Andrew Q. Gordon's Blog, page 73
February 9, 2013
Busy Weekend And Upcoming Week For My Book
When it rains, it pours or as poor New England and the rest of the Northeast would say, when it snows, it blizzards.
The Babes in Boyland blog was super nice and agreed to hold the first give away for The Last Grand Master. Piper and MJ took pity on me and walked me through the process. That giveaway is running until Feb. 11, 2013 at 9:00 pm Central U.S. time. Just leave a comment to be entered.
Babes in Boyland: Guest Post & Giveaway: “The Last Grand Master” by Andrew Q. Gordon
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Tomorrow I’m thrilled that the very talented Tali Spencer has agreed to host a second give away. For those who’ve not read Tali’s books, I’m a huge fan of her Pride of Uttor Series. Tali writes fantasy – not m/m fantasy or m/f female, but she an equal opportunity writer. Her books have romance – period. Captive Hearts and Dangerous Beauty are the first two books in the Pride of Uttor series. Can’t wait for the next one.
Starting Sunday 2-10-13, at midnight, she will be hosting a guest blog from me that will also have an eBook give away. Again, just leave a comment on the blog for a chance to win.
Tali Spencer : Brilliant Disguise. . .Other Worlds . . .Other Loves
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Also tomorrow, Lex Chase is going to be posting an interview she did with me a while back. Despite a total melt down from her site host, Lex managed to recreate her site and get the interview she did with me up and running. Woo Hoo. Most of the other times I’m on someone’s blog it’s a guest post. This? Not so much. I’ve no idea – well maybe a wee bit of an inkling – what the post will look like as this is her interview of me. I’d bite my fingernails, but I do that all the time and I don’t have any left to bite. But I am interested in reading that.
You can read her interview with me on her site.
Lex Chase: Action, Adventure, and True Love
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And if all that wasn’t more fun than God intended men and women to have, I somehow managed to quadruple book myself this week and I’ll close the week with an appearance on Hayley B. James‘s site. That will appear on Wednesday February 13, 2013.
Although I haven’t ‘met’ Hayley, I love her sense of humor. She not only makes me smile, she inspires me to respond in my not so funny attempts at humor. [Although I think comparing her to George W. Bush last night might have been a mistake. If I appear on her blog with horns and fangs, you'll know why.] Hayley is the author of several books, Water Waltz and Fire Tango are part of her Elemental Attraction series, which if you read her world building blog hop posts on her site, you’ll see is quite the fascinating world.
My theft of Hayley’s site is going to be an ‘interview’ with Farrell and Miceral – I’ve seen other authors do the ‘interview’ well and I figured I’d give it a try. Keeping the two of them in character was a bit harder than I expected, but there are a few hints of what’s coming in Book 2 – which will be titled The Eye and The Arm. You can find that interview on Hayley’s site on Wednesday 2-13-13
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Whew, that’s a lotta stuff. Oh and lest I forget – Kim Fielding is going to stop by on Thursday – Valentine’s Day – to talk about her new book(s). That should be fun to read.
Andy
February 8, 2013
First eBook Giveaway For The Last Grand Master Is Underway Now.
Babes in Boyland were good enough to allow me to host a book giveaway on their site. All you need to do to win is click the link below and post a comment at the end of the post. Be sure to leave your email. Easy right?
Guest Post & Giveaway: “The Last Grand Master” by Andrew Q. Gordon
Ladies and gents, please welcome Andrew Gordon to the blog today! And if you’d like to be entered for your chance to win his new release, The Last Grand Master. . . .
Thanks MJ and Piper for letting me host this on your site.
AQG
February 6, 2013
Author Profile: M.A. Church
Today it’s my privilege to have snooker . . . err. . . begged . . . I’m pleased that Michele agreed to let me spot light her and her newest book Perfect. Michele, better known as M.A. to her legion of readers – is doing a series of books she’s titled The Gods and she is going to do an interview with her characters to give us all a bit more insight into the world she’s created. She’s also going to share an excerpt from her new book so take a read and enjoy.
Michele’s writing flows nicely, letting you quickly get into the story and connect to the characters. But just a warning to the men who haven’t read Perfect; you might not read want to read it on public transportation. Just saying.
So take a moment, find out a bit more about Michele and her ‘boys’ and be sure to leave her a comment to thank her for stopping by.
Author: M.A. Church
Sequel to Priceless
The Gods: Book Two
http://youtu.be/q50GEjdliWo book trailer for Perfect
Jaded billionaire Jeff Mayfield loves only what his money and power can buy, but the Fates have plans for him. First a player in Jeff’s casino hits a huge jackpot and things turn hectic. Then, in the middle of the chaos, Jeff lays eyes on the unbelievably sexy Cam Smith—Cupid in his human form.
Seized by lust, Jeff makes a move, only to find himself on the receiving end of a blistering wave of sexual intent. Cam disassembles Jeff’s self-image and puts it back together upside down. But Jeff isn’t the only one struggling with control. Cam’s alter ego is Jealousy, and if he loses his composure, the consequences will be deadly.
