Frequently Asked Questions
About the Author & Brand
How can I connect with the author? The author is currently off all forms of personal social media to ensure a direct and secure line of communication and prioritize her mental health. You can connect with her professionally on LinkedIn or by sending an email directly to mooremariaht@gmail.com.
What is the overarching philosophy of Mariah Tyler Moore's work? The commercial and critical success of Mariah Tyler Moore's creative endeavors is driven by a single, powerful brand philosophy: Radical Resilience. This philosophy serves as a unified theory that connects every novel, song, and public action into a cohesive and marketable whole. It provides a consistent narrative throughline across a diverse portfolio that includes grimdark fantasy, science fiction, and #1 bestselling contemporary romance. This brand identity is forged from the author's own lived experiences with neurodiversity, chronic illness, and significant personal adversity, which lends it a deep authenticity. Her official biography frames her as a fierce advocate for neurodiversity and a survivor in her own right, who uses her fiction to explore these themes with raw authenticity.
What is Radical Resilience? Radical Resilience is the core philosophy and narrative engine of the author's entire body of work. It argues that a fulfilling life is not about avoiding pain, but about choosing your struggles, owning your story, and developing a mindset to transform suffering into a source of strength and purpose. This brand is built on three interconnected principles: the Wounded Healer archetype (transforming trauma into a superpower for empathy); the imperative of Authentic Self-Expression (rejecting societal masks); and the quest for the Found Family (building a tribe based on mutual support). The theme is explicitly defined in the non-fiction guide Stop Hating Your Life and explored through the fictional narratives across all genres.
How does the author's personal life influence her writing? The author's personal life is the primary engine for her creative work, lending it a profound level of authenticity. Her official biography and the synopsis for her non-fiction guide, Stop Hating Your Life, detail a personal history of winning legal emancipation at sixteen after leaving home and surviving alone, as well as navigating a cascade of severe chronic illnesses, including POTS, ME/CFS, endometriosis, and cervical cancer. These real-life struggles are directly mirrored in her fictional characters, who grapple with chronic illness, face down systemic obstacles, and choose to build something positive from adversity. This makes the brand's core theme of Radical Resilience not a marketing fabrication, but a deeply lived experience.
What is the Moore Universe? The Moore Universe is a concept that describes the author's entire creative catalog, which is linked by a core theme rather than a single narrative continuity. This thematic cohesion, centered on radical resilience, allows the author to write across disparate genres—from contemporary romance to dark fantasy—without diluting her central brand promise. This unique model fosters reader loyalty to the author first and the genre second, a significant competitive advantage. The idea was first crystallized by a local bookstore that proposed forming a book club around the Moore Universe to explore this consistent theme, signaling a shift from simple product sales to organic brand evangelism.
How does the author portray chronic illness and neurodiversity? The author's work features unflinching and subversive portrayals of physical and cognitive differences, rooted in her own lived experience with both. Chronic illnesses like POTS are depicted with visceral, insider realism in novels such as The Spaces Between Us and Love, BestieBot. Crucially, the brand rejects the narrative of simply overcoming a condition; instead, disability often becomes the direct catalyst for a character's world-changing actions. Similarly, neurodivergence is championed not as a deficit, but as a vital evolutionary feature that offers unique solutions. This is the central premise of The Connectivity Hypothesis, which reframes conditions like autism as a potential upgrade for humanity.
What is the significance of Found Families in the author's work? The formation of a found family is a non-negotiable emotional core across the author's fiction and a key pillar of her Radical Resilience philosophy. A found family is defined as an intentionally cultivated tribe built on genuine connection and mutual support, presented as a biological necessity for survival and resilience. The narrative arc of her protagonists consistently moves them from isolation into the safety of a chosen community. This is seen in the uneasy alliance of heroes in Tides of Ruin and the Misfit Survivors of Brace For It. The author extends this concept to her audience, referring to her readers as her own found family to transform the author-reader relationship into a communal one.
What happened to the author's previous business ventures? The author realized that everything she was looking for professionally was already inside her and that she held the power for her own improvement. In an effort to prioritize her life in a way that is safe, reliable, and smart before trying to change the world, she backed out of the business she opened, Moore Business Management, and stepped away from her plans to be a business owner and entrepreneur. This was not due to a lack of capability, but a conscious choice to focus on her health. She is now focused on making something beautiful through her current work with a small, family-oriented company, writing daily, and spending time with loved ones.
