In My Blood
By Kenneth Gordon
Crystal: Today I have the pleasure of hosting Kenneth Gordon. Welcome, Kenneth! I am so excited to have you here today. Would you share a little bit about yourself with us today?
Kenneth: In addition to being a published author, I also design websites, write apps and games with both Unity3d and Android Studio.
Crystal: Do you have a favorite scene you would like to share with us?
Kenneth: There are so many. In Dirus Sonus, when my antagonist meets with his other-dimensional counterpart in a dream; He had been displaced by the arrival of the antagonist into his universe. The two had swapped universes.
Crystal: Where did you come up with the idea for your latest release?
Kenneth: I had been thinking about this for a while. It was wintertime and tummy bugs were going around. I thought what is something was making all the children in the neighborhood sick at the same time. Thankfully no one actually was, but the thought stuck in my head. So I started to write it.
Crystal: What are you currently working on?
Kenneth: I’m currently working on a story inspired by Randy Cramer’s experiences. In it, he was taken from his bed as a teenager, conscripted into being a space marine then brought back and reintegrated into his teenage body after 20 years of service. One of the large parts of my story also gives an answer to the Hopi legend of the Ant people. In this case, we get to help them with a Queen that is out for power, conquest, and blood.
Crystal: Do you have any special routine that you follow when you are writing?
Kenneth: Not particularly. I do like to listen to soft instrumental music when I write.
Crystal: Did you have to do a lot of research for this book or any other? If so do you have a fascinating fact that you have learned you would like to share with us?
Kenneth: Whenever possible, I do as much research as I can, hopefully that means working with an actual person to run things by and bounce ideas off of. In the book In My Blood, I worked with an HIV doctor. In Dark City, I worked with a physics professor to find out the best way to blow up a fusion reactor.
Crystal: Who are some of your favorite authors that you like to read?
Kenneth: CS Lewis, Dean Koontz (who I am told I write similarly to), and Ted Dekker.
Crystal: Is there a genre you haven't written that you would like to try?
Kenneth: I wouldn’t mind giving fantasy a go.
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Blurb for In My Blood:
There is a plague on an alien world and emissaries have been sent to all inhabited planets to find the Chosen One. It is he that will cure that plague that now afflicts so many.
Thomas Anderson, from New Hampshire, is just about to start his third year of pre-med at Emory University when he meets a strange little man.
Tom is whisked away to the whirlpool galaxy as he starts researching the plague and begins working towards a cure. Little does he know that the cure will cost him everything! He must decide if he is willing to give up his life for a people he doesn’t know on a world that is not his own.
Excerpt:
“This is what we know currently. The disease originated on the second planetary orbit. The Crown Prince and two companions went to the jungle world on an exploratory mission. The Prophet had already told him before he left not to eat from the Faluth tree. After a couple days of exploring, they came upon one of those trees. He was warned again not to eat it by one of his companions, but I suspect his pride overcame his good judgment. I postulate that he may have said ‘I am the Crown Prince, I can do anything I want.’ Thus mocking the words of the Prophet. Six months later, he was dead.
“I don’t understand. How could a fruit kill him?”
“Not only him, but his companions and the royal physician who treated him. Now it has spread to the rest of the province. There are even reports it is in the other provinces as well. If you do not act, our entire species is doomed, along with the other people groups on our world.” The alien lowered his head, closed his eyes and made some sort of humming noise.
“That is our ‘Jick-now,’ funerary song,” Kai explained.
“Again, how can a fruit kill?”
El stopped humming and continued, “We don’t know. He presented with gah-fla symptoms for a couple of days, but seemed to recover. Six months hence, he was at a gathering, took a drink, and dropped to the ground, dead. It was only after we performed a post mortem that we found his heart was completely black.”
“What is the normal color?”
“Red to pink.”
“So, much like us; humans, I mean.”
“Indeed.”
“I really don’t know what exactly I can do. I’m only in my third year of pre med with one infectious disease class under my belt.”
“My son tells me that you are the Chosen One, therefore you will cure this plague. I must confess to you, human, that I have my doubts about you.” Thom stood up and took off his shirt. El-min’s eyes grew wide and his mouth opened wider. “You are indeed the Chosen One. Forgive my doubts.” El-min bowed his head low.
“Nothing to forgive.” Thom said as he put on his shirt, “Truth be told, I’m not sure I can live up to your ideal, but I’ll try my best. Can I get—”
El-min raised his hand. “I just received a message from the ship that we are about to make our first jump. Please sit down and prepare yourselves.”
The three sat down in the chairs.
“Don’t we need seatbelts or something?” Anderson asked.
“Remember the car?” asked Kai-min.
“Yeah.”
“Passive restraints?” the younger alien said.
“Oh, yeah. Ok, same deal.” Thom said as his body stiffened, not knowing what to expect.
“Jump in 3…2…1…JUMP!”
Thom closed his eyes tight and gripped the chair with a white knuckled grip. There was a strange rushing sound. He dared not look, but his curiosity got the better of him and he peeked open one eye. It was as if space itself were passing through the ship and him. He could see stars, constellations, planets; like the ship was invisible, and he was traveling alone in the dark, cold, vastness. Particles passed by him; he felt he could reach out and touch the very fabric of spacetime itself. In an instant it all compressed and whirled past him at incomprehensible speed, yet the ride was as non eventful as sitting on his own couch. Then the wall of the ship came back into view, and the trip continued as if nothing had even happened.
Buy Links:
About the Author:
Kenneth Gordon grew up in Milford, NH and still lives in that state. When he isn’t writing scifi-infused horror novels, he plays PC games, electric and acoustic guitars, and drums. He also holds a brown belt in Kung Fu.
Web Site: http://kennethgordonnovelist.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KennethGordon69
Publisher’s website: http://www.classactbooks.com/index.php/our-authors/manufacturers/kenneth-gordon
I enjoyed meeting Ken Gordon. Good job! All the best with In My Blood
ReplyDeleteThanks for the 'taster', Ken & Crystal!
ReplyDeleteKen, you say you "wouldn't mind giving Fantasy a go" [Crystal's final question].
Surely the world you build for "In my Blood" IS Fantasy?????