Buy it at:
Hey everyone! My name is M.A. Church. Instead of me going on, lol, I thought I’d have Cupid and Jeff tell us some about their story, Perfect. And oh look, there they are now! *waves* Hey guys, over here. Thanks for letting us do this at your casino, Jeff.
Jeff: Not a problem. Glad you could make it.
Cupid: *shakes head* M, you know I go by Cam when in this form.
M: Oh Lord, don’t you start with me, you little imp—
Cupid: Hey! I may be a lot of things, but I am not an imp.
M: Don’t give me that innocent look, Cam, it won’t work, especially in this form. You tend to forget I know what you look like in your god form too, even though Jeff hasn’t seen that form… yet.
Jeff: *rolls eyes* What’s the big deal about his other form?
M and Cam together: You’ll see!
Jeff: Huh. Well, it can’t be any worse than his other form.
M: There is that. Anyway, back to the point I was making: You about drove me nuts while I was writing Priceless. That was supposed to be a standalone story, and you just went on and on about how you wanted a mate.
Jeff: *grabs Cam’s hand* You did give her lots of trouble, babe. And you certainly turned my world upside down. There I was minding my own business, then you showed up and knocked me on my ass. You took a top and helped him become a bottom.
Cam: Speaking of your ass… *leers* I loved every minute of it too. I knew you were the one for me the moment I heard the challenge you issued. *sigh* I just wish you hadn’t had to meet… my other side.
Jeff: We’ve been through this. I love you and I love him, even if Jealousy does scares the living daylights out of the other gods.
Cam: Well, you certainly tamed the beast, that’s for sure.
M: Want to tell us a bit about Jealousy?
Cam: Simply put, he’s the other side of love—the dark, dangerous, obsessive side. Wars have been started when Jealousy makes an appearance. He shows up in the story because something happened with Jeff.
Jeff: And you know now what you saw was all a set up.
Cam: *frowns* Yeah, and I know who set it up too. Don’t think that this deal with me and the big cheese is over, not by any means.
M: Um, you’re talking about the God of all Gods, right? If I remember correctly, that term confused Mo too, so you might want to clarify.
Cam: Oh good grief, everything confuses Mo, but you have a point. Yup, I’m talking about Zeus, and his no-good sidekick. Who also makes an appearance in Mo’s book, Pure.
M: Why don’t you tell everyone who Mo is?
Cam: *grin* He’s Morpheus, God of Dreams, and a good friend to me… a cute, sweet, shy little guy. He’s in Perfect quite a bit. And hey! He wanted a mate too, so why aren’t you not on his ass? Hmm?
M: Well jeez, Cam, by then it was a moot point! I’d already decided to do all three books. But yeah, Mo is really something sweet. Quite the opposite of you.
Jeff: Oh, there are parts of him that are very sweet. Want to talk about the pineapple incident? *laughs*
Cam: *blushes* Thank the gods for Google, that’s all I’m going to say. I mean, really, I couldn’t tell you what I ate at Mt. Olympus affected how my—
M: Ah yeah, how about we save that, hmm?
Cam: *grins* That might be a good idea. We’ve got to get going anyway. We have a lunch date with Mo and Zygi. *stands up* Thanks for letting us stop by and talk though!
M: Take care, guys. We’ll be seeing y’all again soon. 
Jeff: Yeah, Pure comes out in the summer, right? Bye, everyone.
Excerpt:
The arid, hot air of the desert swept across Cupid’s body and sucked the breath from his lungs as he stepped off the shuttle bus in front of The Palms casino in Las Vegas. Running his fingers through his short, curly blond hair, Cupid walked into the coolness of the lobby. He scanned the area, hoping to see the owner of the place—a certain gentleman named Jeff Mayfield—and resisted the urge to rub his hands together gleefully; he had big plans for Jeff.
“Ah, it’s good to be back,” Cupid said quietly. He was disappointed he didn’t see the one he wanted, but a small smirk lifted his lips. “Lay a monster challenge on me, will you? Claim you don’t believe love is for you? By Zeus, I’m going to have such fun proving you wrong. Jeff, you poor human, you don’t stand a chance when the god of erotic love is involved.”
Four months had passed since Garrett and Randy, his most recent targets, had confessed their love to one another. A pleased smile crossed Cupid’s face as he thought of the night he had spotted those two. He’d had every intention of planting one of his golden arrows into Garrett or Randy while they were at the craps table, but the oddest thing had happened.
His bowstring broke each time he lined up a shot. This had never happened to him before. He was known by many names, but he preferred Cupid, the name his mother had given him. Greek mythology, Roman mythology… he shrugged. Little did the humans know just how badly they had messed up the pantheon, not that it mattered. He knew the truth, as did others of his kind. Later, while he and his sister, Psyche, watched the light go out in the window of the Peabody Hotel, he had idly wondered if the Moirai, also known as the Fates, had intervened. As curious as Cupid was, it was in his best interest not to question why. Those three gave new meaning to the words hazardous to your health. Thanks to them, the most widely-known image of him included a diaper.
“Well, let’s get this show on the road.” Cupid strolled across the lobby to the check-in desk, getting his license out of his billfold. He knew Reception would card him because he looked so young.
