Nerdology 101: Bookish Gods

Nerdsssss! Tehe, you totally just clicked on a post to find out which gods were also nerds. Welcome back to Nerdology 101, and if you’re new here, simply welcome. I’m Maria Levato, indie author & host of this here blog. If you’re wondering what my qualifications are: I’m a book nerd, writing nerd, anime nerd, mythology nerd, kink nerd, and nerd nerd, so listen up!

What qualifies as a “Bookish God”?

I’m qualifying this as gods who created writing in their respective culture, gods of knowledge or wisdom, or gods known to be patrons of the arts or literature specifically.

1. Thoth

   Helloooo. This one is so obvious. Not only is Thoth credited with the creation of writing (yes, heiroglyphs were a form of writing) in Egyptian Mythology, he’s also a god of knowledge known to be a patron of art and literature. He checks every box. He’s also an insanely important god when it comes to this subject because like us, our stories evolve with time and context. Thoth also evolved. I’d describe him as the spark that lit the flame that led to gods like Hermes, Mercury, and more.

2. Hermes and the Hermetic line

   No, Hermes wasn’t just a trickster or speedster. Hermes is credited with the creation of writing in Greek mythology and is strongly associated with Hermes Trismegistus (we believe this person to be a mythical fusion of Thoth and Hermes, you really can’t learn about one of these mythologies without learning about both. They’re too intertwined.), who didn’t actually exist and is still the credited author of numerous works. That’s a bookish god.

3. Mercury

   Mercury is said to have created writing in Roman Mythology (yup, it’s a running theme. Every mythology sees it as their gods who did it. In truth, they’re probably all right and all wrong since these gods are essentially the same god being reiterated across cultures and languages, but are also obviously mythological. We have no actual idea where or when writing was created, though our best lead is either somewhere on the continent of Africa or South Asia where the oldest civilizations we can date actually were). Anyway, I don’t know as much about roman mythology as I do Greek and Egyptian, so while Mercury is strong associated with writing, I can’t delve much further into that without the risk of spreading misinformation. The other 2 mythologies I’ve been reading on for years and I can speak on those more confidently.

4. Seshat

   Seshat is another Egyptian God. Her and Thoth had a strong relation, though the nature of that relation is debated. Either way, she is known to be associated with writing, record keeping, knowledge, and more. She’s proof that we’ve always known librarians were badass (Love you, librarians). The Egyptians cared deeply about storytelling and records.

5. Nisaba

   Nisaba was a Sumerian goddess (Mesopotamia, cuneiform was how they wrote, think of it like an older version of heiroglyphs.). She’s a goddess of writing. Funny thing, she actually started out as a Grain Goddess and evolved to become associated with writing. When cuneiform grew in popularity, she seems to have boomed alongside it. She had libraries and scribal houses she was associated. You can learn more about her here. I do think if you’re going to study more on any of the gods here, this is probably the one you should look into first. Out of all the ones I’ve listed, she is obviously the oldest and learning more about her will lead any nerd down a brilliant rabbit hole. When you’re up at 3am nerding out, remember to thank me by engaging with my content here or on social media.

That’s about all I have for this segment of Nerdology 101. I got The Depths of Bloodshed and Purgatory (one of my WIPs) back from line editing the day before I wrote this and I’m eager to get started on it! I’ll see you back next week for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week.

Nerdology 101: Prep for Events

Hiiii! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. Our topic for this week is prep for events. The end of summer/beginning of fall has always been busier for me in terms of events. In August, I have an in-store signing at The New Romantics Bookstore in Orlando, Flordia. Then, in September, I have a romance bookcon called Love Among the Pages in London, Ontario, Canada. Finally, there’s a dark romance and romantasy bookcon called Smoke & Embers in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada in October that I’ll be doing. So, this year before the event season comes into full swing, I wanted to take some time out to tell you what my process looks like and how I make sure these events are great for my readers and all the wonderful readers I’ve yet to find. Let’s get into some Nerdology!

