With Fall approaching, one degree and a pumpkin-spiced latte at a time, we know readers are looking for the perfect cozy fantasy to curl up with. A Gentle Apocalypse is a three-book series (and counting), perfect for the upcoming spooky season.
We sat down with the mysterious M.H. Foster—an up-and-coming author who pursued their dream of becoming a writer and began writing short stories inspired by prompts. Now he has built a fantastical world within the A Gentle Apocalypse series, filled with clever goats, a grumpy celestial Demon Overlord, and small-town, pestering villagers. M.H. takes the reader on a hilarious journey with Galornus as he navigates the surprisingly drama-filled life of a retired Overlord, now living a farmer lifestyle. It’s a unique story about starting over and beginning anew at any stage of life.
About The Demon Overlord’s Retirement Plan
When destroying the world and killing the hero grows boring, what’s a Demon Overlord to do but quit while he’s ahead?
Galornus Prime was the Scourge of Nations, Ender of Hope, and Master of the Cardinal Sins. He had done everything worth doing. Some of it more than once.
His retirement plan was simple: get a goat, farm quietly, and avoid accidentally conquering anything. The plan didn’t include soul-crushing town halls, after-school combat lessons with children, and a war with perhaps his most worthy nemesis yet: the rose-growing, seventy-three year-old widow next door.
Even in retirement, evil never sleeps…but it does plant turnips.
When corrupt officials and greedy merchants threaten his infuriatingly lovable neighbors, Galornus faces a new kind of challenge: saving the village without revealing he is the monster parents invoke to make children eat their vegetables.
Demon Overlord’s Retirement Plan is a cozy fantasy with teeth, where the hardest battle isn’t defeating heroes—it’s staying retired and learning how to live after 444 lifetimes of villainy.
What brought about the inspiration for the Gentle Apocalypse series? Do you remember the thought or idea that sparked the series’ concept?
A Gentle Apocalypse was inspired by the concept of fresh beginnings and second chances, which happened to be a writing prompt I came across one afternoon when I was feeling burnt out. I remember being attracted to it, particularly because it was something I had been wondering about a lot anyway (and quite possibly avoiding because I wasn’t really sure who I was outside of work anymore, though I don’t think I was ready to admit that at the time).
I have thought about retirement quite often, and isn’t that step one towards a fresh start or a second chance? You have to ‘give up’ whatever it is you are doing now. It might be a job, an identity, a relationship, or any number of things. Whatever it may be, it is likely something that is important to who you are, and not so easy to stop (Otherwise why would you need a new beginning? You’d just do it.)
And so Galornus Prime, the Demon Overlord, was born. It began as a fun short story about the ultimate evil getting bored and wanting out, but the more I thought about him planting turnips and raising a goat, the more questions popped into my head.
Who are you without the function you and society have defined for you?
Even if you change, can you escape the actions of your past?
Will others accept you as who you are now, if they knew who you were before?
A Gentle Apocalypse is meant to be a cozy, fun read, but I think about the above as I write.
The Gentle Apocalypse series is described as a fun, cozy fantasy series. What about this genre appealed to you more than typical fantasy? Did you go into this novel thinking it would be classified as such?
I didn’t give much thought to the genre when I began. The fact that it is more a fun, cozy fantasy series is not by intent, but rather because it’s what fit the characters. I don’t shy away from action where it is necessary for the plot, but it isn’t the purpose of my novels. That said, I think it sits well as a cozy fantasy, just one with a little teeth.
Galornus Prime is trying to get away from the world-destroying activities that come with his day job. He has bigger fish to fry. Like learning how to be the Ultimate Pickleteer and trying to manage his goat Prometheus (or, failing that, not get managed by his goat, which happens more often than not).
A Gentle Apocalypse is a cozy, fun fantasy series because that is the story of Galornus Prime. It is what he was looking for, and what he has been seeking, I think, for a long, long time.
You mentioned that you typically plot chapters as you go. What is a characteristic that you know about your characters to maintain consistency and continuity?
Hmmm. That’s a good question. Let me answer that from two angles.
First, whenever I write about a character, I always try to think about how the character would respond based on their personality and worldview as opposed to trying to force-fit them to the plot. They need to act as who they are. I do have a character sheet with the major defining traits of the characters that I refer back to from time to time, but generally they pretty much live rent-free in my brain.
Second, while I plot each chapter as I go, I usually write each chapter three times. Once with just the main points that I expect will happen. These points take the form of descriptions, lines the characters might say, or summaries of events like ‘Galornus likes pickles and digs a pickle cellar. Pickles are awesome and Prometheus the goat steals them.’ Then I flesh it out in detailed notes with descriptions, dialogue, and anything else that might be necessary for the reader to feel embedded in the chapter. Finally, I write the chapter in full sentences and scenes.
From time to time, my chapters can deviate a lot from the main points by the time I write the full thing. By always thinking about who the characters are, I think (hope) I’ve managed to keep them consistent and real.
Your main character is a Demon Overlord named Galornus Prime with a wicked past who retires as a turnip farmer and has a goat. With the series’s found-family trope and prospective love, what can be said about redemption in unlikely characters like a Demon Overlord, and how we view traditional good vs. evil?
