Ashes of Life – Free Release
Ashes of Life
As I’ve mentioned a few times, Ashes of Life is a story I wrote for the Love’s Landscape edition of Don’t Read in the Closet (DRitC) sponsored by the Goodreads MM Romance group. Basically how it works is someone sends in a picture and gives a bit about what the picture says to them and asks an author to write the story behind the picture.
Here’s the prompt I selected: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1729208-dear-author-ilona—claimed-by-andrew-q-gordon
As many who read my work know, I love fantasy. There is something about being able to read about things that can’t be real but should. Once I might have said that writing fantasy, being able to bring to life my imagination, is even better, but I’ve learned much since I was a ‘lil q myself. The tendency to make characters all powerful is hard to resist. Creating believable systems of magic can be more challenging still, and while in my mind I’m the all-powerful hero, my inclination is to just play god and make it go away. Yawn.
With Ashes I took a slightly different approach. Thane—the main character and narrator—has no powers at all. “Jeanne,” in a review on Goodreads described Thane as: “Just a kind humble man living life the best he can.” He also happened to free a being—the phoenix Eraq—that was powerful and at the center of a millennia long conflict. I wanted to write this story from the POV of someone who couldn’t move mountains or save the day with a wave of his hand. I wanted a hero who was one of us. I’ve kept the magic and mythical creatures to a minimum to focus on Thane and Eraq so this should be a good read even for non-fantasy fans.
If you get a chance to read the story. I’d appreciate you taking a moment to let me know what you think. The story is available in ePub, Mobi and PDF so whatever devise you have it should be easily accessible.
Here is the link to the website where the eBook is available for download:
Ashes of Life; by Andrew Q. Gordon
Ashes of Life, by Andrew Q. Gordon
When Sergeant Thane asked his best friend and second in command, to go riding, he had no idea how much his life would change. Whisked away by his horse to a forest that shouldn’t exist and hears a cry for help. Answering the plea, Thane releases a phoenix—Eraq—from his centuries long imprisonment.
Eraq’s first act of freedom is to claim Thane as his own. But the phoenix is more than he appears. A mage-shifter, Eraq sets his sights on the man who answered his call for help. Thane returns the interest despite learning that his act of liberation has set in motion events that will change the world. When he learns his relationship with Eraq places him at the center of events beyond his understanding, Thane refuses to abandon the man he’s come to love. Even as it hurtles him toward certain death.
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 eighteen years, their young 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 and not get the shakes.
I’m looking forward to this one, I’ve already downloaded it. Have several other books to read first, ones I’ve gotten in giveaways, haha. But this one does sound like a lot of fun, so I will let you know what I think after I read it!
Thanks Sara. There are a lot of good stories from the event, I just need the time to read them all LOL
I think that’s a writer’s constant struggle, balancing reading, writing, and relationships (and sometimes another job too!)