After a long debate with the girl behind the counter on whether or not he was old enough to rent a room at The Palms, much less use the casino—and the fact he had such a common last name like Smith—he stood in front of his room. It was one of the casino’s standard hotel rooms, nothing special, but it had what he needed: privacy. He dropped his suitcases near the door and walked into the bathroom. Taking a deep breath, he gazed in the bathroom mirror at his reflection.
He planned to do something that defied logic and would make his dear sister laugh hysterically. Cupid had debated doing this on Mount Olympus, but Zeus would’ve noticed the surge of energy, and the last thing he wanted was interference from the god of all gods. As it was, when Zeus figured out what he planned, the big man wasn’t going to be happy. If this worked, he would be weak and need to rest where he’d be safe. There was those on Mount Olympus that would take advantage of his weaken state, so this was the best place to attempt what he planned.
M.A. Church
M.A. Church lives in the southern United States and spent many years in the elementary education sector. She is married to her high school sweetheart and they have two children. Her hobbies are gardening, walking, attending flea markets, watching professional football, racing, and spending time with her family on the lake.
But her most beloved hobby is reading. From an early age, she can remember hunting for books at the library. Later nonhuman and science fiction genres captured her attention and drew her into the worlds the authors had created. But always at the back of her mind was the thought that one day, when the kids were older and she had more time, she would write a book.
By sheer chance she stumbled across a gay male romance story on the web and was hooked. A new world opened up and she fell in love. Thus the journey started. When not writing or researching, she enjoys reading the latest erotic and mainstream romance novels.
My Links:
Blog http://machurch00.blogspot.com
Twitter @nomoretears00
Facebook: M.A. Church http://www.facebook.com/pages/MA-Chur…;
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5141393.M_A_Church
DSP author page: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_650
The Last Grand Master (Champion of the Gods #1) by Andrew Q Gordon
Reblogged from The Armchair Reader:
Title: The Last Grand Master (Champion of the Gods #1)
Author: Andrew Q Gordon
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Length: 116,862 words
Genre: m/m Fantasy Romance
Heat: 3 - Sexy & Mild
Sex Frequency: 2 - Few and Far Between
Keywords/Tags: Series, High Fantasy, Epic, Magic, Warriors
Rating: Pretty Good
BLURB
Champion of the Gods: Book One
In a war that shook the earth, the Six gods of Nendor defeated their brother Neldin, god of evil.
The Armchair Reader reviewed The Last Grand Master. See Cole Riann's thoughts on the book. AQG
February 5, 2013
The Last Grand Master by Andrew Q. Gordon
Reblogged from MM Good Book Reviews:
Title: The Last Grand Master
Series: Champion of The Gods 01
Author: Andrew Q. Gordon
Genre: High Fantasy
Length: Super Novel (346pgs)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (1st February 2013)
Heat: Low
Heart: ♥♥♥♥♥5Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: In a war that shook the earth, the Six gods of Nendor defeated their brother Neldin, god of evil. For the three thousand years since, Nendor and the Seven Kingdoms have known peace and prosperity.
Pixie at MM Good Book Reviews gave the first review of my latest book, The Last Grand Master.
January 31, 2013
Worldbuilding Blogfest Post 5 – Excerpt from The Last Grand Master.
Since yesterday’s entry was about the culture of Nendor and much ink was spilled discussing the festivals, I thought it would be fun to show how Farrell dealt with the preparations for his union ceremony. For the sake of better understanding the excerpt, Horgon is Miceral’s father and the First Minister of Haven – meaning he runs the day to day operations in Farrell’s name.
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STARING at the parchment, Farrell rubbed his eyes. “Are you sure all of this is necessary?”
Horgon gave him a brief smile before nodding. “I’m afraid so. As Prince, you can’t sneak off and get joined. All this…” He waved at the papers. “…is just part of what’s involved. I’ve left the more mundane things out, figuring you don’t much care about things like color of the invitation or which flowers will be on the altar.”
“Unbelievable.” Farrell shook his head, lifting another sheet from the stack.
“There is good news,” Horgon said.
“What? The ceremony won’t be eight hours long?” He appreciated Horgon’s efforts, but he never envisioned the extent of the ceremonial obligations.
“By the Six, yes.” Horgon laughed. “I promise it won’t go a minute over six hours.”
Focused on the document in his hand, Farrell didn’t pay attention to the answer. When the import of what Horgon said hit him, he looked up. “I’m not finding this funny.”
“You need to relax.” Miceral gently rubbed Farrell’s shoulders. “Everything will work out.”
He shook his head. “Work out according to whose plans?”
Shifting through the papers, Horgon slid a sheet toward Farrell. “Back to the good news. We’ve worked everyone into the ceremony. As you can see from the sketch, your adopted brothers and father—” He pointed to the three peregrines images on the page. “—and mentors each have prominent roles, though I did need to include representatives from the nations in exile to get the clerics to—”
“Wait!” He waved the paper at Horgon. “This drawing is for the Grand Temple of Honorus. We were supposed to use the small private temple to Lenore in the Yar-del portion of Haven.”
