Nerdology 101: My Top 5 Favorite Quotes From “The Fate of Angels and Demons” as the Author Who Wrote It (and why).

Hi, loves. Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato—writer, nerd, bunch of other weird shit. This week, I’m going to tell you what my favorite quotes from my own book are and why I love them so much.

1. “…children whose ribs are entirely too visible forced into labor by men who wear their greed like a badge of honor…”

   I think it’s pretty obvious what group of resource hoarding individuals I had in mind when I wrote this. Let’s not pretend it isn’t. In truth, this quote sticks out to me because it’s relevant. There’s this constant back-and-forth in the bookish community about if books are political (HINT: They are, always.) To that end, here’s another “non-political” quote.

2. “They have every right to be angry at the centuries of oppression directed at them.”

   I know. There’s no possible way this could be relevant to—I don’t know—Black people or any other group of marginalized people, right? I mean, I’m Mixed, but there’s just no way an author’s identity could impact the way they write, right? Hmm… I wonder about that.

3. “Shut up and let me eat this thick fucking ass, Seshen.”

   Oh, come on. It’s just as great line. It encompasses the kink, the spice, the fun, and the pleasure that I love about this book. It’s hot.

4. “Because I’ll do anything,” He snaps. “I will burn every kingdom and torch every village in this gods-forsaken realm, just to get a moment with you.”

   Again, hot. But also… Not to protect her, just to see her for a moment? This is what I love about Michael. He’s understood from the jump that Lilly does not need his protection. The most valuable thing he could give to her as a romantic interest was the consistency and intensity of his love. It was the one thing she didn’t already have and couldn’t attain on her own.

5. “It feels like being told I’m crazy after I told someone I’m crazy, only to go crazier because they make me feel crazy for it.”

   This scene goes to the heart of it all, in a lot of ways. This line in particular is hard to ignore, especially if you’re a woman. There’s a reason gaslighting is such a widespread discussion when it comes to feminism. I think a good amount of us can probably identify with what Lilly is feeling here. We’ve all, at some point, likely questioned our sanity on account of someone who called us “crazy” or “too emotional” or whatever else for simply having emotions they lacked the emotional intelligence to cope with the existence of. It’s all too common an experience and I think it’s what makes Lilly’s character shine so brightly. Her whole thing is that she acts, primarily, based on her emotions. In a way, her character arc revolves around her accepting that it’s okay to lead with heart and fight with mind. It was my answer to this growing thing in fiction where women are only labelled as “badass” if they’re emotionless, calculating, closed-off, etc.

   Note:

   Obviously, the switch element of this book is one of my favorite elements. The reason I don’t favor spicy lines from moments where Lilly is dominant when it comes to marketing is because it is EXTREMELY difficult to convince the algo’s of the internet to push content that displays obvious depictions of femdom because for some stupid ass reason we (collective, as a society) still seem to have a problem with seeing FLR dynamics in any form of media, even if it’s within the context of a switch dynamic where she’s only the one in charge part of the time. I think it’s ridiculous, but the best way to combat it is to market the book based on what will get pushed so people read it and gain the exposure to women-led power dynamics. Thus, if you’re reading this, you should know much of what I don’t market is equally as great as the rest of this.

Nerdology 101: Why Write?

Hello, nerdy beloveds. Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I'm your host, Maria Levato, and this week you’re going to discover the why behind my writing. Let’s get into some Nerdology!

The Official Bio:

Every author has one, here’s mine. As seen on the homepage of this website, this is my official bio:

“Maria Levato is an author, BIPOC woman, and disabled veteran. She has written three books as an indie author, The Islands of Rune (2023), Journey to Rallem (2025), and The Fate of Angels and Demons (2026). Maria also writes the Nerdology 101 blog on this website.

Outside of her writing, Maria serves the writing community in other ways. She’s the chair of the PRO Advisory Committee for the Romance Writers of America and an ambassador for the Washington, D.C. chapter of The Authors Guild.”

You didn’t come here for that today, though, did you? You want the goodies. So, let’s move right along.

The Fun Bio:

Oh, babes, you’re in for it now.

Who I am and what I do are two very different topics. While my work is a huge part of who I am, there’s so much behind the scenes that doesn’t make it into the bio. If you can’t tell by the name of this blog, I’m a nerd. Niches are my thing. Most nerds, being moderately sane human beings, pick a niche and stick to it. I, however, never have and never will claim to be sane. Thus, I have somewhere in the realm of 5,000 niches I consistently obsess over and another 1,000 or so that come and go with the wind. There are certain core ones that, in my mind, are all interconnected and lead back to a single hobby: Culture. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, a national art museum or a ren faire, writing or folding Reese cup wrappers into flowers so I have an excuse to eat a whole bag of minis, deep diving on mythology and history, or passionately raving about current events because I think we should treat people like people, it all comes down to culture for me. I don’t care which culture; I love them all.

