The Elysians are here to protect us. They uphold order, they keep citizens safe … unless you’re their kid. Children of Elysians know what they’re really like. They see their fears, their anger, their hatred. They get to be subjected to their wants and whims. Most importantly, you get to be trained by the “best of the best” to become an Elysian yourself.
At least, that’s what we’re told. We weren’t told what that training would cost our bodies and minds, or how it would make us into what the Elysians really are: mindless abominations.
These monsters are in every corner of our society. They are heralded as Gods among men, but not for long. I am doing everything in my power to show who they really are behind their masks. Soon, everyone will see these nasty creatures for what they are.
Author of Δάιος: A Call Me Icarus Novel, Andromeda Ruins is a queer, disabled, and neurodivergent author from a small town in the Midwest and sits comfortably in the “I don’t know what’s going on” category in just about everything. This leads to him writing a lot about queer, disabled, and neurodivergent characters. He recently graduated his undergrad program with a Classics major and loves to take the themes and stories he learns about and adapt them to the modern day.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Your book is a Greek mythology retelling. Could you share what drew you to Greek mythology and the character of Icarus, specifically?
Absolutely I can! I’ve been drawn to Greek Mythology for a good portion of my life. I would like to say that I got into Greek Mythology with the release of Percy Jackson back in middle school, but I know it was actually much earlier than that for me.
I think my love of mythology ties a lot into how I was raised. I was raised by my mom and my grandparents in a rural town in Appalachia, which inherently comes with a rich history of folklore and fairy tales. When my Papa realized that it was easy to settle me down with the more adventurous of the fairy tales, he turned to our local library for help finding more. At this point, my love of local legends grew to incorporate love for Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Shakespeare, and Greek and Roman mythology. These were the books that the library the next town over had in stock, though it wasn’t long after that that my Papa started coming home with books like the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. I still have the first copy of the Iliad he got me. It’s a 90s edition with a bunch of little doodles in it from when he used to read it to me as a kid.
From there, my interest only grew. Percy Jackson was a huge thing in my middle school years and I devoured them. I had to put mythology on the back burner a bit as I got closer to college, but then when the pandemic hit, I realized that I really just wanted to study something I was passionate about, so I switched from a Chemistry major to a Classics major.
That switch was about the time that I started becoming really interested in Icarus specifically. I had always been more drawn to his story, though he had to fight for room in my brain against Andromeda’s story and the Iliad, but at that point in my life I just kind of clicked with him. I, too, had a parent that I was exceptionally close to who loved me and wanted the best for me, but maybe didn’t quite get the way my brain works well enough to set me on the right path. I, too, was falling victim to my own wants and desires, even if I knew they would hurt me. I, too, was trapped and trying to escape. In some ways lucky that it was by my own health and the pandemic and not by a labyrinth.
I saw Icarus in myself, and I really clung to his story in a way I never had as a kid, despite my love for him. I have not shaken that love for him and his story in the four years since.
On your itch.io account, I saw you mention that the book contains “tattoos and piercings as a form of therapy.” As someone with tattoos and piercings, I’d love to hear more about that.
Oh, this one is fun! I am also a person with piercings and tattoos, and I wanted to include the comfort they bring me into my stories!
I’ve had extensive therapy sessions in relation to my body modifications, and one of the really big foundational beliefs we have been working on is pursuing body modification as an addition to myself, not as a way to change or cover something. So that perspective on body modification is what I am angling towards with viewing tattoos and piercings as a form of therapy.
When it comes to Icarus, his tattoos are his expression and a way for him to come to terms with his past while still honoring where he came from. He may not have a relationship with his father, but he survived the man and his many fire based weapons, and he’s not afraid to wear that on his arm. His tattoo isn’t flames but smoke curling up his arm as a symbol of his survival, a piece of his story shown for the world now that he’s come to terms with it.
We haven’t really seen his perspective with the piercings in action yet, but it’s something very similar. He’s had so much pain in his life but this is pain that he’s choosing and it’s helping mold him into the man he wants to be. That is body modification as a form of therapy to me.
