Maya Deane Books In Order

Publication Order of MayaDeane Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Maya Deane is a fantasy fiction author that is best known for her debut novel Wrath Goddess Sing. She went to the University of Maryland for her bachelor’s degree and afterward got her MFA at Rutgers-Camden.
She currently lives with her fiancee their friend and two felines. She is also proudly a bisexual and transwoman who loves jewelry, books, and spears.

Deane was inspired to create her version of Achilles since she has always had a fascination with the Iliad. However, she found that there was a riddle about Achilles that bothered and intrigued her.

One of the biggest inspirations was when she read a lengthy and disturbing rendition that was overall a misogynist trope as it cast the lead as a cross-dressing angry rapist.

However, it was not until she was in her 20s that she began questioning the stories she was reading and wondering if there was more to the stories of Achilles.

Over the years, he discovered that there was more than two millennia of tradition that frequently portrayed Achilles as a woman. Another fact she came across was that in plays that included female actors Achilles has often been depicted as a woman.

The twentieth-century traditions which portrayed Achilles as a man were, therefore, secondary traditions. This significantly shifted her perspective on the Iliad.

In interviews, Maya Deane asserted that writing is something that she has always wanted to do. She penned her first Iliad retelling as a seven-year-old.

However, her first piece of writing was a convoluted summary that was virulently anti-Alexander and showed an obsession with Achilles and Athena.

During that time, she used to be a rabid hater of Alexander, even though she has since somewhat mellowed. She also had a huge crush on Diomedes, which just speaks to her strange tastes from a very young age.
As a child, she believed that writing was the most powerful and noble profession, even though it never occurred to her that she could make a career of it.

By the time she was sixteen she had written her first manuscript and had a huge trunk full of bits and pieces of unpublishable literary paraphernalia. Over time she has written several million words that will never see the light of day.

For the most part, Maya Deane loves to read science fiction and fantasy. However, given the apocalyptic times that we live in, trans literature has become popular in many genres. As such, she sometimes reads novels in the trans-women genre.

She particularly prefers to read the works of the likes of horror writers such as Gretchen Felker-Martin and Alison Rumfitt, and subversive literature fiction authors such as Casey Plett and Jeanne Thornton.
She also likes the works of science fiction authors such as Charlie Jane Anders and Ryka Aoki for their innovation and cunning, Penny Aimes for her brilliant romance insights, and the likes of Torrey Peters who is considered one of the leading upmarket satirists.

Deane’s biggest influence has to be Tanith Lee whose light and darkness saved her from a terrible fate and taught her how to love in a world that was determined to destroy her soul.

Deane believes Tanith Lee is one of the best authors of the latter part of the 20th century whose echoes have spread far even if not that many people have had the opportunity to be touched by her powerful influence.

Maya Deane’s novel “Wrath Goddess Sing” is the retelling of the Iliad. It opens with Achilles having fled her home and the Myrmidon clan to go live with the transgender priestesses of the Kallai as a woman.
When Odysseus arrives to talk to the prince, the only thing he is interested in is convincing her to join a fight against the Hittites. But the prince is preparing to die for who she is rather than fight as a man.

Fortunately, Athena, the godmother intervenes and transforms her body into what she had always dreamed of. She also promises her everything including victory in war, glory, fame, and power, and most important of all, she would get to bear a child from her own body.

Reunited with Patroklos her beloved cousin and Meryapi the sorceress who also happens to be her wife, Achilles heads out on a path of vengeance. However, the dysfunctional family of gods has been enjoying human sacrifices for hundreds of years.

They have come up with some very intricate nightmarish and blood-soaked schemes. At the center of everything is the immortal and cruel Helen who after years of emptiness and ennui now sees Achilles as a worthy nemesis.

In love with her new enemy, Helen intends to destroy everyone and everything Achilles cherishes to bait her into a battle to the death.