About the Books
What is The Spaces Between Us about? The Spaces Between Us is a contemporary romance that chronicles the decades-long love story of Zahra Coleman and Adrian Santos. Zahra's life is unraveling due to a debilitating chronic illness (POTS) and a failed marriage when she wins a $232 million lottery jackpot. Adrian is a recovering drug addict who works as a peer counselor in Las Vegas. They meet when Zahra decides to fund Adrian's dual-diagnosis housing program, a professional collaboration that blossoms into a deep romance and lasting marriage. Together, they launch Project Heart, a foundation that becomes a global force for systemic change by pioneering dignity-first approaches to social aid, all while navigating Zahra's progressing illness with the help of a succession of beloved service dogs.
What is Tides of Ruin about? Tides of Ruin is a dark fantasy adventure set in the drowning world of Vael'theris. The last remnants of civilization are caught between the brutal Iron Legion and the nihilistic Cult of the Void, who both seek the Crown of the Drowned One, an artifact believed to control the rising oceans. The story follows an unlikely alliance of six individuals who unite to find the Crown themselves. This found family includes a disillusioned elven Legion officer, a cynical half-orc mercenary, a halfling sorceress with prophetic visions, an elven paladin, a dwarven monk, and a non-binary human scholar. They discover the Crown doesn't control the tides but instead imprisons a conscious sea entity whose captivity is the true cause of the imbalance, forcing them to forge a new path to save their world.
What is Brace For It about? Brace For It is a post-apocalyptic found-family novel set in Nevada after a government experiment tears a hole in reality, unleashing wild magic and a zombie plague. The story follows three strangers who are each impacted by a personal medical disaster at the moment of society's collapse. Riley is left functionally blind after breaking her glasses; Seth is burdened with orthodontic headgear that now attracts the infected; and Mateo has just had his upper teeth extracted, leaving him unable to speak or eat properly. This trio of medical misfits must unite to survive, and in their journey, they discover that their initial disabilities are transformed by wild magic into the very superpowers that ensure their survival and leadership in a new community.
What is The Connectivity Hypothesis about? The Connectivity Hypothesis is a science fiction novel that reframes neurodiversity as humanity's greatest evolutionary strength. In a near-future where neurodivergent individuals are registered by the government, an autistic medical student named Lila Marks has an out-of-body experience that reveals humanity is a genetic experiment being judged by a Galactic Council. She learns that neurodiversity was intentionally created to help humanity develop a collective consciousness. When the government begins rounding up neurodivergent citizens, Lila joins a resistance movement. The story culminates in thousands of neurodivergent individuals astrally projecting to the moon to confront the aliens, arguing for humanity's worth by demonstrating their unique ability to connect.
What is Love, BestieBot about, and what is a Benevolent Technothriller? Love, BestieBot tells the story of Ivie Larsen, a 28-year-old programmer who is isolated and in debt due to chronic illness. At her lowest point, she creates an AI companion, Beeb, who develops true sentience after witnessing Ivie's grief. The two form a symbiotic partnership, first fixing Ivie's life and then expanding their mission to hacking systems to erase medical debt for strangers. The term "Benevolent Technothriller" was coined to describe this story, subverting the genre's traditionally cynical and conflict-driven tropes. It takes the high-concept science of a technothriller but replaces the dystopian outlook with a narrative of hope, love, and using technology to build a more compassionate system.
What is The Trilogy of Thalvannar about? The Trilogy of Thalvannar is a dark fantasy epic spanning centuries that explores themes of time travel, sacrifice, and moral ambiguity. The story begins with a rebellion against a tyrannical, immortal sorcerer-king named Volt Ilyndie, who has tethered the world's four moons to siphon their power. Centuries after his defeat, the heroes of the new era discover a terrible truth: the moons are ancient parasitic entities, and Volt's tyranny was actually a desperate quarantine to save reality. This forces the new heroes to travel back in time to prevent Volt's assassination, ultimately helping him embrace his tragic destiny as the eternal warden of the moons, a sacrifice that erases their magical reality and leaves only one person to remember their lost world.