“Yeeess,” Horgon drew out the word, turning to his right. “The high priests and priestesses felt that would prove too small, so they switched it to the Grand Temple. It has more room for the ceremony as well as far more seating. Also, the private temple you wanted is too small to hold Rothdin and your brothers. Did you want your adopted father to come, but not Grohl and Takala?”
“All six?” Farrell looked up again, his voice an octave higher. “You have the heads of all six temples written down. When did that happen?”
The smile faded from Horgon’s face as he threw his hands up. “Farrell, like it or not, you’re the Prince of Haven. You don’t get to elope and have the first available priest join the two of you.”
“All I—we—want is a simple ceremony with our friends and family. This is turning into a union ceremony for a king of Yar-del.”
“Farrell.” Miceral rubbed his shoulders a bit harder. “We got the things that mattered most. Some things we need to concede.”
“Concede?” Now Farrell raised his voice. “Concede implies there are negotiations involved! This is our ceremony. No one else gets a say!”
“Sorry, son.” Horgon sounded tired but firm. “But the people get a say when their ruler gets joined.”
Not wanting to spend the rest of the day arguing, Farrell tossed the paper onto the table. “Since it doesn’t matter what I want, I’m going to weapons practice. At least there when I get beaten down, it’s because I didn’t defend myself.”
This is a Blog Hop – Click on others and see what they are up to as well
1.James Wymore
2.Rebekah Loper, Writer
3.Katie Teller
4.Courtney Worth Young
5.Bookworms Multiverse
6.Ink in the Book
7.Thardrandian Thoughts
8.Story Multiverse
9.Squirrel Talk
10.The Scribbling Pencil
11.Thea Gregory: Zombie Bedtime Stories
12.From the Desk of Laura Stephenson
13.Candace Gauger: Thoughts of a Visual and Verbal Ar
14.Fel Wetzig @ The Peasants Revolt
15.Sue Ann Bowling: Homecomingbook
16.Loco for Libros: Connie Michael
17.Scribbles on the Page
18.Carrie-Annes Magick Theatre
19.Cornerofmadness
20.Welcome to the Nightmare Saloon
21.Evil_Little_Dog
22.Jamie Ayres
23.Andrew Q. Gordon
24.Lex Chase
25.James Erich Blog
26.Layla Lawlor
27.Andrea Speed
28.Torn World
29.LEncre
30.Hayley B. James
31.stephen Tremps Breakthrough Blogs
32.Disciple of the Fount
33.Writing Off the Edge
34.Defending the Pen
35.Writing the Other
36.Meredith Mansfields Blog
37.Lina Lamonts Write Club
38.J. Whitworth Hazzards Blog
39.Bronx Tales & Inner Musings
40.Tony Breeden Books
41.BurnsMillie
42.The Merry Mennonite
43.tara tyler
Author Profile: Matthew Lang
One of the great things about an online world is the ability to know people who you’d never have a chance to meet. For example, this week’s Author Profile is Matthew Lang. Prior to his agreeing to be my next victim . . . guest I hadn’t met him. Matthew hails from the far side of the universe, otherwise known as Melbourne Australia.
Part of the reason I’m doing the Thursday Author Profiles was so I could meet some of the other authors who write m/m fiction. Why? Well, it’s nice to get to know some of the people whose work I’ve read.
The Way You Are is Matthew’s latest book. It, like him, is set in Australia. It’s an easy, enjoyable read. Leon and Warrick are cute together and I get the sense from Matthew’s interview that he and Leon have the same sense of humor. He’ll be sure to correct me if I’m wrong. One of the things I liked about how the story was laid out is that he gives us footnotes for some of the unique Aussie words. If you know what they mean, you might be tempted to skip em, but don’t. There is also a bit of a running commentary in the footnotes, so do be sure to check them all out as you read.
So with that, I’ll let Matthew take over.
Author: Matthew Lang
1) What influences you to write? Creative juices, family, ego [i.e. like to see your name in print]
Bad internet fiction. Well, only in part. I started writing because all the stories that I’d grown up on always had heroes who went on to fall in love with and marry someone of the opposite sex. It was as if every story was telling me that in order to be a hero, you had to get married. And be straight. I write now so that the stories I wish I could have read growing up are out there for people to find now.
Initially I spent a lot of time finding free internet fiction, but I always got frustrated when stories were badly written, or weren’t finished and eventually got to the point where I wanted to edit or rewrite them, which is an emotion I channeled into my own work.
2) Where do you write? Home office? Coffee shop? Bedroom?
Anywhere. At home I write at my desk, or sometimes on the couch on my tablet. I’ll write on the tram with a pen and notebook. Every November you’ll find me at NaNoWriMo write ins in cafes, movie post production offices, libraries and other people’s houses. Basically, I write anywhere and everywhere I can. It’s like an addiction really. I can’t not write.
3) What is your favorite genre – is it the same for reading as writing?
Fantasy, definitely, although I dabble in science fiction as well. I suppose there’s the emerging trend of just calling it ‘speculative fiction’ and going with that, not that you’d know it by my writing so far! I can’t remember who said it, but at the end of the day there’s good writing and there’s bad writing. The rest is just a way to organise the bookstore.