Cultures humanize people in a way few other things do. Cultures surrounding race, ethnicity, and nationality are often what we think of when we think about culture, but under each comes a plethora of subcultures that make the experience even richer. Some of the favorite examples in my life now are Black Goth/Alt/Punk/etc. culture (music like Magnolia Park, collectives like Punk Black, events like Blerd Con, etc.), nerdy culture, Irish resistance music (like Chasing Abbey), Indigenous empowerment culture (music like Young Spirit, stores like Eighth Generation, etc.), and even kink/BDSM. Exploring these subcultures has always been what interests me most because it’s such a fun, supportive, and connective way to widen my own perspective. So, there I went, deep into the nerdom where I eventually discovered all of that stuff I love. The books, the anime, the art, the travel, these spaces are where I feel most like myself because so many other people are also free to be themselves in it.

Of course, then I grew up. Life happened; it sucked. Somewhere in there I lost track of who I was. What do we do when we lose something? We retrace our steps. Where had I last seen myself? Why, in the nerdom, of course. After remembering how happy this stuff made me, I was like, “hey, you what sounds like a fun way to cope with life?”

“Writing stories about nerdy shit and sex!” My brain replied.

It wasn’t really what I had in mind, I was thinking something wayyy less demanding, but my brain insisted so that’s what I did and now I love it. Three books later here I am explaining to you how a childhood love of culture resurfaced as the unhinged, smutty coping mechanism I sell to other people who are also fond of unhinged, smutty coping mechanisms. It’s really a full circle kind of thing. I love this life, though. It allows me to be connected to all the awesome things that I love by creating and adding something to the bookish subculture and wider nerdy community.

That’s pretty much the summary of how I became a writer and why I choose to write diverse, creative, outside the box, spicy fantasy books. You should give my newest one, The Fate of Angels and Demons, a read. The special edition can be found HERE and the paperback and ebook formats can be found HERE. Hope to see you back next week for another segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Decision-Making for Characters

Hey there! Welcome back to Nerdology 101, the blog where no nerd is left unsatisfied. I'm your host, Maria Levato. This week, I thought we'd talk about writing the tough decisions.

Every writer comes across a point where their character must make a decision. They have to go down one road or another, but sometimes they refuse to cooperate. I recently had a character that remained indecisive from the beginning of the draft right up until the end of the story.

Of course, it made for an awesome character arc because the build up to this moment has been quite the journey. However, we reached the point where a decision had to be made. Presented with two options that had similarly good outcomes for her, but potentially devastating ones for those she cares for, my FMC finally had to make her decision about which one of them she was going to hurt. Yet, when it came down to the wire, she went radio silent on me.

It didn't surprise me when she went quiet. She's a stubborn character with a bit of a bratty side. I had expected that she might throw a tantrum when she had to make this decision. So, here's how I dealt with it. Let's get into some Nerdology!

My FMC is quite used to having her way. Not because she's spoiled, but because she's powerful. Quite frankly, most of the other characters are terrified of her! When she gets stuck having to choose between two things she wants, she doesn't know how to cope. As the author, it's my job to coax her back out and help her make the decisions without speaking for her (It works best for me when I see the character as fully autonomous. I'm not sure if all writers do this, but I do.).

To do that, I write everything. It all comes out. Every moment up until the statement declaring the decision gets written. All the emotions, all the things they say and do leading up to it, everything gets on the page. Then, I write the first part of the statement. To oversimplify it, "I choose ____." At which point, all the character actually has to do is give you one answer or another. One I get answer A or B, the why flows post decision.

My point: Don't let the characters decision paralysis stall the story. 

Let them make the decision on the moment because that's probably what's happening on the page. In most instances, you don't need their decision until very last moment. Give them all that time so they can answer intuitively.

Think of it like going to a restaurant. You know you want something from X place but you don't really know what until you get there and look at the menu. You might even order the same thing you always do, but you'll stare at that menu anyway, and you probably won't actually decide until the waitor/waitress walks up and asks if you're ready to order. It's a realistic and relatable thing for a character to do. Don't you agree?

Thanks for stopping by Nerdology 101. Check back next week for another segment. In the meantime, don't forget to pre-order my upcoming release, The Fate of Angels and Demons. Have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Self vs. Trad Publishing

Hi! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. I’m Maria Levato, your nerdy sensei who writes about kink play—and a bunch of other random stuff no one asked about.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of discourse around the merits of self vs. trad publishing, so I’m using this week’s post to address that. Let me give you a hint: Both options are perfectly valid.

