture of a cavern hanging on the wall, took a step and found herself in the cavern of gray rock and deep shadows. The air was chilly, damp, and musty. She could hear the flow of Lethe behind her. The opening of a large tunnel faced her. After only a few steps toward the tunnel a loud bay sounded. It faded into echoes, but two more canine voices took it up.
Mel only had enough time to set the package down before she was bowled over by the huge form of Cerberus. The three-headed beast was easily six feet at the shoulder, with shaggy white fur splattered with black blotches. One head was black, one white, and the middle head was as spotted as the rest of him. Each head was collared by a ruff of longer hair. All of him was happy to see her, and the three heads took turns bathing her with their tongues.
“Cerberus!” Mel tried to make her tone sharp, but her laughter made it difficult. “Cerberus, down.” She finally managed to make her tone authoritative enough that the fierce Hound of the Underworld listened. “Let me up, Cerberus.” And he did, though likely because the package she’d brought suddenly caught the attention of the middle head.
Mel snatched the bag and got back on her feet. “I don’t know that you deserve these now.” Her words didn’t stop him from sniffing and nuzzling at the bag. She swatted at his noses, but they kept coming back. Finally, unable to control her laughter, she pulled out the box of treats. Cerberus didn’t know what they were, but he knew he wanted them, and he set to prancing about. Mel tore off the top of the box, then scattered treats everywhere. Cerberus tried to go in three directions at once, chasing them with each of his heads, which made Mel laugh even harder.
Her laughter died down, and she ruffled the fur at his shoulder as he snuffled out treats. She gave him a final pat on the shoulder and turned back to the tunnel into the Underworld proper. “I’ll see you again before I leave,” she said, and walked into the deeper gloom.
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