4) What else do you like to read?
Hmm…no I think ‘good writing’ covers it all. If you’re talking other than prose, I do follow a few webcomics–primarily Order of the Stick and Girl Genius. I did like Boy Meets Hero as well. It’s on my ‘to buy’ list for the future.
5) A favorite book not writing by you or me?
Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather. It was the first Discworld book I read and it made me realise fiction could be riveting, funny and thought provoking all at the same time. Prior to that I’d found most fiction I’d read went for one of the three. Two if I was very lucky.
6) Tell us about you most recent or upcoming book?
My most recent release is called The Way You Are, and I like to think it’s a celebration of the straight people who support their GLBT brothers and sisters. I know I’ll probably get criticism because of it, but I don’t write conventional romance. I write about the experience of being gay, growing up gay, facing the reality of homophobia both overt and unconscious. I guess that’s one of the reasons I try to keep things light hearted and am occasionally sarcastic about things. Sometimes I find what I write about cuts a bit close to home for me. I guess you could call it a coping mechanism.
In any case The Way You Are follows Leon, a shy, young country boy who’s been rejected by his family and is making his own way through tertiary studies, and who befriends a straight guy who gets gay bashed for standing up for equality. Actually Leon starts visiting him in hospital and the other guy, Rook, is in a coma. Then Rook wakes up and thinks he’s gay and that he and Leon are dating. Except Leon is sort of dating another guy already at that time. Does that sound convoluted enough for you? Read the blurb. It’s better than what I just said. Really. Then read the book.
7) What was the inspiration(s) for the Book(s)?
A few things. There was a story prompt I got given based around a straight guy who was assaulted–gay bashed–in the US for precisely the same thing I have Rook being attacked for. I also remember reading a story about an amateur rugby player who received a brain injury and literally woke up gay. He quit his job at the bank, broke up with his (female) fiance, took up hair dressing and is now married to a man. And it all seems pretty legitimate. It’s a fascinating story, and as far as I know one of the only–if not the only–documented case of this type. I just thought that would be incredibly fun to toy with, along with the supposition that every gay man’s fantasy is to have a straight guy fall in love with him.
8) What is your favorite book that you’ve written and why?
This one, it’s the newest and everyone should read it. Actually it’s also the first of my books to be pirated, which is a bit of a strange thought. I don’t know if that means I’ve made it as an author, but it’s a milestone of sorts. I just wish I was making enough money that I could afford not to worry about pirated books, but I’m not living comfortably off my writing just yet. Give me a few years I suppose!
9) What are you working on now?
Well, I was working on my Australia Day short, After the BBQ but that’s also just come out. Otherwise I’m working on what I consider my first proper fantasy novel, which I’m currently calling Prophecy. I’m attempting to work out what happens if you send a modern gay man on the traditional fantasy quest of kill dragon, rescue princess, marry princess and rule the kingdom, if I don’t change the gender of the princess, which seems to be the standard approach. The outcomes have been surprising and I can’t wait to share it with you all.
10) What frustrates you as a writer?
The part where I know I have a great story but it won’t spring fully formed from my brain to the page. Especially the part about a third to halfway in where you’re just encountering the first set of major plot holes that make you wonder what the heck you were thinking. I don’t know about everyone else, but it’s that point where the problems don’t seem solvable, inspiration has gone and it all looks too insurmountably difficult and you feel like you should quit and go do something easy–like astrophysics or quantum engineering.
11) Did getting your first book contract change your outlook on writing? If so how?
Oh completely. It changed writing from being something I thought I’d succeed at ‘some day’ to something I want to succeed at right now. It gave me the strength and conviction to follow my dreams now, rather than joining the corporate rat race, which I really didn’t like the look of in any case.
12) Have you ever self published anything? If so how does it differ from having a publisher buy your work?
I sort of have, yes, but I only self publish short stories that have previously been published in Anthologies. I guess the main difference is that I’ve had to do the formatting and source the cover art myself. Thankfully I have a few arty friends, and the one I use refuses to let me pay him. The only payment I’ve got him to accept is homemade ice cream! Currently I have a few self pubbed shorts out– Mr. Perfect, my other footnoted story, Screens, which looks at how the screens in our life both facilitate and block communication, and Koan, which is the one story I have to point out that has no queer, erotic or romantic content at all inside of it, and instead is an attempt to explain the philosophy of Zen Buddhism.
13) Do you ever model characters after people you know? If so in what way? Looks? Personality? Life events?
No. I really try not to. I always worry that if I do it’ll be obvious if they read my work and then I’ll have to face questions as to why I hate them so much given the pain I can put my characters through. That said, there’s enough of me in every book that there’s probably little things that make their way into the works. The one and only time I’ve consciously based a character on a friend was for a musical and I asked permission first.
14) If you could meet any writer, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
The first one to write slashfic of my work and turn it into a fandom. That’s when I’d *know* I’ve made it.
15) What’s an ideal afternoon for you?
A temperature of about 27 degrees (that’s celcius), good friends and a picnic in the park with lots of homemade food. possibly a BBQ as well. After which I return home to find the writing I should have done has gone and written itself.
