Andrew Q Gordon

Farrell is - at his core- a wizard raised by wizards - wizards who had little use for ceremony and pomp. So this formal affair chafes at him. Fortunately Horgon has enough sway to put his foot down and do what needs to be done - for now.

As most of you who've read my stuff know, I wrote this for the Summer 2011 anthology - duh right? It says so when you click on the link - and I've been promising, threatening, teasing folks that I'd take this up and go with it. Well I think that time is now. I've started to rewrite this - mean tear it down and redo it completely because this was written as a 10K anthology entry and the story needs to be quite a bit longer. I was hoping that those who've read it can give me some feed back. Specifically I'd like know where you think it needs more umph. Just to be let folks know, I won't be starting it with the two of them in bed. That 'worked' in a shortened version, but I want to start with before they meet and then i want there to be a bit longer courtship before he learns the truth about Alex and Trevor and his own 'angelness' So any suggestion would be helpful. you can post them here or you can email me them. Andrewqgordon@gmail.com Thanks Andy

What corner will you be on and when? **Gets out google maps and waits patiently**

Thanks everyone. As an update, we put him to sleep today. Today he stopped getting up and walking down the hill to go pee, and he stopped eating as of yesterday afternoon. It was time to say good-bye and let him move on. Thanks again.

Thanks Dark, Percy, Andy and Ashi It's how it is, I know, I was going to this down because it's such a whiny entry, but then Dark posted and I figured I needed to leave it up to at least respond. Thanks again.

For many years I was a happy, unencumbered homosexual, who had not much more to worry about than if my ass looked to big in my jeans or if I was losing my hair, or where that wrinkle came from. But just for shits and giggles I decided to have a child - well me and the hubby did. She's a wonderful, happy, delightful little girl who brings me endless amounts of joy just by smiling. But today I don't want to be a dad, don't want to be happy, don't want to pretend everything is okay, and I have to because I can't be this depressed around my daughter. She's too little to understand when daddy is unhappy. If we're upset so is she. Bit of melodrama I know, but my dog is dying and I can't do anything to stop it. This was/is my first baby. We got him as a gangly little puppy who would try to steal the baseball hat from my head whenever I sat at his level, the one who claimed two of my best soccer balls as his and proceeded to spend hours convincing me to throw them so he could chase them and bring them back to me. He curled up next to me when I got a bad case of hepatitis and always came to sit with me when I needed him. He was truly this man's best friend. But he's shutting down on us - we - the vet and us - thought he has a kidney infection, but the antibiotics aren't working. So it's probably kidney failure. It might be a bunch of other things but whatever it is, he's not eating and we don't have enough time to figure it out if he won't eat. I've made him turkey, turkey burgers, chicken, liver, and a host of other can't miss things that even sick dogs will eat. He ate them for 1 - 2 meals max before he won't touch them now. He seems hungry but won't eat anything. It's like every time we try something, he'll eat it once and we can scratch it from out list of things he'll eat and we're quickly running out of options. Yeah, I know, grow up and grow a set. I am, I have to. Mike's a mess and someone needs to make sure the kid is okay too. She doesn't understand what's happening so it's not that we need to be strong because she's upset. No, it's like I said, she seems to know when we're unhappy, and that makes her upset. Like the title says, Adulthood sucks.

What a Wuss!!! Boo hoo, you got a little thing called life getting in your way. Sheesh. I can't believe you don't have your priorities 'straight.' Didn't you know your first job is to post free stuff for us to read and the hell with family and work? Honestly, some people. Best of luck with the new semester and looking forward to the rescue at sea whenever it happens.

Not entirely sure what you mean. Farrell did trounce him as it was, but you're right if it was mixed weapons there would be no point. But whose soldiers are you speaking of? Kerstand's? If so, it's not as if princes are the best swordsmen in the land. And frankly, back in the day of swords and the like, being able to swing it was usually enough to get one in the army. Proficiency was just an added bonus. Nothing ominous about the date - you'll see. As for more chapters, longer and sooner, sorry, I have no control over this now. It's being posted as it was written for a novel. One chapter at a time. Thanks Dave. Andy

This to me was something of a prelude to the real story. Alex/Uriel's visions are of the end of days, the Apocalypse if you will. Maybe next? IDK so little time so much I want to write still.

Mike, There is but that is not a registered copyright if someone stole your work, they could register it with the US Copyright office and they would hold the copyright until something changed. So while the copyright at the bottom of every story is helpful, it is not as good as the official one.