Booth Prep

The first and most obvious way I have to prepare is by planning my booth. For the in-store signing, they ordered from Ingram. That’s not much of an option for conventions, though. Thus, I have to provide the copies. For both events, I have a Beventi page setup, you can find them here to either learn more about the process or to pre-order copies if you’re going to be attending one of these events. Beventi is a service that allows authors to collect pre-orders before an event. This is a huge help because it gives us an idea of how many copies we need to bring. Other factors we use in making that decision involve ticket sales. If there’s going to be 1000 people at an event, for example, bringing 500 books doesn’t make much sense because it’s unlikely that 50% of the total attendees are going to buy your book. These events involve quite a few authors and vendors. A better target would be to bring 75-100 books with the goal of selling to between 7.5 and 10 percent of the attendees. Of course, the pre-orders could totally change that. If I have 100 pre-orders coming from an event with 1000 attendees, I’m bringing at least 200 books because at that point, I know there’s an unusually high amount of interest coming from that events audience.

Beyond ordering books, there’s the matter of decorating my booth! The cool looking ones pull in much more attention. There’s table cloths, runners, candles, and a ton of other options we can use to draw the attention of people at an event. Last year, I attended my first convention and over the course of a few days, I got to see so many other authors booths and got some ideas about how to set mine up in the future. This year, hopefully I’ll be able to implement some of those ideas. Doing so is a bit of an investment, but it’s one well worth it from what I’ve gathered. Naturally, as I continue to grow, I’ll probably work on my display more over time. This will be a great starting point, though!

Financial Prep

Since I just touched on this in one aspect, I’ll go ahead and do this section next. There are a lot of expenses that go into an event, particularly ones that are further away from the author’s home base, like these ones are for me. For the signing at The New Romantics and for Love Among the Pages, I’m flying in, so plane tickets are a factor. For Smoke and Embers, I’ll be driving because I’ll have someone with me to switch out with, so there’s gas and tolls. I’m also renting a hotel room for all three events, and getting a rental car for one. When you factor in book ordering, booth decorations, and eating while I’m there, it adds up. I consider myself extremely lucky that I’m able to invest in myself this way, especially since there’s never a guaruntee that you’ll sell enough to get it back. Usually, though, the value of these events lies in the long term pay off more than the immediate selling enough to make your money back. The event I had in April is the best example of that I can fathom.

At the event, I sold 4 books. After the event, I sold a ton more. First to a bookstore who’s owner I met at the event, she ended up making a wholesale order. Then, I was able to sell several more copies using the paperbacks with the pink sprayed edges another author had done for me at the event at another bookstore. All in all, I came to that event with 20 or 30 books (I don’t remember exactly) and within a week after it, I only had 7 left, meaning I sold most of the stock because of the event, but not at it. It was more than enough to cover the cost of attendance, the book order, and leave me some money leftover though. Further, I know half of the stock the second bookstore had has already been sold and that at least one copy has gone from the first one (she texted me to let me know she sold one the first day it was listed, but I don’t know how many she’s sold since. It’s not time to check on that yet).

So, as you can see, the post-event effect is (in my experience) where you get the money back. Thus, it’s perfectly fine with me if I don’t always sell enough at an event to make every penny I spent back plus some profit. What matters to me is the connection with readers and industry professionals that contribute more to my overall progress as an author than the immediate regaining of that money would anyway.

Mental Prep

Full disclosure: I’m an introvert (that’s so totally obvious, I know). I also have anxiety and PTSD. Events like these are probably taxing on extroverts with no mental health struggles, that goes doubly for someone like me. Thus, in order to ensure I’m not a total wreck at events, I do a lot of pre-event prep in mind, making sure I’m in the right headspace to actually participate in the event. Ones that only last a few hours, like the in-store signing, are much easier. The conventions, however, are an entirely different beast. They’re usually several consecutive days long and are both morning and afternoon. They draw much larger crowds because of the sheer volume of authors and vendors, plus the on-site entertainment like panels and balls. Doing conventions is a major commitment on the mental bandwidth front.