Well, you did say ‘ideal’.
16) Where would you most like to go for your next holiday?
America. I want to make it to GayRomLit sometime in the next few years, but I’m not allowing myself to do it until I have at least two novels in print. In all likelihood, my next holiday will probably be to Hong Kong. I have to go back in 2014 to retain my residency there. I lived there for a bit growing up–my dad got a job and packed the family off to Asia in 1994–and as a result I have permanent residency there.
17) If you could go back in time, what time period would you like to visit?
One of the ones with dinosaurs. I don’t know. I mean, despite the romanticism of travelling back into the past, I’m not sure I want to go back to a time before we had the medical advances we enjoy now, and most people didn’t have their own teeth or bathe regularly. There’s a reason I write fantasy and not historical.
Actually, no I’d like to go back to December 26th 2012. I know what the winning lottery numbers were for the draw on the 29th…
Matthew Lang writes behind a desk, in the park, on the tram and sometimes backstage at amateur theatre productions. He has been known to sing and dance in public, analyse the plots of movies and TV shows, and is a confessed Masterchef addict. Over the years he has dabbled in marketing, advertising, event management and the sale of light fittings, but his first love is and has always been that of the written word and is rarely too far from a good book. He likes his men hot and spunky, his mysteries fantastical, his fantasies real and his vampires to combust when exposed to sunlight. Other than that he’s pretty normal. One day we may even take him out of the straight jacket.
You can reach find him at: http://www.matthew-lang.com
On Twitter @mattlangwrites
January 30, 2013
Worldbuilding Blogfest Post 4 – Food and Drink, Holidays and Culture
I suppose it is somewhat obvious that when world building, one should give the inhabitants something uniquely their own, but it wasn’t to me. Although I like to cook, I’m hardly a foodie. To me, reading a description of what the characters are eating is boring. Generally I skip over these parts, especially if there isn’t anything unique or important in the description. Example of important food would be Lambas bread in the Lord of the Rings or Aliantha berries in Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant Chronicles. Thus far, Nendor doesn’t boast any such miracle food.
Like any other author, I bring to the table what interests me most. I really don’t care what people eat. The fact that characters eat is sufficient. That is probably a bad attitude and given the feed back from the editors at Dreamspinner, I suspect future books will need to highlight something unique to Nendor and I’ll need to pay a bit more attention to what the characters are eating.
The only significant food and drink issues are connected to wizardry. Magic is exhausting, much like weapons training, only more so. Because magic draws energy from a person, a wizard rarely gets fat. In fact they tend toward the lean, thin, or as Farrell refers to himself on a few occasions, scrawny. As a grand master wizard, Farrell often handles difficult magic that is extremely draining. Non-wizards who haven’t had contact with a grand master wizard, are amazed at the amount of food they can eat at any one sitting and by the fact they stay so lean.
Wizards also tend to avoid strong drink. Imagine someone able to level small villages having too much to drink and ‘seeing’ enemies all around. A drunk, out of control wizard is a dangerous situation. The stronger the wizard, the greater the danger to everyone else around them. For this reason, most wizards and especially grand master wizards, drink very little.
Given all that, what does the average person on Nendor eat – pretty much what we eat minus the Cheetos, Doritos, Cap’t Crunch, Cheese Whiz and Mountain Dew. Bread, meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, wine, water, ale. Anything we can grow, they can grow.
There are two major holidays, celebrated by everyone on Nendor. Winter Festival and Summer Festival; the solstices. On Nendor, this is the time when nearly everyone gets joined. [If you've followed the first few posts you'll know couples don't wed on Nendor, they are joined.] The festivals have a ‘chicken or the egg’ like component. Did the festivals exist first and people made use of it to get joined and celebrate or did the festival arise from the fact most people were joined on one or the other and probably knew at least one person being joined every time the festival rolled around. Either way, the festivals were grand events, with nearly everyone in attendance. If couples weren’t being joined, they were celebrating with those who were. Or they were marking an anniversary of their own joining. By performing nearly all union ceremonies on these two days, the temples create a reason for the entire population to put aside their differences and troubles and come together for a big party.
Before Meglar conquered most of the Seven Kingdoms, the celebrations were organized by the temple at the local level. Priests and priestesses would fan out across the kingdoms to ensure each town had at least on cleric on hand to perform union ceremonies for everyone seeking to be joined. At Haven, however, the survivors from each nations would gather in one central location set aside for each kingdom. People were welcome to travel to any festival they chose, but most preferred to stay local, and celebrate with the friends and family.
Gifts, other than to newlyjoineds, are not a part of the festival culture. Everyone brings to the festival according to their means. However, once large numbers of people began to take sanctuary at Haven, the various monarchs in exile or Farrell, as ruler of Haven, would supply the food and drink for the party. The temples suggested this arrangement to prevent the festivals from being stark reminders of the deprivations everyone suffered because of Meglar. By making these two days joyous events with plentiful amounts of food and drink, the clerics hoped to bolster the spirits of festival goers, even if just for a short time.