In your retelling, Icarus is autistic and transgender. As your book is fantasy, how does your world navigate these traits? Is it treated as normal or does the character get othered?
I try to make sure that Icarus is treated as normally as possible in regards to his gender and his neurodivergency. That was a really important thing for me.
All of the characters in the story react differently to Icarus’ autistic traits, though none of them other him for it. Andromeda in particular is great with handling him when he’s experiencing meltdowns and shutdowns. Achilles is another autistic character in the same book, and I try really hard to show the differences in their traits and how the others interact with them without making them feel bad for something they cannot control. That isn’t today the other characters always handle it the best, but they do the best that they can with what knowledge and experience they have!
In terms of the characters’ queer identities and specifically Icarus being trans, there is a bit of a difference. Being queer is something that is very normalized in the world of Call Me Icarus, though not for reasons that have been explained yet. I dropped a few hints here and there, but basically it comes down to ATLAS and the Elysian Program. ATLAS is a corporation that overthrew the U.S. government before the start of the book, and a big push that led to that happening was queer rights. ATLAS gained power and momentum through being accepting and normalizing queer identities to the point that in the time frame where CMI takes place, it’s barely even something to think about.
There are still many prejudices in the world of CMI — as we will see with how Icarus is treated due to his wounds and disabilities — but it was very important to me that in this dystopian society where everything is bad nearly all the time that transphobia and a prejudice against autism were not an issue.
What got you into writing?
Honestly? I don’t remember.
I recently found a copy of the stories I wrote as a part of Power of the Pen (an after school writing competition that I took part of in middle school), and I don’t remember what got me into that club or why I wanted to write. I do know that I stopped writing for a long time, roughly coinciding with my recession from Greek Mythology, to pursue academics. I don’t want to say that was a miserable time in my life because I genuinely enjoyed it. Even now, I find myself missing my chemistry courses and lab work! But I know now that I was missing some very key things at that point.
What brought me back to writing, though, was my health. I started writing Call Me Icarus at the start of the pandemic as a way to get my thoughts and feelings on the page. I was at a point in my life where I was fearing for my safety and my health every day and I knew that I had so much I wanted to say. I guess I just really wanted to make sure that I said it in whatever time I had left.
What’s kept me writing is that I’ve made the most amazing friends. I have people asking me what happens to my characters. If I would ever make more characters like [insert any one of my characters], but mixed with [other characters]. If I know how important it is to them that they get to see Andromeda being so accepting of Icarus and all his flaws on paper.
So yeah, I don’t really know what got me into writing, but I do know that I am here to stay!
What are your writing plans for the future?
Oh, I have so many plans. Right now, the biggest plan for me is to finish my next novel: Desecrate. It’s set to come out next March and I would really love to have it in the hands of ARC readers by December!
Past that, though, is a backlog of books I want to work on. I really need to finish Call Me Icarus. I took a bit of a break from that trilogy to work on some books that I thought wouldn’t be as mentally taxing on me, but I’m ready to return to the world of CMI now! I have everything plotted out, I just need to get it drafted at this point!
I also have a dark cozy fantasy novel in the works, one that I’ve been working on between my other stories when my soul needs something a little bit lighter than the dystopian halls of tragedy that make up everything else I write. It’s a special piece to me, a way for me to pass down my family recipes despite knowing that I am never going to have kids. Honestly, this might end up being the story that I’m most excited about releasing, if not for the massive shake up from my normal content, then for the fact that the main character is multiply disabled in ways that are similar to myself and uses a forearm crutch on the front cover of the book!! (I am very excited about this particular cover, it means a lot to me)
I’m very excited to see where all these novels end up and can’t wait to share them with the world!
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
There is one thing that I haven’t mentioned yet in regards to ΔΆΙΟΣ, and that is that it is getting an audiobook!
The audiobook is currently in the works with a plan to be released on the one year anniversary of the release of ΔΆΙΟΣ, bringing Icarus’ story to everyone who’s been asking me about an audiobook for the past five months.
Other than that? I don’t believe so! Thank you so much for this chance, I really appreciate being able to talk about my Icky Baby (Icarus)!
