Katee Robert returns to The Nerd Daily to chat with us about her upcoming release Electric Idol, the compelling second installment in her Dark Olympus series! Writing and publishing multiple novels a year, we got to steal a bit of time from Katee to ask her about her upcoming releases, which character she’d love to trade places with and more!
Hi, Katee! Thanks for joining us once more! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Thank you so much for having me! I never know how to answer questions about myself because writing romance novels is the most exciting thing about me. When I’m not writing, I’m usually knitting, playing video games, listening to podcasts, watching anime, or reading. When I get really wild, I bake and spend too much time on Twitter and TikTok.
Lightning round: tell us the first book, movie or song you think of when you hear the following words: power, intrigue and social media!
This feels a bit like cheating because it’s not technically a movie, but Gossip Girl. I think that series imprinted on me when it first came out because you have these rich, powerful people who are arguably awful and yet the power that the Gossip Girl site holds over them is fascinating.
Electric Idol is the second installment in the Dark Olympus series – what can readers expect?
It’s a retelling of the Eros and Psyche myth, but a very loose retelling with no real magic to speak of. Eros is his mother’s fixer and she’s decided that Psyche is a problem in need of fixing. Psyche is a plus-sized influencer who’s nice to him one time and he basically decides he can’t do what his mother commands…so he marries Psyche instead.
Eros and Psyche are such an unlikely pairing that ends up being the perfect match. What was your favorite scene to write for Electric Idol?
It was the scene in the bar where Psyche almost—almost—out-manuevers Eros entirely. She’s so freaking smart and has her mother’s cunning, and when I first wrote that scene, I panicked a little bit because it was like “well, there goes the conflict in the entire book, I guess it ends here.” Obviously a few things changed in the final version, but it was so delightful to see her outplay Eros and set him back on his heels.
If you were to trade places with one of the characters in Electric Idol, who would you choose and why?
Ohhhh, that’s a great question. I would trade places with Dionysus. This might seem like a strange answer, because we don’t see much of him in this book (he’s not the biggest Eros fan), but it’s mostly because he gets to hang out with Hermes on a regular basis and she’s probably my favorite character in the entire series.
The final showdown in Electric Idol is so cunningly clever. Without spoiling too much, did you always know that was how the battle for power this book focuses on was going to end?
Thank you! I’m someone who doesn’t plot overmuch before I write, so I knew that Psyche was going to have to be the one to be the one to bring about Aphrodite’s downfall, but in a non-lethal way because there’s the added complication that she might be a monster, but she’s also the mother of the man Psyche loves. I played with a few ideas before landing on the final version that was so perfectly Psyche.
You’ve written multiple series and standalones. Is there ever a book or a character that you can’t stop thinking about or that’s prodding you to return to them?
Usually, when I’m done, I’m done, but the exception is my O’Malley series. I loved that world that I built up and the complicated family dynamics. I actually started a second generation series because I simply couldn’t leave them alone.
Wicked Beauty, focusing on Helen of Troy, Achilles and Patroclus, releases in June 2022. Can you give us five words that describe the book?
Messy. Hot. Ambitious. Complicated. Angsty.
You’ve also recently teased a sapphic Dark Olympus novella featuring Medusa! What are readers in for?
It’s a novella that takes place before the events of Neon Gods and follows Medusa as she’s ordered to kill Calypso, the mistress of a certain powerful player in Olympus. Except she shows up and can’t quite pull it off. Obviously I’m a total sucker for “I was supposed to kill you, but I think I’ll fall in love instead.” It’s titled Stone Heart and will be available in March.
And since you’re an absolute writing machine, your first monster romance The Dragon’s Bride also releases in 2022! What’s it like to finally make your dream a reality?
I am seriously so excited for this one! I didn’t exactly set out to end up writing monster romance, but I love it. It’s been such a self-indulgent process, from the cover to the set-up with an auction and a demon deal, to the character dynamics planned in each book. I’m really looking forward to getting this into people’s hands.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Always! I will restrain myself to three, though. First up is my favorite read of 2021, Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. It’s a YA with all of my favorite things—mech battles, a villain origin story, a polyamorous MMF romance, and a murderous heroine. Next up is Drag Me Down by R.M. Virtues if you’re looking for some another romantic Greek myth retelling. It’s a Hades and Persephone romance that manages to be so soft and yet so spicy. And finally, I’m a huge fantasy reader, and one of my favorite fantasy releases last year was The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. It’s a book that grabs you by the throat from the first page, and in addition to a murdery princess and a sorta-former priestess who are most excellent on their own, there’s also a sapphic slow-burn romantic subplot.