This is a Blog Hop – Click on others and see what they are up to as well
1.James Wymore
2.Rebekah Loper, Writer
3.Katie Teller
4.Courtney Worth Young
5.Bookworms Multiverse
6.Ink in the Book
7.Thardrandian Thoughts
8.Story Multiverse
9.Squirrel Talk
10.The Scribbling Pencil
11.Thea Gregory: Zombie Bedtime Stories
12.From the Desk of Laura Stephenson
13.Candace Gauger: Thoughts of a Visual and Verbal Ar
14.Fel Wetzig @ The Peasants Revolt
15.Sue Ann Bowling: Homecomingbook
16.Loco for Libros: Connie Michael
17.Scribbles on the Page
18.Carrie-Annes Magick Theatre
19.Cornerofmadness
20.Welcome to the Nightmare Saloon
21.Evil_Little_Dog
22.Jamie Ayres
23.Andrew Q. Gordon
24.Lex Chase
25.James Erich Blog
26.Layla Lawlor
27.Andrea Speed
28.Torn World
29.LEncre
30.Hayley B. James
31.stephen Tremps Breakthrough Blogs
32.Disciple of the Fount
33.Writing Off the Edge
34.Defending the Pen
35.Writing the Other
36.Meredith Mansfields Blog
37.Lina Lamonts Write Club
38.J. Whitworth Hazzards Blog
39.Bronx Tales & Inner Musings
40.Tony Breeden Books
41.BurnsMillie
42.The Merry Mennonite
43.tara tyler
January 29, 2013
Worldbuilding Blogfest Post 3 – Religion & Magic
The world was created by the seven gods and goddesses of Nendor. Siblings, they are in order of age:
Honorus – Lord of the gods; Lenore – Goddess of the earth; Neldin – Lord of the underworld; Arritisa – Lady of the ocean; Khron – God of war; Seritia – Goddess of love; and Falcron – God of wisdom. Each deity has it’s own temples, clerics, and followers. Although there is no prohibition against following more than one, most people choose a specific god or goddess to primarily worship. Of course prayers are offered to different gods or goddesses depending on the need, no matter who a person follows.
The seven gods worked together to create the world and it’s inhabitants. Neldin, however, chafed under his brother Honorus’s rule and plotted to over throw his brother and rule in Honorus’s stead. A fierce and bloody war was fought which ended with Neldin’s defeat. The Six declared Neldin the God of Evil, razed his temples all across Nendor and forbade any to worship him. In the aftermath of the war, Neldin’s few remaining followers hid their devotion to avoid persecution and death from those affected by the war. Within a generation, the world believed worship to Neldin as an organized religion had disappeared. But his followers survived and created an underground hierarchy, planning for their god’s revival.
Certain kingdoms are associated more closely with one or the other. Yar-del – because of Kel’s close association with Honorus, worships Honorus. Endor, founded by a priest of Falcron, are devotees of the God of wisdom. Khron is beloved by the dwarves. Despite this, no kingdom – with one exception that won’t be discussed until Book Two – is permitted to have an official state religion. Priests and Priestesses rarely marry, though it is not prohibited. Service to one’s god or goddess requires complete devotion, something generally not conducive to having a life partner. For example, when Falcron had his priest Endis found the kingdom of Endor, he had Endis leave the priesthood. Of course, being a king would make being a cleric difficult in itself, but that is a debate for another time.
Every kingdom or city state has it’s own high priest and priestess for each of the six temples. Each of the temples also has one high prelate who headed the order world wide. One temple for each of the six has been designated as the home of their order.
Same sex pairing are generally accepted, though for the ruling class, it is not preferred for obvious reasons. On Nendor couples are not married at a wedding. Instead, they are joined at a union ceremony, typically at the Winter or Summer Festivals. Spouses typically do not refer to themselves as husband and wife. Life partner is the preferred term to indicate the person to whom you are joined. Newlyjoineds are encouraged to take time away to celebrate their union ceremony, but it is not a requirement.
Humans are the dominate race on Nendor, but they share the world with other cultures. There are three dwarf realms, one on each major continent. In addition, Honorus and Lenore each created guardians to protect lesser creatures from men and dwarves. Peregrines are horse sized raptors tasked by Honorus with monitoring the world from above. Unicorns are special to Lenore and safe guard her creatures on the ground. Arritisa has her own guardians, but we won’t see and learn about them until Book Two. Immortal, Peregrines and Unicorns both possessed powerful mental abilities. In addition to being able to communicate with all of lesser creatures, they can speak mind to mind with humans and dwarves.
To assist their guardians, Honorus and Lenore also created the Muchari – caretakers who looked human but are not. Muchari have extremely long lives, are physically faster and stronger than humans, but are otherwise indistinguishable from the men and woman they resemble.
Magic plays a major role in the daily lives of nearly everyone on Nendor. There are several classes of wizards, each determined by the power of the individual mage. Grand master is the highest level, followed by master wizards, wizard class, journeyman and novice. Although there are different levels among the classes, there are no intermediate ranks. Thus, someone might be a strong master wizard, but she is still considered a master wizard, the same as a low level master. Status is not derived by training, only by the strength of ones gift. An adept master wizard who has studied and practiced hard, can in theory defeated an untrained or lazy grand master wizard. All things being equal, however, a grand master wizard is the pinnacle of his or her discipline.