There are few industries where we judge the legitimacy of a business by who makes the initial investment. I have never heard someone say “Oh, this store is worse than a different store because the owner paid for it themselves instead of getting investors.” Why haven’t I heard that before? Because it would be insane and most people wouldn’t say it. So, why do we do it when it comes to books? Let’s dive into some Nerdology and find out!

Before the Printing Press

Long ago, there was a world without the printing press. A medieval time where books were—Checks notes, then gasps—made by hand!? Oh, the horror. As you may have guessed, they took a lot of time and money to make. The majority of them were made and collected by religious entities and universities. “Getting published”, as we know it today, didn’t really exist. What did exist, though, is the concept of patronage. Wealthy people, like nobles and royals, would find artists and writers they liked and bankroll them. Eventually, after creating some work, some of the artists and writers would start to get commissions from other wealthy people who wanted a work made by that artist or writer. Publishing houses are the post-printing press version of this, so you can call writers who became published this way early trad authors. On the other hand, you could call writers with the wealth to pay to have their writing produced themselves, early self-published authors.

Good Ol’ Gutenberg and the Printing Revolution

In 1454, we see Gutenberg’s printing press get put to commercial use for the first time where he prints a slew of stuff off for the church. Then, suddenly books (or at least those the church approves of) are more widely available. It’s magic. A ton of people were interested in this because it was a quick and easy way to replicate their ideas and distribute them to a wide audience. It was a Printing Revolution, literally, that’s what it was called. It was part of the Renaissance. You can learn a lot about it by viewing this page from Printing R-Evolution that explores it in depth. For our purposes, though, I’m just illustrating how this became the publishing industry. You see, whoever had a printing press could print and distribute anything. So, having one became a powerful way to distribute materials that would make people more likely to agree with your preferred idealogy. That’s a lot of power. It platformed people like Galileo, who was a radical thinker for his time. It also gave us texts that sparked social movements like the rise of Prostestantism, such as bibles written in languages that aren’t Latin, which were considered heresy at the time. Eventually, people realized that printing and distributing books could be lucrative. Enter: The Publishing Industry, entities who printed and distributed books on behalf of the writer.

Literary Agents

Three to four centuries and a lot of books later, literary agents come onto the scene between 1870 and 1930, depending on location. Their job was simple. Connect writers with publishing houses. This is really the start of traditional publishing as we know it today. From there, traditional publishing became more of a standardized process. Query agents (via snail mail, at the time), get an agent, have that agent submit the work to publishers, get published.

The Internet

With the internet came a revitalization of self-publishing. In 2005, Blurb, an online self-publishing platform was founded. In 2009, Amazon started Amazon Publishing. In 2013, IngramSpark came onto the scene. As with anything, some people got mad about it. They started bashing people who took that path because it went against their expectations of what becoming an author should look like. That’s where it started to get stigmatized.

Social Media

With the rise of Booktok/Bookstagram/Booktube/etc. came change. Self-published authors started to gain stronger platforms and their path became less stigmatized. This led us to the debate I’m seeing today about whether self or trad publishing is better. As I said at the start of this blog post, it doesn’t matter. The difference lies in who bears the initial investment, not the quality of the production itself. I’ve read plenty of trad books that I love and plenty that I dislike. The same applies to self-published books. Trad published books sometimes have editing issues, so do self-published books sometimes. Both formats have different pros and cons. Ultimately, the choice on which format is better depends on the writer and the piece they’re publishing. No matter what a writer chooses, they choose it because it is the best route for them and their work. Some writers choose one path at first and a different path later. Some are solidly on one side of the line or the other. So long as everyone respects everyone else’s decisions, there’s nothing wrong with any of it. It’s okay for people to achieve similar goals by different means. To say a trad-published author is a sell out or a self-published author wasn’t good enough to make it is ridiculous. No matter who bears the initial investment, the quality of the writing is what matters at the end of the day. Read books you like, no matter how they were published, and don’t read books you don’t like, no matter how they were published.

Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are! Did you learn something new about the history of publishing?

With that, I bid you all a good weekend. I’ll see you back next Friday at 3P.M. ET for the next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Source List (This is a blog, not an academic paper. I’m just dropping the links so people can learn more, not making full citations).

https://guides.library.ubc.ca/historyofthebook/beforeprint

https://independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1510

https://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/mcdonald/incunabula/gutenberg/

https://www.printingrevolution.eu/7

https://www.transatlantic-cultures.org/es/catalog/agents-litteraires