I'll be honest, when I began writing this, I expected Ryan would die and the 'Jake' character would be the next host. But as this went on, I felt this was the best way to end it. If I tried to write a sequel, it would lose what I thought was/is the major strength of the story - the evolution of Gar back to Will. That won't be there in any future stories so it would end up being more of series of 'events' i.e. a mission or a killing or whatever. I don't feel that is or would be as good or engaging as this one. But that's just me. Thanks for reading and the comments. Let me know if you need any suggestions for who else to read. I'm always opinionated

As most of you know, KC Grim had his story, Chasing The Shadows stolen. He is still dealing with that. Here's easy, relatively cheap way to help protect yourself and your story: Copyright your story before you post it. If you're writing and posting chapter by chapter, before you post the last chapter, file for a copyright. Get it done before it gets stolen. You can do it here: http://www.copyright.gov/eco/ The cost is $35.00 if you do it electronically. It's not a long difficult form and you need to include a copy of your manuscript. Copyrighting does not prevent theft, nor is it an automatic that you'll just show your copyright the issue ends and you win; the other person can always claim it was stolen by the person who holds the copyright. But it is a very useful tool because it shifts the burden to the other side to prove the person with the copyright is the theft and not the other way around. Again it is always best to do this BEFORE you finish posting the story. That makes it near impossible for the thief to show it was posted somewhere prior to the the copyright application. The copyright plus digit proof should be sufficient to win the day. Note this is NOT legal advice, I am not a copyright lawyer, this Andrew Q Gordon, the author who is not a lawyer suggesting to everyone else a way to help protect themselves.

Thanks for the comments, and thanks for reading. I will say that I don't think I 'see' what the two of them are doing for their senior year. By that I mean I don't see a story in it. But I do see a story in their lives about 5 years later. That's the sequel I started to write, but am bogging down a bit. I had a lot of fun writing this and the Trial of Jordan, both for different reasons. Hopefully there will be more on both in the near - though not very near - future. Thanks again. Andy

The Six are the six gods of Nendor - Honorus, Lenore, Arritisa, Khron, Serita and Falcron. That is they are always referred to as the Six. As for what sign, that was Kerstand's words, not Farrell's he knows where he'll meet Meglar, just not when.

Since GA is good enough to let us 'post' the story in my forum, I figured I'd start a story discussion thread for those who've bought and read the book. If you reveal plot lines, please use spoilers in case someone stumbles across this and hasn't read the book yet. Anyta is going to be responding as much or maybe more than I will so you can direct comments to either of us here. Andy

Mike hated my picture, and everyone in chat last night said they liked Q better, so I went back to that one. I can find one of Q from James Bond if you'd like that better. True, but he'd also have to create new rooms and in the end he wouldn't use it but once in a blue moon - The formal sitting room was created for just this purpose. Don't think of this like he is spoiled pampered monarch. Think of it like Erstad and Wesfazial are the ones who are his counselors - they wouldn't advise a separate set of rooms, they're wizards and they're as informal as he is, maybe more so since he was/is still the Prince of Yar-del. This is just how he and his advisors would do things, even Horgon isn't a pomp and circumstance kinda of ruler, so expecting them to do something just for show wouldn't be their style. Not sure what this means - sorry - six signs? Where'd that come from?

Remember Dave, as Farrell mentioned a few times - Haven wasn't founded as a kingdom, it's sort of morphed into one, but it was never meant to be more than a wizard's school. Little by little Farrell is being forced into the role of Sovereign, but creating a new meeting room to meet with the very very few visitors - Haven's location is a secret, so kings and/or their ambassadors won't be dropping by much - would be a waste of time and energy. If the war ends successfully and Farrell reclaims Yar-del, then I would expect the King to be a fair bit more formal. As for time flying, we yeah, 'lil q is almost 11 months old - go figure. Seems like yesterday she was my wee little thing who made my heart stop.

I don't really care one way or the other, as A.J. doesn't matter who's the doc if they do the - drop your pants and cough - routine, it's awkward. But moving this a step further, what do you do with your kid? Right now 'lil q has a male doctor- he's great, he like 75 great with the kids, knows his stuff etc. But when she gets older - should we switch her to a female? I don't expert her at age 6 to know what her preference will be at age 13 but it seems to me that whomever she sees she should see that person consistently over the years and not switch every couple years depending on her or our whims. Do kids - and I guess I'm specifically interested in girls - prefer their own gender? I so old that there were only male doctors for the most part when I was a kid so it wasn't an option. You saw Dr. Grello or you didn't see the Dr.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! To a great writer and a man with a generous heart. My you live long and prosper Bill and my your hotel never get too full.

(Un)Masked was released today - thus far it appears NOT to be available on Amazon, but it can be purchased from the publisher in formats for all reading devices and computers. You can access it here: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3151&cPath=55_656

This was the ending I always envisioned for the pair. It was how I wanted it to end so I got my wish . Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for the comments, it's been a while since I've had many on this so it got me to go back and read parts again that I'd forgotten. I wish I had the time to write something like this again, but writting time is scarce with the baby. Maybe in a year or two. Thanks again. Andy

Yes Chapter 45 got a lot of feed back, both here and in the forum. It was also one of the hardest ones to write because while I wanted you to feel that emotion, I also didn't want to ruin Peter beyond all ability to repair. Lucky you for not being left standing for an entire week for the next chapter.

Happy birthday dear, may it be the bestest one you've ever had.

I think that if I ever were to meet Pop, I would like him too. So you're allowed to like him ALmost finished. I'll be interested to see what you think of the ending.

Well you should read the comments by folks when I was posting chapter by chapter. Then people were getting angry that I didn't wake him up faster. Hopefly the last third will keep you happy.