To counteract the chaos, I usually allot myself multiple days both before and after the convention to hibernate in peace. These hibernation periods typically involve alternating book and anime binges, lots of junk food, and plenty of rest. Ultimately, they help me relax before I hop either in the car or on a plane and let the chaos begin.

During the event, I make sure I have my beads. I use them like a fidget when my anxiety starts to bug me and they double as a cool conversation piece when people notice them, so they help me break the ice too.

Promotional Prep

Now that we’ve talked a ton about what I do personally, I’d like to talk about how promotion usually goes. Usually, I post about an event shortly after my attendance is offically confirmed. Then, I leave it be until pre-orders go live, if the event has pre-orders. I share those as early as possible too. Otherwise, I wait until the event is coming up. For conventions, I wait until about 2-3 months beforehand to start posting about them more (trying to lock in more pre-orders before I place my orders). Then, for signings, I usually start pushing about a month beforehand since I typically don’t do the ordering for those and my priority is to generate interest without burning people out. As you might have guessed, this very post is part of a promotional push that began yesterday when me and The New Romantics posted a collaboration post with the official event graphics for my signing there. Since these events are pretty close together, a lot of the promotion will be happening back-to-back. No worries, though! It won’t be getting boring. There’s a lot of different stuff I can discuss this close to a series of events. Announcements are only part of the deal. Instead, you should imagine insight posts like this one, little tidbits about my plans for the events, little features about the people I’m most excited about meeting at each, and more!

You do have to wait a but longer for all that. That’s all I have for this segment of Nerdology 101 (don’t wanna tell you everything right now, lol). Check back next week for a new blog post, make sure you’re following my social (@malevato6 on IG, @authormarialevato on TT, and @marialevato.com on Bluesky). And, as always, make sure you have yourself a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Fictional Crushes

Heyyyyy! How are all my nerdy peoples? If you’re new here, welcome! This is Nerdology 101 and I’m your resident nerd, Maria Levato. This week I wanted to dive into the topic of fictional crushes (from my experience, every nerd has them. No need to be shy about it). I’ll be sharing a few of my own, but also discussing them in a more broad sense. With that being said, why don’t we get started with some NERDOLOGYYYY?

Experiencing a romantic or sexual attraction to a fictional character is a pretty common occurence. From the “Hear me out” cakes on social media to the existence of BookTok/Bookstagram/Booksky a lot of people have come to terms with that fact. In fact, many of us have built entire communities around our fictional crushes. This phenomenon has been around much longer than these communities, though. Back in the ancient time of the millenial, those of us who embraced fictophilia were often outcasts and it was hard to find people who could relate. Do you know what I would have given as a kid to know I wasn’t the only one waking up at 5AM to watch Inuyasha because I had a crush on Sesshomaru… and Inuyasha… and Koga…? (I don’t have a problem, I don’t have a problem). Nowadays, though, my list of fictional crushes extends beyond anime and other cartoon characters. Characters from books such as Nikolai Sokolov and Rayne have also taken me by storm.

So, why do so many of us experience this attraction to fictional characters so intensely? It’s simple, really. Knowing they’re not real doesn’t change the fact that they fulfill a real need. The need is often for safe spaces to experience romance, partners who are emotionally open to us, and sometimes even to explore fantasies we can’t safely explore irl for one reason or another. In most cases, this is healthy and can have a positive impact in helping people better define their needs in a human-to-human romance. People who don’t know what they’re looking for tend to end up in bad relationships. These fictional crushes can help us to better understand ourselves, what we’re looking for, and learn how to communicate that to a potential partner. What many view as a form of escapism, I view as a potentially theraputic outlet for exploring ourselves and our desires.