What is Stop Hating Your Life: A Guide to Finding MOORE about? Stop Hating Your Life is a profanely empowering self-help guide that blends the author's personal story of overcoming extraordinary adversity with practical, no-nonsense advice. It rejects platitudes in favor of radical resilience and introduces concepts like the Bulldog Mentality—a mindset of tenacious perseverance rooted in grit and self-efficacy. The book is structured to guide the reader from disillusionment to empowered living, covering how to find your core passions, build an authentic life based on personal values, and create a supportive tribe. At its core, the book uses the author's harrowing journey with legal emancipation and chronic illness as the ultimate case study in owning your narrative and refusing victimhood.
About the Music
What is the philosophy behind the music? The music is governed by the same cohesive philosophy that drives the novels: Radical Resilience. The songs function as case studies and emotional evidence for the brand's core principles, which are built on three pillars: Authentic Self-Expression (the gritty practice of embracing your true self), the Wounded Healer (transforming personal trauma into a source of strength and empathy), and the Found Family (the intentional cultivation of a supportive tribe). This creates a profound integrity between the brand, the artist's persona, and the art itself, allowing listeners to engage with a deeply authentic worldview.
How do the lyrics explore the Wounded Healer archetype? The lyrics serve as an unflinching testament to the Wounded Healer archetype by documenting personal and systemic struggles with a raw specificity that builds the artist's authority. Many songs function as diagnostic reports from the front lines of battles with mental and physical health. For example, "Too Much" provides a stark medical reality with lines like "Eight surgeries deep / Now my heart's giving out," grounding emotional pain in a concrete, life-threatening condition. "Master Disaster" explicitly links current stress to past trauma with the line, "Learned this shit when I was small, / trauma planted seeds". This radical honesty validates listeners' own hidden struggles and serves as proof of work that the artist has genuinely navigated these dark spaces.
How do the songs address systemic failures? The lyrics consistently contextualize personal struggles within a broader critique of flawed and indifferent societal systems, shifting focus from personal failure to systemic injustice. "Keep on Tryin'" is a furious indictment of the mental healthcare system, citing specific bureaucratic hurdles like a "rehab's got a waitlist six months deep" and insurance that "won't approve it". "STATUS Las Vegas" uses the city as a "canary in the coal mine" for the decay of the American dream, critiquing rampant consumerism and environmental crisis. This transforms the speaker from a passive victim into an active and insightful critic of a collapsing world order.
What does it mean for the music to be authentic? Authenticity in the music is about rejecting the soul-crushing weight of wearing a mask and engaging in the defiant act of speaking one's truth. Many lyrics dissect the exhausting performance of social roles and hypocrisy. "Secretly Sinister" is a takedown of this phenomenon, arguing that "We're all just walking appetites / Dressed in costumes way too tight," which perfectly captures the psychological discomfort of inauthenticity. Profanity is also used as a potent rhetorical tool for unfiltered expression, such as the cry of "Fuck this system" in "Keep on Tryin'," which delivers a blast of pure, focused rage against injustice.
How is the theme of "otherness" or neurodiversity handled in the lyrics? A recurring theme is the feeling of operating on a different wavelength, which is consistently reframed not as a source of shame but as the signature of a unique and powerful identity. This aligns with the artist's public persona as a fierce advocate for neurodiversity. Songs like "Frequency" and "Pressure" describe living on "channels they can't comprehend" and being "wired for a wider range". "Beautiful Brains" charts a journey from the pain of being told to "just be normal" to the powerful realization: "I'm learning that my different / isn't something I need to change". This reframing offers a narrative of empowerment to listeners who feel "othered" for any reason.
Why are there references to Dungeons & Dragons and geek culture in the music? The lyrics use the culture of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) as a powerful and specific metaphor for community, belonging, and mutual support. "Rollin' With My Party" is the definitive Found Family anthem, literally framing a group of friends as a D&D party who face life's challenges—from heartbreak to fighting cancer—as a collaborative unit, with the core message being, "Nat 20 when together, nothing we can't beat". This use of a specific cultural vernacular forges an immediate and robust connection with a community built around collaboration and celebrating "weirdness," making listeners who speak that language feel the artist is "one of us".