No Gods, Only Monsters
by Steve McHugh
Series: Antiquity Chronicles
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Intended Age Group: Any
Pages: 250
Published: May 1, 2022
Publisher: Hidden Realms Publishing LTD (Self Published)
Diana, the Roman Goddess of the hunt, lives alone on the far edge of the Roman Empire. When an old friend arrives looking for help, Diana finds herself thrust back into her old life, and old problems.
With innocent lives caught in the crossfire, Diana realizes that the only way to ensure the safety of her friends and loved ones is to do what she does best: hunt her enemies down.
- A Clash of Titans • If Someone Asks if You’re a God, You Say Yes • Wonder Woman
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Author Interview:
1. Tell us a little about how this story first came to be.
I’ve always enjoyed Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, times in history like those, they’re endlessly fascinating. So, I knew I’d one day write a book set in those times.
With the Hellequin Chronicles series of books, there were multiple gods and goddesses from those time periods. The entire Roman, Greek, Egyptian, etc, pantheons were all real in the Hellequin world, so I had a wealth of characters to chose from.
There was one character I knew I was going to tell a story about, and that was Diana, the Roman Goddess of the Hunt. She’s a pretty big character in the Hellequin universe, and plays a large part in those stories, but she doesn’t really talk about her time back when people thought those gods were real, so I wanted to show how she became the badass she is in the Hellequin books and the journey she had to take to get there.
2. What, if anything, did you learn when writing the book?
There’s a young girl in the book who’s deaf, so I did research into when sign language was first created and how well known it was. It’s has some interesting links going back to at least ancient Greece when people who knew sign language sort of kept it secret from those who didn’t. I hadn’t known any of that before starting the book.
3. What surprised you the most in writing it?
Well, it was meant to be a 20,000 word novella. It’s now a 73,000 word novel. That was a bit of a shock.
4. If it’s not a spoiler, what does the title mean?
It’s basically alluding to the idea that the pantheons of the time weren’t really gods, they were just powerful beings (sorcerers, elementals, etc) who mostly had no one telling them what they shouldn’t do. It works about as well as you’d think. A lot of those gods were little more than monsters.
5. Were any of the characters inspired by real people? If so, do they know?
No real people in this one. I have based people on real life people before and I do tell them. Unless I’m killing them off because I didn’t like them, then I change the name of the character to give me plausible deniability.
6. Do you consider the book to have a lesson or moral?
Don’t anger someone who can literally tear your arms off and beat you to death with them. It’s a fair lesson, I think.
7. What is your favorite part of the book?
The relationship between Diana and a certain Roman Goddess. They have been friends for a long time, and were occasionally more than just friends, and they have this dynamic that’s a lot of fun.
8. Which character was most challenging to create? Why?
There’s a villain in the book who’s name I won’t mention because spoilers, but he was quite hard to make both really evil and unpleasant, but without moving into the moustache twirling villain cliche.
9. What are your immediate future plans?
I’m currently working on books 2 and 3 of my new series, Riftborn, book 1 of which is with my publisher and hopefully I’ll have more details about the release of book 1 soon.
On top of that, I have a sequel to my first scifi book, Blackcoat, to write, and I plan on finishing my first epic fantasy book. So, I have a lot to be getting on with.
About the Author:
Steve was born in a small village called Mexborough, South Yorkshire, but now lives with his wife and three young daughters in Southampton
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Starts: April 28th, 2022 at 12:00am EST
, Ends: May 4th, 2022 at 11:59pm EST
I was happily surprised to receive a copy of the book in the mail. So, I did a little bookmail video.
I enjoyed the interview. Thank you.