Now that I’ve said as much, let’s talk about my top fictional crushes from each of my nerdy realms:

1. Anime - Vanitas and Noe (The Case Study of Vanitas)

   Yes, I count them as ONE fictional crush because I wouldn’t want to be with one unless the other was also present. While they’re both hot and I acknowledge some part of this has to do with an MMF fantasy, they also fulfill different needs. Vanitas is passionate, wild, obsessive, and capable of embracing my particular brand of insanity. He’d be the perfect partner for the enemies-to-lovers, banter-y arguing part of my desires. Noe, on the otherhand, is sweet, affectionate, and loyal above all else. I’d find that fulfilling in the moments that I just wanna curl up and cuddle. I can totally picture him letting me lay my head in his lap and read a book without interrupting me—just being glad to have me close. Together, they make a perfect boyfriend.

2. Gaming - Kaeya (Genshin Impact)

   Kaeya has a flirty nature, relaxed vibe, and a bit of a mysterious element while also remaining a safe guy. I think he has broad appeal that most people who’re attracted to men can get into. It’s easy to consider him my top gaming crush.

3. Books - Samkiel (Gods and Monsters by Amber V. Nicole)

   Samkiel is ideal in pretty much every aspect. I’d have zero complaints. If I listed every aspect of him that I love, this blog post would never go up because I’d likely spend the rest of my life completing that list.

4. Special Mention: Atem (Yu-Gi-Oh)

   What do you mean he’s an ancient Egyptian pharoah with a tiny ball of fur that can take out Blue-Eyes White Dragon?! Of course I love him. Lol.

   Anyway, who are your top fictional crushes? Let me know. As always, I’ll be back next Friday at 3PM EST for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: The “Smut” Convo

This blog post is not recommended for anyone under the age of 18. If you’re a minor, please check with a parent or guardian before proceeding.

We’reeee backkkk! Welcome to Nerdology 101. I’m your host, Maria Levato. This week we’re going to talk about the word smut. I’m not going to waste any time getting into it because this is already going to be a rant. So, let’s get into some Nerdology!

If you read this blog, my books, or my social media content, it’s probably no suprise to you that I love smutty books. I love reading them, writing for them, and today I love advocating for them because by now we’ve all seen the shift start to happen.

I’m going to say this loud and fucking clear: There’s nothing wrong with sex. Sex is normal. It’s healthy. It’s enjoyable. Therefore, there is nothing unclean, shameful, embarrassing, or wrong about reading smut. It’s a book. The fact that sex happens in a book doesn’t reflect whatsoever on its literary value or relavance. In fact, it adds value in the sense that it highlights ideas that push forward social movements such as sex positivity, feminism, and LGBTQIA+ rights—all of which I stand by firmly.

The word smut, in this context, is one the bookish community used to refer to these books when BookTok, Bookstagram, and other bookish social media tags started becoming more popular. It was used primarily as an inside joke that brought joy to the community. Anyone who has actually read these books is unlikely to see them as simply being pornography. Recently, however, we’ve started to see a rise in people who are using the word smut to diminish the books, the people who read them, and the people who write them. As such, the language has started to change. I’ve seen more and more people beginning to avoid the word smut altogether. In leiu of it, they’re leaning towards softer, less direct options like spice—which has been used for a while, but not in the way that it’s happening now where it’s being used to avoid stigmatization. With that being the case, many have begun to debate which words should and should not be used. In this post, I’m going to give my thoughts on why we shouldn’t let go of the word smut or otherwise soften our language.

1. What message are we sending?

   When we communicate, word choice matters. That’s why an author will some times spend hours searching for that perfect word. When I stop and ask myself what message we are sending with our word choices regarding sexual content in books, here’s what comes to my mind (I cannot speak for everyone. I’m giving my perspective and that’s all.):

   “I read smutty books.” - I confidently read sexual material with the critical engagement necessary to understand that books containing it often offer great stories, diverse voices, powerful social commentary, and that the act of reading it is a form of empowerment that affirms for me that my pleasure, autonomy, and needs matter both in and outside of the bed.

