Guest Blog: ANDREW Q. GORDON – Enter the Draw to WIN!!
Hey gang! The amazing and uber-talented ANDREW Q.GORDON is here talking about his gorgeous new book, FIRST LOVE!
Not only that, there are prizes, oh yes! Prizes galore! Check out these goodies and enter the rafflecopter below!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Andrew Q. Gordon is giving away the following: –
$15 DSP Gift Card –
An E-copy of “Third Eye” by Rick R. Reed –
An E-copy of “Ghost” by Carole Cummings – A
n E-copy of a book by J. TullosHennig
Contest Begins: 27th January, 2015 Contest Ends:9th February, 2015
Take it away Andrew!
Thanks for having me today, AJ.
First Love has its origin in what was basically one sentence in The Last Grand Master. At one point Farrell tells Prince Peter of Belsport in passing about his first love. It was ten years before the opening of The Last Grand Master and Farrell’s mother—Queen Zenora—and teacher—Heminaltose—were still alive.
First Love not only shows what Farrell was like before the war began, it also let’s me show his mother and teacher, through his eyes.
Of all the characters in the series, Farrell is naturally the most fleshed out. The story is through his eyes. But what of the secondary characters? The Champion of the Gods series is well over 2 million words long. Much of that is filler and background that I wrote to flesh out the story that will never see the light of a Kindle. Writing it, however, made it easier to write the entire story.
One of the characters we meet in First Love is Heminaltose—Grand Master Heminaltose to be exact. When The Champion of the Gods begins with The Last Grand Master, Heminaltose is dead. He died at Yar-del, along with Queen Zenora so we only get bits and pieces of him and his personality during the books.
Heminaltose was Farrell’s first and most important teacher and helped shape his student’s character. He considered the latter task his most important. As the son of both Queen Zenora and Meglar, Heminaltose kept a close watch on Farrell. Any sign his student might turn out like his father would require Heminaltose to take swift action to neutralize this threat. Always mindful he might need to kill his student, Heminaltose maintained as much distance as he could with Farrell.
Heminaltose was over a thousand years old when he died, many considered him the greatest wizard of his time. By the time Heminaltose was born, Grand Master Kel had been gone for over a thousand years. No one saw him die, but no one saw him again after he abdicated the throne of Yar-del. A contemporary of Kel’s, Grand Master Beatrice, taught Heminaltose for the first few years of his training, but she died when he was still a young man. History would debate who was the better wizard, Kel or Beatrice, but once they were gone, there was no one to challenge Heminaltose’s claim until Meglar rose to power.
Unlike Kel, who was an innovator, Heminaltose was more of a perfectionist. Kel liked to test the limits and find new ways to use magic, whereas Heminaltose experimented with how use magic more efficiently. The two never met, and it was unlikely they would have been friends.
Several centuries before his death, Heminaltose found the entrance to an abandoned outpost of Trellham on the plains of Gharaha. Though Heminaltose never spoke of it, Honorus led him to the spot with instructions to build his new school inside the abandon town. To the world, he told the story that he was search for somewhere to build his school and chanced upon the partially damaged gates.
When Meglar stole the Source from Yar-del, King Bren of Yar-del and Heminaltose made plans to enlarge the living area to accommodate the survivors of Yar-del should it fall. With time it began more evident that Meglar’s theft would give him an insurmountable edge, Heminaltose and Queen Zenora, Bren’s daughter, expanded the sanctuary against the day all the Seven Kingdoms fell.
Of course Farrell knew nothing about the instructions his mother and grandfather gave Heminaltose.To Farrell, his teacher was aloof and disinterested in him as a person. In truth, Heminaltose cared for Farrell a great deal, but never showed it for fear he’d get too close to his student should he need to take action.
Although Heminaltose dies before the series proper begins, he will be ‘appear’ throughout the series. He had too great an influence on Farrell to be relegated to a sentence or two in passing. My hope is do a few more free prequels during the series and a younger Heminaltose is near the top of the list to have his own story.
Enjoy!
PUBLISHER:DSP Publication
SERIES:Champion of the Gods
RELEASE DATE:27thJanuary 2015
LENGTH:40 Pages
BLURB:Prequel to The Last Grand Master
A Champion of the Gods Story
On a visit to Yar-del with Grand Master Heminaltose to celebrate his age of majority birthday, Farrell catches the eye of Lieutenant Cameron, a handsome young officer in the Queen’s Guard. But having spent most of his life cooped up at Heminaltose’s school for wizards, Farrell is clueless as to palace intrigue. He is unaware that his access to the queen is something others would greatly prize. When the queen points out that his suitor is the son of a social climbing minor noble, Farrell must decide whether to heed the warning or meet with Cameron anyway.
BUY LINKS:
DSP Publication – http://www.dsppublications.com/books/first-love-by-andrew-q-gordon-72-b
All Romance eBooks – https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-firstlove-1729343-234.html
EXCERPT
Tenth hour would take an eternity to arrive, but they both had to attend to their duties. Although Cameron seemed suitably impressed by his appointment, it didn’t improve Farrell’s mood.
He stopped himself as he started to think of ways to get out of dinner. Not going wasn’t an option. More importantly, Heminaltose only allowed Farrell brief visits to Yar-del City to see his mother. Skipping dinner meant one less chance to spend time with her. And he’d see Cameron at tenth hour.
“Boy.” The deep voice behind Farrell made him freeze.
He turned slowly but already knew who he’d find. “Master Heminaltose.”
Dressed in his formal blue-gray robe, he leaned on his white wooden staff and tilted his head to the left. “What brings you to this out-of-the-way place? And why are you just standing there?”
Farrell had been in trouble often enough to know his master suspected him of something. When he tried to answer, his mouth went dry and his tongue turned to stone.
“Well?” The older man raised his bushy white eyebrows and peered down his nose at his student. “I’m waiting for an answer.”
His euphoric mood dashed, Farrell knew better than to lie. “I came here to meet someone.”
“Someone?”
“Yes, Master, someone.” This approach never worked, but he’d been too embarrassed to answer directly.
“Don’t treat me like a fool.”
Despite being at least an inch taller than his teacher, Farrell felt like Heminaltose towered over him.
“I’m not, Master. I… I just….” His cheeks flushed and he started to sweat. “I’d rather not say.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s private.”
“Private? You mean…?” Heminaltose jerked his head back and his eyes opened wider. “By the Six! Now? Your hormones have decided to kick in now?”
AUTHOR BIO: Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.
He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of nineteen years, their daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: www.andrewqgordon.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon
Twitter: @andrewqgordon
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AndrewQGordon
E-mail: andrewqgordon@gmail.com
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Andrew Q. Gordon is giving away the following:
– $15 DSP Gift Card
– An E-copy of “Third Eye” by Rick R. Reed
– An E-copy of “Ghost” by Carole Cummings
– An E-copy of a book by J. TullosHennig
Contest Begins: 27th January, 2015
Contest Ends:9th February, 2015
Thanks for hosting me AJ!
Posted by Andrew Q. Gordon on February 7th, 2015 at 6:40 pmIt’s such a pleasure to have you here, Andrew!
Posted by AJ on February 7th, 2015 at 9:50 pm