WOOOT! Andrew Q. Gordon contacted me about exchanging interviews and I was so very excited. He writes fantastic stuff and I am SO excited to get a hold of Grand Master. So… welcome!

Giveaway

Welcome Andrew!

Thanks for having me, Rhys.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

This is like that question when someone says, ‘oh, he can do Monty Python, do some for us now.’ Okay, fine, I’ll stop stalling. I’m married—after almost 19 years together, the state of Maryland last year gave me permission to make Mike a respectable man. This February we’ll have been together 20 years. We have a daughter, she’s threeteen – no, that’s not a typo, she’s a threenager—one dog, but we’re hoping for a puppy this year now that ‘lil q is three. My day job is in law enforcement. I’ve bought 5 Jeep Wranglers, including the current one, but have never bought the Ducati I’ve always wanted.

How long have you been writing? Why types of books?

The standard author answer of since I was little isn’t totally accurate. I started writing in college, went to law school and ending up writing legal briefs (boring). It was about 10 years ago that I started to write fiction again, though I’ve had a judge or two tell me my legal briefs were pure fiction.

I write a lot of speculative fiction—high fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal (no shifters or vampires), as well as some contemporary. Most of my main characters are LGBT, but I’m trying to use some straight main character just to give them a fair shake.

Your newest release, The Last Grand Master, is out today from DSP Publications. Is it the start of a series?

Yes, it’s part of the Champion of the Gods series. It’s actually a re-release. Book two—The Eye and the Arm—is due in April. If I keep on track, Book three—Kings of Lore and Legend—will be released in January or February of 2016. There should be five books total in the series.

Tell us a bit about the book and the series.

The series is high fantasy. Farrell is the last grand master wizard on the continent of Ardus—surprisingly enough—other then the dark wizard, Meglar. Sadly a lot of what I’d like to say would be a spoiler, but the series follows Farrell and his life partner (in a sign of their progress world, there are no husbands and wives, spouses are called life partners.) as Farrell attempts to find enough knowledge to defeat his enemy.

What we learn along the way is this fight with Meglar is more than one dark wizard trying to conquer the world. This fight is an extension of the war between the gods, who can’t or won’t engage each other directly for fear of destroying the world they are fighting over. Farrell is the Champion of the Six ‘good’ gods and Meglar is the Champion of Neldin, the dark god.

Tell us something interesting that is not in the blurb?

The fact that Farrell is attracted to men isn’t entirely by fate. The gods he serves have manipulated him for their own reasons.

What book do you wish you could have written?

The Last Herald Mage series by Mercedes Lackey. That was one of my first exposures to MM Fantasy. I’ve see a lot of people deride it, but it was ground breaking and I still think it’s the standard for LGBT Fantasy.

Now for some random questions:

First/Current/Biggest celebrity crush?

I’m giving away my age, but I thought Brad Pitt was totally hot in River Runs Through It.

A genie gives you one wish, what do you want?

Enough money to retire comfortably and watch my little girl grow up.

You travel back in time to give advice to your younger self, what age do you go and what do you tell yourself?

Senior in high school. I’d tell myself to not pick the safe school and don’t knuckle under to the family pressure to go to law school. That I only get one shot at this so do what I really wanted to do and go far away to school and take science classes like I wanted to.

The world is going to end but scientist have discovered a means to to send people back in time to live out their lives, what time period do you pick?

Early twentieth century. As George Banks said in Mary Poppins, “It’s grand to be an Englishman in 1910.” I mean how could Mary Poppins be wrong?

You’re shopping and a total hot guy wants your advice on underwear. He offers to model the different styles for you. Which one do you ask him to try on first?

Did I really ask you this question first? SMH, what was I thinking. Trunks, I like that style.

You can select one super hero to be, who do you pick and why?

The Silver Surfer. Just because. **Sees Rhys giving me the evil eye** Okay, sorry, first, he’s silver, he can fly on a funky surfer board (cause ya know them aliens love to surfer) and he’s like super powerful. What’s not to like. (Except for the fact it appears he has no gentials, but I suspect he had to give up something to get all that other stuff.)

Top or Bottom? (interpret it as you like.)

Shit, I asked you this first didn’t I? Seemed like a good idea to ask it when it didn’t apply to me. I’d go with both, but you might hurt me, so I’ll go with bottom. Just because.

Last question is all yours – feel free to talk about anything you want your readers to know about you, your book, anything at all.

First Love is a prequel to The Last Grand Master. You can download it for free from my site, DSP Publications and some other outlets. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are charging .99 cents. As part of the blog tour, DSP Publications is giving away a Kindle so check out my website for tour stops and ways to enter.

Thanks for having me Rhys. (And for answering all these questions first 😛 )

The Last Grand Master; by Andrew Q. Gordon
(Book 1: Champion of the Gods)

In a war that shook the earth, the six gods of Nendor defeated their brother Neldin, god of evil. For three thousand years, Nendor and the Seven Kingdoms have known peace and prosperity and Neldin’s evil was nearly forgotten.

But then Meglar, wizard king of Zargon, unleashes the dark magic of the underworld and creates an army of creatures to carry out his master’s will. One by one, the sovereign realms fall as a new war between the gods threatens to engulf Nendor.

Leading the opposition to Meglar is Grand Master Farrell. Young and untried, Farrell carries a secret that could hold the key to defeating Meglar—or it could destroy the world.

Farrell is joined by Nerti, queen of the unicorns and Miceral, an immortal muchari warrior the Six have chosen as Farrell’s mate. As Farrell and his new allies make plans to counter Neldin’s evil, Meglar forces their hand when he invades a neighboring kingdom. Rushing to help their ally, Farrell and Miceral find themselves in the middle of the battle. Cut off from help, Farrell attempts an untried spell that will either turn the tide or cost he and Miceral their lives.

Buy Links:

DSP Publications:
Amazon:
Barnes & Noble:

About the Author:

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.

Social Media Links:

website: www.andrewqgordon.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon

Twitter: @andrewqgordon

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AndrewQGordon

email: andrewqgordon@gmail.com

Books:

First Love: (Prequel to The Last Grand Master) – Free Download:

The Last Grand Master: (Champion of the Gods – Book 1);

Purpose:

(Un)Masked:

Ashes of Life:

A Closed Door:

Hello, Rhys! Thank you for inviting me to talk about my series.

The Apollo’s Men series is set in ancient Greece. With a twist. The gods and all their lesser brethren are real, just as the ancient Greeks believed them to be. Apollo’s Men is a historical series after the fashion of Homer. Remember the Iliad and the Odyssey as well as all those myths about the gods sneaking around and stirring up trouble or starting epic battles? That’s the kind of stories I’m writing.

Whether he’s dispensing justice or saving lives, Apollo is the one character that can be found in every story arc in the series. The Lord of Light is the thread that ties the other characters together as he gathers warriors and their lovers to his service.

The Greek gods weren’t omniscient, benign beings. These deities are personifications of forces of nature and aspects of human nature. As such, they have all the foibles and flaws their worshippers did: anger, jealousy, envy, covetousness and lust.

Alexios and Galen from Alexios’ Fate are the foundation pair as Apollo sets out to collect a band of warrior-lovers at his sacred precinct at Delphi. Both young men catch Phoebus Apollo’s attention for their kindness to a young prophet Apollo had been searching for.

Alexios’ Fate was written in response to the above photo. I’m sure the classical history buffs can figure out the story line from the photo. Apollo is forced into the dilemma of punishing Alexios for his father’s hubris after planning on taking the young prince under his wing. Needless to say, the god of prophecy is not happy about this. Continue reading “Kayla Jameth is Guest Posting Today!” →