   “I read spicy books.” - This does NOT automatically imply that the person speaking doesn’t feel the same way as the one who says they read smut. It does however require more thought. In the bookish community, I’ve never seen anyone use a smut scale because of the implications behind the word, but spice scales are frequently used. The translations of these scales often vary widely. For one reader, Fourth Wing may be the spiciest book they’ve ever read. For another reader, it could be a one or a two on a scale of one to five. I think that matters because it means using the word spice allows a massive amount of interpretation that can lead to some misunderstandings. So, by using the word, you’re allowing the other person to judge your meaning based on their scale. Because of this broadness, the message you’re sending with your word choice is less clear. I can’t tell based on the sentence alone if this person is quietly capitulating to purity culture or if they are loudly and intentionally rebelling against it in their own way. Thus, I have to assume someone who loudly and intentionally perpetuates purity culture would be pleased by this because it leaves room for them to twist things in a way that may or may not align with the intention of the person saying it. I can see people using this type of soft language to make it seem like “Oh, so this is something you know you should be ashamed of” even though that argument is easily dismantled by anyone with a critical thinking skills. The danger of it, though, is that not everyone has critical thinking skills. Moreover, the crazies would rather not think critically if what’s being said inflates their false sense of superiority and makes them look justified in their oppression.

2. Infantilization

   We’re fucking adults. It is insane to me that a bunch of adults cannot speak about sexual content in a direct way. The softening of the language is reminiscent of arguing on a playground about who has cooties. This probably has a lot to do with censorship on social media platforms as well, but it has a real impact. This soft language and avoidance reaffirms stereotypes (particularly when it comes to women). It allows people to imply shame, lack of assertiveness, indecisiveness, innocence and corruption in accordance with whatever arbitrary standard they so choose, and other harmful ideas that make it sound like we’re unable to think and act of our own free will. Men talk about sex amoungst themselves. The fact that its considered problematic for women to do the same in regards to books often written with women in mind is a symptom of misogyny and the infantilization that comes with it.

3. Content

   Changing the language we use to discuss content could result in a change the content itself. I love these smutty books and a lot of you do too. So, let’s talk about how erasure of the word smut could lead to erasure of the content. Censorship is a tricky thing. It usually doesn’t start by saying “this type of language is banned”. Outright attacks on words like that are more likely to meet resistance. Convincing people to self-censor is a much easier thing to do, especially on social media platforms because it rewards self-censorship with reach, which leads to engagement, and to sales that a lot of bookish accounts might be depending on for their income. While I acknowledge how difficult it might be for people to cope with this loss of income, I’d argue that the benefit outweighs the cost. If we will self-censor on social media, we’ll eventually self-censor in other ways when that push for it expands. Bookstores and readers may eventually start to move away from carrying smut, which will push publishers away from publishing it, then agents away from representing it, and in the end push writers away from writing it. Even self-published authors have to consider the market and what will sell, it could even result in less smut being available from us too. The issue is bigger than one word. If we allow that word to be erased, we invite them to push for more.

   The impact of it could substantially setback conversations around sex positivity and feminism as I’ve addressed, but it could also setback conversations around LGBTQIA+ rights. I know recently there’s been a lot of conversation around straight women writing MM, but that’s the point—There’s conversation. Representation leads to conversation. Conversation leads to increased understanding of the communities perspective. Increased understanding leads to better representation. I read a fair amount of LGBTQIA+ books written by LGBTQIA+ authors, but I never would have found most of them if I hadn’t been reading smutty MM written by straight women that were already popularized. While I do agree that books by LGBTQIA+ authors should be the priority in LGBTQIA+ genres AND that staight people who write LGBTQIA+ stories need to do better, I think the point stands that without popular smut, I would know less LGBTQIA+ authors and that these conversations about what good representation and allyship look like wouldn’t be happening.

With all of that being said, I will continue to use the word smut because I think the benefits of it are worth protecting. That’s my two cents on this discourse and I hope it helps readers and writers alike think more about the language we’re using and decide for themselves what language they want to use.

Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are! See you back next week for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Fall of Freedom

Welcome back to Nerdology 101! I’m Maria, your fellow nerd, reporting from my desk as I cling desperately to my coffee (one of my cats is after it).

This week, I wanted to talk about the Fall of Freedom movement. If you don’t know what that is or why it matters, you’re in the right place.

The Issue:

Censorship is on the rise across America. According to the American Library Association (ALA), 2,452 different books were targeted for censorship in 2024. That’s a lot of books for a country that claims to free speech as one of its core values. These attacks will only increase as many continue pour fuel on the fire that leads to them. What’s so bad that they don’t want us to read it? Well, if the ALA’s 10 Most Challenged List is any indication, anything written about women’s issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, anti-authoritarism, or racial issues. As with anything, these challenges disproportionally target members of marginalized communities.

Beyond banned books, we’ve seen it in other aspects of life as well. Social media is another example. The censoring of certain language, particularly in a way that softens it (I.E. killed turned into unalived, rape turned into graped, pedophile turned into PDFile, protest turned into music festival.), has grown into a common phenomenon. There’s a danger in that. When we soften the language we’re using to describe such weighy subjects, we start participating in our own censorship and downplaying the seriousness of real issues.

Don’t think for a second this doesn’t apply to you too, anime and gaming lovers. Where do you suppose anime’s like One Piece, featuring powerful anti-government themes, are going to be accessible if speech in disagreement with authoritarian policies continues to be censored? Nerds are just as much a part of this as the rest of us. We’re a community that thrives on living outside of the normal social practices, oftentimes embrassing alternative lifestyles, hobbies, and interests. Censorship is a dangerous road and one that we’ve seen play out many times in media both media and history.

The Movement:

What Fall of Freedom is doing is putting out an urgent call to a community with a long history of getting louder when told to shut up. The artists, the writers, the creatives, and the nerds. They want the anime-loving painter making fan art and the aspiring writer who barely has a platform to speak out against this censorship alongside more prominent names. That’s what this movement is about. Together, we will use our voices through our chosen mediums to let those who target our passions know we will not be silenced.

What Can I do?

The answer to that lies in your creativity and knowledge. Authenticity is key in this movement because our point is that authentic, diverse, and yes—critical—voices matter. Whether you host a reading of a banned book, post on social media, paint or design an image of what censorship looks like—what erasure feels like—it matters. Express yourselves and be sure to put Fall of Freedom’s logo on it so everyone knows you stand with the other creatives who are expressing themselves. Your voice matters and I’m looking forward to watching as they sound off in solidarity with this movement.

Will that even work?

You may ask yourself why this plan would work? Because it always has. The Dark Ages didn’t end because the powers that be decided to stop censoring artists; The Dark Ages ended because artists decided not to comply. Anti-war art during the Vietnam War is another great example here. The unpopularity of that war wouldn’t have been nearly as widespread if not for journalists, artists, writers, and people who were willing to help the masses see and understand what the atrocities truly felt and looked like. Art has always been a match unhesitant to ignite change. That’s why all throughout history oppressive powers have sought to silence creatives. It’s the demonization of the Gaelic language and it’s literature. It’s the books the Nazi’s burned. It’s the information hidden in South Africa during Aparthied. It’s the Indigenous stories that were dragged from their ancestral homes and forced onto reservations with the people meant to tell them. Writers and artists of all kinds have always been able to create change. Those in power wouldn’t be attacking us if we weren’t a threat to their power.

We must once again take our stand against censorship with Fall of Freedom’s movement and beyond. Every voice matters and I encourage you to use yours. No effort is too small or too big. Share a post, make a post, write a poem or a blog, go to an event, host an event—it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you speak up. Fall of Freedom’s webite provides more information as well.

Don’t forget to comment and let me know how you decide to use your voice. I’ll see you back next Friday at 3PM ET for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Have a nerdy week!

The Authors Guild is supporting this movement. Visit their website for more information on how they are standing up against censorship.