Energy or power used to perform magic is collected and stored for future use. Every living thing gives off energy that can be used for magic. Wizards use their talent to retain all their unused power and store it against future needs. Non-wizards typically leave behind some of their unused power everywhere they go. This cast of power is minute in itself, but wizards collect these small ergs and join them with what they take from themselves. If a wizard doesn’t perform any strong magic, they can easily accumulated a sizable store of power for future use.
Realizing that near unlimited power would be an asset to his kingdom, Kel created a new way to store and distribute magic. He called this new creation a Source. Unlike like other storage vessels, a Source has near limitless capacity. In thirty centuries, the one Kel created for Yar-del never came close to reaching capacity. Another advantage is that unlike personal storage containers, a Source allows multiple users access. Having a central store of great power gave the kings and queens of Yar-del an advantage they used to help their kingdom prosper and grow.
There are two forms of magic that bear mentioning. High magic, refers to difficult spells or acts that generally only a grand master wizard can perform. But because magic has a similar effect on the user that physical exercise does, high magic is extremely taxing on the wizard.
Dark or black magic is forbidden by any who worship the Six. Dark magic comes from the source of the energy and not the spell or magic performed. There are several methods that fall under the umbrella of dark magic; sucking energy from a weaker, injured, or dying opponent against their will; taking power from non wizards without consent; binding the living to one’s will and siphoning off power without consent. Because it is taken without permission, the energy became twisted in ways that change the texture and become addictive to the wizard. When used to perform magic, other wizards can feel the difference and instantly know the user has collected and is using dark magic.
Healers are similar to wizards in that they needed to have a gift in order to heal. As with wizards, some gifts are stronger than others. Energy is also needed to use healing powers. Typically a healer will use the power from the patient when healing, but for greater injuries or illnesses, the patient might not have enough energy to spare. In those instances, the healer could draw from within herself or take from other non-healers who volunteer. Like wizardry, healing can be draining to the user.
This is a Blog Hop – Click on others and see what they are up to as well
1.James Wymore
2.Rebekah Loper, Writer
3.Katie Teller
4.Courtney Worth Young
5.Bookworms Multiverse
6.Ink in the Book
7.Thardrandian Thoughts
8.Story Multiverse
9.Squirrel Talk
10.The Scribbling Pencil
11.Thea Gregory: Zombie Bedtime Stories
12.From the Desk of Laura Stephenson
13.Candace Gauger: Thoughts of a Visual and Verbal Ar
14.Fel Wetzig @ The Peasants Revolt
15.Sue Ann Bowling: Homecomingbook
16.Loco for Libros: Connie Michael
17.Scribbles on the Page
18.Carrie-Annes Magick Theatre
19.Cornerofmadness
20.Welcome to the Nightmare Saloon
21.Evil_Little_Dog
22.Jamie Ayres
23.Andrew Q. Gordon
24.Lex Chase
25.James Erich Blog
26.Layla Lawlor
27.Andrea Speed
28.Torn World
29.LEncre
30.Hayley B. James
31.stephen Tremps Breakthrough Blogs
32.Disciple of the Fount
33.Writing Off the Edge
34.Defending the Pen
35.Writing the Other
36.Meredith Mansfields Blog
37.Lina Lamonts Write Club
38.J. Whitworth Hazzards Blog
39.Bronx Tales & Inner Musings
40.Tony Breeden Books
41.BurnsMillie
42.The Merry Mennonite
43.tara tyler
We’ve Come So Far, But We’ve So Far To Go
I saw this article today and it struck me hard.
Gay Oregon Teen, Taken Off Life Support After Hanging Himself
I read about this young man and wondered how he must have been hurting to do this. I thought about how much he left behind, how much he’ll never do. Never fall in love, get married, have a family, laugh and cry with his friends, celebrate his triumphs, and pick himself up from his setbacks. I think of how much I’d want to say to him, because when I read this, I immediately wondered what I can do to be sure my daughter never feels so despondent that suicide seems the only avenue left.
I want to cry with his family, because even though it is not my child, it is still a child and being a new parent makes me more sensitive to how much every child matters, how we need to watch over all the children, not just our own. I want to find the kids who did this and do things I shouldn’t even thing about. Anyone who would drive someone to do this isn’t anyone I want around my child.
I worry that with time, my child could be one of those who doesn’t see how much her words hurt and what effect they can have. Will I be a good enough parent to teach her to be a kind, compassionate person, or will I fail and she’ll end up a bully, joining in when others tease the ‘different’ one.
And I’m sad we still read about this, far too often. As we celebrate the success of gay marriage at the ballot, the president declaring we deserve equal rights, and the shifting public view towards tolerance, we forget in that instance how much we still need to do. I have no answers, just a mountain of questions. I don’t want to fail as a parent, not for my daughter, or for any of the other young people she’ll associate with. This just reminds me how much harder I need to try, because failure is awful beyond words.
