What It Means to Be a Matriarchist Storyteller

When I started writing The Homeric Chronicles, I never set out to rewrite Greek mythology through a modern filter. I wanted to live inside it—to walk with these characters, to feel the salt air of Troy and the ash of their choices. Over time, I realized what I was really doing wasn’t feminist or revisionist. It was something older, deeper. It was matriarchist.

To me, being a matriarchist storyteller means restoring balance to stories that have tilted too long in one direction, or the other. It means holding compassion for both the men and the women who shaped this ancient world we love—the warriors and the weavers, the kings and the queens. It’s understanding that everyone walks through fire and that almost no one has to stay in the dark forever.

When we 1977–1980s kids watched Luke discover that Darth Vader was his father—and later learned that Vader had once been a boy who loved the stars and flying—we were beyond shocked and heartbroken. What would those kids have given to stop Anakin from turning to the dark side? To let him raise Luke and Leia with Padmé and live happily ever after?
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In a world where men and women seek, strive, and weep—where we all want love, forgiveness, and redemption—we need our old stories to remind us that it isn’t always hopeless. That we can rise, no matter our circumstances, and become better versions of ourselves—for our families, our friends, and for the ones we love.
 
I love these characters fiercely. I really do. I take them through the fire, yes—but I also bring them back into light, redemption, and humanity (most of them). The White Island is the culmination of that journey: a story about legacy, forgiveness, and what remains after the war is over.

As I prepare to release The White Island and its paperback edition by Christmas, I feel like I’m finally naming what I’ve been all along—a matriarchist reteller of myth. Not rewriting history, but remembering it in full.

The Homeric Chronicles has always been about balance, consequence, and love that outlasts empires. And now, I’m thrilled to share that vision more clearly than ever.

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