Olympus Rising

The gods have caught our attention and it’s time to know more about our next Choices release! We had a lot of fun with these questions and we hope you all enjoy time with the book team. Let’s get to it!

First question: How does this version of the Greek gods fit into our world—and what was the most fun part of blending myth with modern life?

Olivia: In this book, the gods -- not just the Greek ones -- keep their powers secret from most of humanity. (I guess they've got that in common with vampires.) A few chosen mortals know of their existence and interact with them directly, but many more worship them unknowingly. That big breakthrough you had on your coding project might be thanks to some insight from Athena, or the swipe that led to a hot first date might be thanks to Aphrodite hearing your silent prayers!

Worldbuilding aside, the most fun part of writing a modern mythology story is deciding who our gods are in this modern world. Where does Poseidon spend his free time? What does Hephaestus's workshop look like with the combined powers of magic and 21st century technology? If you want to find out our answers, you'll have to play Olympus Rising 😉

That we will! What do you think makes a great demigod hero? Did your main character come to you fully formed, or did they evolve during writing?

Olivia: I immediately knew that our main character would be a demigod. We wanted them to meet the gods for the first time at the same time that our players do - although depending on your choices, your MC may bring a lot of mythological background to those introductions! (We know many of you love these myths as much as we do, so you'll have chances to show that off.)

As for what makes a great demigod protagonist, that's what we built a lot of our major choices around! There are different ways to embrace your powers and many different ways to feel about being sucked into the world of mythology - all of which is up to you.

Bring on the powers! Now on to a more juicier Q: Who’s the kind of god you’d want as your real-life best friend, or lover—and who would totally scare you in real life?

Kelly: Hestia is really sweet, the mom friend we all need in our lives.

Olivia: Kelly is so right. Hestia is the most underappreciated goddess! Re: love interests, though... Aphrodite was made in a lab (my brain) to be my type of LI specifically 😂

Jay: I am falling for Aphrodite, I will admit. 

Olivia: Cat and Emi are great at writing tortured sad boys and I love to write hot girls who seem like they have it all but are ALSO sad inside 😈

Kelly: Since art is Apollo's thing, I feel like we'd have a lot in common! (And I would romance him, haha!) Lots to talk about. Plus, he could put us in touch with the Muses.

Olivia: Re: who I would NOT want to meet in real life... I am an Ares hater at my core, lol.

Jay: I feel like Zeus is a little too trigger happy with the lightning… making me nervous.

Kelly: I'm not scared of any of the gods. Let them try to intimidate me.

You’re brave Kelly! If you could be descended from any Greek god, who would you choose and why?

Kelly: There's so much drama in that family tree, it might be better to just be a bystander.

Olivia: So true. But if I had to pick one... maybe Hestia? She's just so nice!

Jay: From a driving anxiety perspective, I would love to have Hermes’ powers. No more analyzing the parking situation would be an absolute dream!

We can’t wait to meet them all! What was your favorite myth or legend you got to adapt in this book?

Kelly: I was excited to make Cerberus, everyone's favorite guardian of the Underworld. That was a really fun asset to work on. I also relate a lot to Cassandra. I often try to share advice with people and they don't listen to me... but here we are.

Olivia: The moral of this story is that you should always listen to Kelly.

Jay: I don’t think this was intentional from the art team, but I love that Poseidon is giving Chris Pine in his surfer bum era.

Olivia: We got to showcase so many of my favorite moments from the myths that it's hard to choose, but I really loved getting to show different facets of the Underworld. Mythological afterlifes are always cool, and Hades is one of my favorites.

Looking forward to setting food on the Underworld ourselves. How did you approach designing the look and feel of the world—especially the monsters and magical elements hidden in plain sight?

Kelly: Well, we've always got deadlines coming at us, so you really hope the Muses will be there for you and the creativity will flow. It was a fun challenge to blend mythology and modern elements, so I ended up using neon to bring a modern edge to a lot of our Olympian locations and blend the same color sense throughout.

Olivia: And it looks awesome!

Jay: Yes! I also really loved the design of the skill screen for this book!

The colors are gorgeous throughout! Now just for fun: If this book had a theme song or soundtrack, what would it be?

Olivia: My main soundtrack when writing this book is actually our Choices soundtrack! But if I had to pick one song about each of our love interests... I've listened to "Death Stranding" by CHVRCHES a lot for Apollo scenes, and you can't write an Aphrodite romance without thinking about "She's So High" (specifically, Kelly Clarkson's cover).

I can envision it! Which god or monster would be terrifying to run into in a Trader Joe’s parking lot?

Jay: Listen, I refuse to enter the Trader Joe’s parking lot.

Olivia: Trader Joe's parking lots are a PVP enabled zone. However, I would fight Ares behind a Denny's.

Kelly: If they're just picking up their Joe-Joes, why would I be scared of them? We all need to get some snacks!

Olivia: Hermes is definitely most likely to BE in a Trader Joe's parking lot picking up some gaming snacks.

Our boy needs his snacks, haha! Last but not least, demigods usually get cool powers—if you could have one magical ability from the story, which would you choose?

Olivia: Apollo's healing powers. Papercuts will never stop me from typing again!

Jay: I just want more time in my day.

Olivia: So powers from Kronos? Titan of Time?

Jay: Does he have time powers?

Olivia: In our story? Great question... 😉

AKA–you’ll have to see all the powers for yourselves! Shoutout to the OR team for sharing the fun and excitement for our next Choices adventure. We hope you all enjoyed reading this book team interview. Be sure to read Olympus Rising this Friday, April 25th and let us know what you think on our social pages!

<3 The Community Team