Galornus Prime doesn’t really see what he’s done in the past as good or evil. He is an immortal, celestial being with cosmic power far beyond everyone except the Divine. He isn’t doing ‘evil.’ How can one be ‘evil’ to ants? Or to creatures whose souls he knows will be reborn into the cycle of life over and over again, and whose existence in this incarnation is barely a flash to a being such as him.
Individual pain and joy are not things he has ever considered. I don’t know if he was really even aware of them until he lived like a regular, mediocre, insignificant human like Willem Porter.
When Galornus gets to know someone, he is capable of doing great good. He is true to his own desires. He doesn’t hurt people for the pleasure of it. His evil is oftentimes the consequence of his defined occupation as the Demon Overlord in this universe. He’s really just doing his job.
I suppose the above is a long way of saying the evil isn’t 100% evil, and good certainly isn’t 100% good. Both have unexpected consequences.
This then takes us to the topic of redemption. Everyone from the Demon Overlord down to the lowly slime can be redeemed.
This does not mean there isn’t a price to pay. Redemption is not free. And you can’t do good for the sake of redemption. You do good because it is good, and accept that you will still have to face the consequences of your past evil.
My perspective, at least.
Many readers love a grumpy, roguish character with a secret heart of gold like Galornus Prime. Why do you think this archetype is so fun to create and read about?
I need to make one correction here. Galornus Prime does not have a heart of gold. He does not have a heart at all. What passes for a heart is thoroughly tainted by evil and the horrible things he has done. Any good acts were entirely by accident and not to be considered evidence that he has a heart of gold.
This does not mean he isn’t roguish and charming at times, nor does it mean he doesn’t do good things. We aren’t defined by our history. Galornus Prime’s retirement and change to a completely new setting allowed him to act without the constraints of his past and the expectations that come with his job (Demon Overlord) and reputation (Ender of Hope, Scourge of Nations, etc.)
Personally, I think it’s fun to create and read about such characters because it gives us hope that people are fundamentally capable of good. We’re not really very black or white.
What is good, anyway, but a matter of perspective? One person’s good is another person’s evil, as Galornus Prime might think.
But no, there are definitely actions that are undeniably evil, and both good and evil have consequences that one has to face. Eventually.
Even if you are the Demon Overlord.
If you had to choose, which novel from the series was your favorite to write and why?
A most insidious question. It’s like asking me to pick a favourite goat. I like all goats. They don’t necessarily like me.
If I were forced to answer, I would have to say Book Three, Band of Others. Without giving away too much of the plot, this was when Galornus Prime truly admitted to himself that he is a member of Lower Middleton, and these are his people now.
That and the prologue of Book One. I’ve always had a bone to pick with Heroes that beat the Demon Overlord. I mean, they are only allowed to do so because that’s the function of the Demon Overlord, and plus demons want entertainment. They’re really always just cultivating the Hero to be a fit opponent so there’s some form of challenge.
With the small-town drama, messy love, and ghosts of wicked deeds past pestering Galornus, it almost feels like an ode to television comedy dramas — those like Gilmore Girls, Schitt’s Creek, Hart of Dixie, etc. Was there any inspiration from these kinds of shows, or what went into creating such a lovable and witty cast of characters?
I can’t say I was thinking of any TV show in particular, but I am a huge fan of Schitt’s Creek, Murderbot, and The Good Place. I think if you mash Michael, Murderbot, and Johnny Rose, that is similar to Galornus Prime + Willem Porter.
While I didn’t actively refer to them while I wrote, upon self-reflection, I think they formed part of the Demon Overlord.
That being said, Lower Middleton exists. Galornus Prime exists. Mrs. Crankshaw, Tom Fletcher, Sally, Rajani, Lucas—all of them are real in some reality (probably not ours), and I think I was just faithfully recording their lives.
You said you began your writing journey by writing short stories. Can we expect any of those to turn into a series like A Gentle Apocalypse?
Yes! I am cleaning up and posting short stories from the world of A Gentle Apocalypse as well as other works I’ve done in the past. My plan is to interact with my readers and see which works people would most like to see written into a full series. This was how A Gentle Apocalypse started, so I think I’d like to keep doing that. Please check out my Patreon (mhfoster) if you want to get involved!
We hear that book #4 of the A Gentle Apocalypse series is currently in the works. What can you tell us about what’s next for Galornus Prime?
I think the next books in the series will see Galornus Prime come face-to-face (literally and figuratively) with his own past. He will need to figure out if he truly is ‘Uncle Willem’ the Pickleteer, or if he is just a Demon Overlord playing at retirement.
It won’t be easy, but Galornus Prime is not alone. He has Lower Middleton, friends, and family.
And Prometheus, of course.
Thank you, M.H., for an engaging interview! Be sure to pick up your own copy of A Gentle Apocalypse by clicking the links above or visiting your local bookshop.
About M.H. Foster
M.H. Foster is the author of A Gentle Apocalypse and the Janissary series. Foster writes across the spectrum of fantasy, from quiet villages and retired villains to battlefields where ideals clash under banners and steel. Whether absurd or austere, every story explores what it means to fight, fail, and find purpose when the world refuses to make sense.
You can follow M.H. Foster’s work on his website or via Patreon, Twitter, and Instagram.
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