This is a reading guide to help you choose from both the “main” Gunmetal Olympus books by Maria Ying and the “expanded universe” by other writers.
What is Gunmetal Olympus? A shared-world setting where each author and artist who participates is able to get paid fully and independently, with no cuts taken by the “IP holder” (in this case, the Maria Ying team). The setting is a Greek myth-inspired, futuristic world where a glittering cyberpunk city must hold its place on a barren planet against hostile megafauna called the colossi. The gods, demigods, and otherwise majority of characters are lesbians.
Main books
These are the titles by Maria Ying. They contextualize most of the Gunmetal Olympus body of work, and concern the Twelve, the gods who rule over Olympus, as well the demigod champions who pilot their giant war-machines in their eternal combat against the colossi. Cannibalism, toxic desire, and intergenerational trauma.
- The Hades Calculus (novel)
- Memory of Olympus (collection of side- and back-stories)
- The Persephone Effect (novel)
- Weapons of Olympus (collection of side- and back-stories)
Companion books
- The Zeus Constant by Callisto Khan (novel; to be read with The Hades Calculus; mostly canonical, from the point of view of Zeus)
- Flower of the Underworld by Cirice Gray (novel; to be read with The Hades Calculus; canonical, concerning the mortal priestess Madalithea and her travails after drawing divine attention)
- House of the Underworld by Cirice Gray (novel; to be read with The Persephone Effect; canonical)
- Rat in a Corner by Amber Jayne (novel; takes place during the span of The Hades Calculus, about the demigod Alcippe and her rise to pilothood in a mechanical body)
Standalones
These can be read completely independent from the rest, including Maria Ying books.
- Pink Diamond and Keeping the Peace by Tris Husband (novella and novel, both starring the same protagonist, cyberpunk noir about Isadora, a butch trans woman detective)
- Independent Thought by Harper Saunders (novella about Galene, Isadora’s nymph assistant)
- A Drone’s Domain by Luna Selvin (short story)
- The Fundamental Order of Elysium by Sadhbh Frost (short story)
- The Little Owl Flower Shop and A Network of Roses by Autumn Wolff (two linked stories, concerning a trans woman who, stuck in a body that can’t transition, seeks a radical alternative that lands her in an exploitative bargain with the god Athena; some AU elements in Network)
- The Medusa Terminus by Emmeryn Palladino (novel)
Alternate universes/what-if
- In Her Garden by Abigail Gloom (collection of short stories, bad end)
- The Grafting of Persephone by Autumn Wolff (short story, bad end)
- Reap and Sow by SpecterOC (novella, very evil AU)
- Cosysick by Jemma Topaz (collection of short stories, various types of AU)
- The Dee Dee Calculus by Bailey Saxon (collection of short stories, AU both funny and evil)
- In Her Image by Cirice Gray and Maria Ying (novel, bad end AU where Persephone rebels and seizes power while becoming obsessed with Madalithea)
Upcoming
- Grindstone’s Affection by Saffron Drake
- Madness in Her Art by R. Mango and Victoria Cardew
- The Prometheus Contingency by H.D. Thorn
- The Nee Nee Effect by Bailey Saxon
- Gal Pals by Gemma Hart
- Blood of Elysium by Morgan Knight
- A Flower Twice Plucked by Autumn Wolff
- The Ares Hypothesis by Abigail Gloom
- A Doe Before Lions by Ara Viatrix
- Elysian Insider by Laika Starpup
- An Ember under the Shadow of the Gods by Dorothea Raven
- Iconoclast by Jamie Jane
Other fanfic not yet compiled/published as books can be found on AO3.
Artbooks
- Gunmetal Olympus Artbook Vol. 1, Vol. 2, and Vol. 3 by Mango
- Hades Calculus Mini Artbook by Araclaire
- The Eidolon Files and Champions of Elysium by Lotus
