An Interview with Daniel Rodrigues-Martin
Daniel Rodrigues-Martin began writing in 2004. Since then, he’s become the author of books, articles, essays, shorts, scripts, poems, and countless rants. His debut novel, Goddess from the Machine: A Prequel to the Ark Saga, was featured as one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best 100 Indie Books of 2025 and one of Blueink Review’s Best Books of 2025. It is available from most major sellers.
Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?
Goddess from the Machine is dedicated to a man I met in Central America whose daughter was kidnapped. By extension, it’s dedicated to everyone like him who’s had no choice but to endure.
That dedication is the spark that lit the rest of the story. The world produces people like this man and his daughter, and I wanted to write about that from the inside. No people own a monopoly on suffering; to be human is to suffer in one form or another.
Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
Unlike some of the other books I’ve written, the title occurred to me about halfway through writing and didn’t much change once I happened on it. (This was about 2014.) Once I understood the direction the story was going, the title was an inevitability, and the novel became something of a journey to justify the title. I was familiar with the concept of “deus ex machina” from theater. That phrase has become something of a tongue-in-cheek reference to writers getting themselves out of corners through narrative happenstance. In this book, it’s more a reference to the original idea of the gods in Greek theater being always present, and their presence made the play something of an exercise in futility. What were the gods up to? At what point would they step in and enact their will, those wills that would be done regardless of human striving? To that end, the story very much wrestles with the idea of fate and free will.
What part of publishing your book made it feel real for the first time?
The audiobook edition! I think I had been writing Goddess from the Machine so long (about twelve years) that the actual publication of the story in paperback and eBook didn’t hit as hard as if I’d been writing for two years. The audiobook adaptation, being a different medium altogether, provided refreshment through the artistry of the narrator (Rhiannon Moushall) and audio engineer (Henry Willard). I’d already spent thousands of hours staring at the text, but hearing it so brilliantly performed gave me the opportunity to experience the story as part of the audience, not just the author. And then to think, “Wow, this is actually good!” drove home that something great had been accomplished.
If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?
Victor Hugo said, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent.” Music has always been an essential part of my process, and there are some chapters I won’t write until I can find the correct music to go with it. I actually have a complete “unofficial playlist” for Goddess from the Machine on my website. Some of the key tracks are: Flamerock Refuge from the Borderlands 2 OST; Windfall Island from The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker OST; A Broken World from the FF7 Remake OST; The Afternoon Streets from the Kingdom Hearts 3 OST; Never Goodbye from the Hostiles OST; All the Best Moments Are Hers from the Bladerunner 2049 OST; Vienna Blood Waltz by Strauss; Alma the Hellcat by PALMERSMEDIC; C.L.U. from the Tron Legacy OST; Will the Circle Be Unbroken? from the Bioshock Infinite OST.
What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?
Goddess from the Machine asserts over and over: “You can’t hold power in one hand and peace in the other.” The story is all about interrogating that central thematic question and showing what happens to a fierce, plucky young genius on the other side of it. It is a story about power, vengeance, transhumanist hubris, social inequality, and the near-impossibility of achieving wholeness in isolation. I would hope readers would enjoy the story, but, just a bit, find themselves interrogated as the protagonist is … especially as the broader saga unfolds.
What creative projects are you currently working on?
Goddess from the Machine is a prequel to the Ark Saga, and Book 1: Ghost in the Autumn Vale, will be out in September. I’ve already got about 30,000 words of GTFM’s direct sequel, Devil in Embryo, about 100,000 words of book two of the Ark Saga ready to go after DIE. I’m really looking forward to the commissioned cover for DIE and, as well, commissioning an audiobook edition of it. Outside of that, I’m occasionally publishing craft-related essays on my SubStack.
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