GUEST AUTHOR: Andrew Q. Gordon

Today I’m pleased to welcome Andrew Q. Gordon. He’s visiting as part of celebrations for his latest book releases. FIRST LOVE is the free prequel and is part of the “Champions of the Gods” series. There’s also a giveaway at the end of the post.

First Love

by Andrew Q. Gordon

Release Date: 27^th January 2015

Length: 40 Pages

Prequel to The Last Grand Master
A Champion of the Gods Story

Blurb

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.

Guest Post – First Love—Grand Master Kel

Thanks for hosting me, Nic.

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.

Of all the characters, Farrell is naturally the most fleshed out. The story is through his eyes. But what of the secondary characters? I kid you not, 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.

Of all the great wizards throughout history, none receive the same attention as Grand Master Kel, first king of Yar-del. Kel was the second youngest of seven sons born to Bren and Geena, farmers who lived in the ancient kingdom of Kentar in what is Dumbarten.

At the age of twelve, a wizard-priest recognized his potential and he was sent to the temple of Honorus in Kentar to begin his training. As with most wizards who should the potential to be a high-level master or grand master wizard, after rudimentary training, he was sent to a temple of Falcon to further his education.

When Kel attained master status, he rejected the traditional roles of a wizard. Instead of remaining with the temple or attaching himself to a king or great lord, Kel returned home to help his family and neighbors better their lives. His choice to use his skills to aid farmers earned him the distain of his contemporaries, but taught him how magic could be used in way others hadn’t envisioned.

Kel had only been home a few years when the Great War began in Trellham. The Six called upon Their supporters and Kel answered the call as one of Honorus’s wizards. Because he left the temple, he’d never been formally granted grand master status. The other great wizards of the day denied Kel a place on the council that guided the war effort and gave him a role supporting the army.

Despite the slight by the other magi, Kel proved himself a powerful wizard during the war, even making friends with Rothdin, King of the peregrines. The fighting ground to a stalemate until Seritia devised a plan to end the war. All it required was a wizard powerful and wise enough to cast the spell.

The wizards on the council each attempted the spell with great fanfare, confident they were the one Seritia meant to do Her bidding. The council rejected Kel’s request to attempt the spell, referring to him as the peasant’s wizard. King Rothdin used his position as the first servant of Honorus to insisted Kel be allowed to try. Because he didn’t accept the conventional wisdom that what had always been done was the only way, he was able to carry out Seritia’s will. On day the legend was born.

After the war, Honorus sent Kel to the largely unsettled continent of Ardus to found a new kingdom. Kel called his new kingdom Yar-del and put his skills using magic to help the people to good use. Yar-del flourished and its people grew rich.

Knowing that wealth and prosperity often drew enemies, Kel created a Source to help defend his kingdom. Kel’s Source had near infinite storage capacity for magical energy. Unlike other storage containers, the Source allowed multiple wizards to store and call upon arcane power when needed. Kel hoped the Source would give him and his successors an advantage over their enemies. And thought Kel would share many of his discoveries with the world, he kept the spells for creating a Source secret, even from his heirs. Only when one assumed the throne of Yar-del could they unlock the spells.

Kel spent life trying to find ways to use his powers for the good of the common people instead of the great lords or kings. Even as a king he sought ways to use magic to make the lives of his people better. The great irony of his legacy was history remembered him more for the great magics he created and not the little every day spells he crafted that made daily tasks easier.

At the height of his power, Kel left Yar-del unseen. He left behind a note telling his successor all he needed to know and was not seen in public again. His disappearance fueled two thousand years of speculation as to his whereabouts. At first it was believed he’d grown tired of ruling, and left to return to a simpler life. But as the centuries rolled on and Kel never returned, the speculation turned to the time and manner of his death. It was unheard of even for a wizard to live three thousand years and even the great Kel couldn’t cheat death.

Even in death Kel proved better than his contemporaries as he hid all trace of his passing. Scores of wizards searched in vain for clues about what happened to Kel hoping to some undiscovered artifact or book of magic.

As the Champion of the Six, Farrell is going to learn that Kel may hold the key to winning the war. As such, we will see many more references to Kel as the series unfolds.

Enjoy.

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?”

Buy Links

DSP Publication

All Romance eBooks

Amazon

Giveaway

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. Tullos Hennig

The contest runs from 27^th January, 2015 to 9^th February, 2015

Click the Rafflecopter image or click here to enter the giveaway.

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.

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