Glenn Hessel & Mark Kendrick
Mark Kendrick was born to a wee Scottish couple in the Middle Ages. He was covered with a fine white down at birth. When he was three days old, his mother set him down in a bassinet next to the kitchen fireplace. The family dog (a magical dog who could speak seven languages) padded by, sniffed at the down, and proceeded to lick all of it off. The down removed, Mark was transformed into a vessel - a database of words, phrases, and yes, even entire sentences. Once he had his fill of words his imagination soared toward the center of the galaxy. The relativistic effect of traveling so quickly allowed him to live until the 21st century, at which time he began writing stories, mostly to get the words out of his head. Unbeknownst to him, new ones began filling in the emptiness left behind.
"I remember being fascinated with pens at an early age. That was just about the time I learned how to write in cursive. The fact that a pen would put a permanent mark on a page, as opposed to a pencil, which could be erased, was intriguing. I sought to make sure that what I wrote would be permanent and legible.
Fourth grade was a pivotal period in my young life. I was enrolled in one of those experimental 'open concept' schools that year. Although they were a failed educational experiment nationwide, the concept worked on me like no other grade before or after. I took my first Spanish class then. It stuck. I read my first SF book then. It's a genre that I still read and can't get enough of. I learned how to read a map. That came in very handy once I became a Boy Scout. To this day I have a fascination with maps. We did those SRA Reading Labs modules that year, too. Boy, was I hooked on reading because of them. I wrote my first imaginative story. My life was never the same when I realized that my imagination was restless, was overflowing, and needed a voice.
Mark Smith (left), Glenn Hessel and Radar relax in the ruins in the backyard of their Palm Springs home. (Photo: Photograph by Jake Stanford)
Mark Kendrick (born May 22) is married with Glenn Hessel (born September 21, 1963). "I am BLESSED to have had this awesome man in my life for the last 25 years." Their anniversary is on April 21, 1988. So far, Mark is the author of six novels: Desert Sons, Into This World We're Thrown, Stealing Some Time, Vol I and II, The Rylerran Gateway, and
Trenekis of Hiera. Trenekis of Hiera won a 2010 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Sci-fi / Futuristic.
I started out writing one page creative stories that had little audience (they were very imaginative, but extremely childish). In 6th grade I wrote a stage play and acted in it, too. I didn't take to acting but my imagination was on fire. Shortly after my 15th birthday the poetry Muse visited and refused to leave. She stayed with me for over 20 years. I ended up writing 15 volumes of poems (count 'em: hundreds). In high school I co-wrote a play, again which I acted in. I was also the co-editor of, and contributor to, a student creative writing anthology which sold out. Although poetry was my main creative outlet for years, always in the back of my mind a couple of novel length ideas were incubating.
Despite the fact that I had an imagination that wouldn't quit, I wasn't particularly encouraged to write. Some people have the luxury of supportive relatives. I didn't. If you're one of those people be thankful for that! For encouragement I turned to my creative friends (mostly musicians) who I felt were gods. Some of them knew that one day I would write the novels I knew were inside me.
I eventually went off to college. Thinking that I had to be practical I majored in business with an emphasis on technology. I got into the wonderful world of computer networking and ultimately became a Microsoft certified networking consultant. Spurred into action by a random conversation with an IT co-worker back in 2000, I wondered why I had let my novel ideas languish. Just a few days later I launched Word 2K and went to work. It was as if the floodgates had opened. I had waited so long, had squashed my need to write for way too many decades, that the stories started pouring out." Mark Ian Kendrick.
Mark Kendrick (born May 22) is married with Glenn Hessel (born September 21, 1963). "I am BLESSED to have had this awesome man in my life for the last 25 years." Their anniversary is on April 21, 1988.
Trenekis of Hiera won a 2010 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Sci-fi / Futuristic
http://www.mark-kendrick.com/
Desert Sons by Mark Kendrick
Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: iUniverse Star (June 24, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0595191304
ISBN-13: 978-0595191307
Amazon: Desert Sons
Amazon Kindle: Desert Sons
Scott Faraday is sixteen and has no idea that his world is about to radically change. Scott is fun-loving, in a small-town rock band, and out-but only to a select few.
Isolated in a high desert town, Scott doesn’t know anyone else who is gay. When Ryan St. Charles, a troubled 17-year-old, moves to Yucca Valley, Scott’s world tilts on its axis.
Ryan is a brash seventeen-year-old who has just severed a long relationship with a man, but still considers himself straight. As Scott and Ryan’s friendship develops, Scott begins to suspect that Ryan might be covering up that he’s gay. When Scott comes out to Ryan, their friendship is transformed into his first real relationship.
Tightly focused on these two characters, Desert Sons follows the thoughts and emotion of the ups and downs of a young adult gay relationship. Filled with first-time wonder, teenage angst, and the swirl of emotions that can only be expressed by youth, readers are pulled headlong into a highly-charged drama.
Trenekis of Hiera by Mark Kendrick
Paperback: 275 pages
Publisher: Infinity Publishing (April 9, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0741458640
ISBN-13: 978-0741458643
Amazon: Trenekis of Hiera
Amazon Kindle: Trenekis of Hiera
An Arduous Journey.
A Mysterious Stranger.
An Impossible Relationship.
Arasen Vatch, the leader of a fanatical religious order known as the Path Holders, rose to power on Eridanus Colony in 2757 CE. Tens of thousands died when loyalists committed a heinous act of terrorism. Arasen fled in cold sleep hibernation with his closest followers. No one knew he had led them to a faraway star system and founded a new settlement, dedicated to his `Path of Perfection'. Yet, years later, an inevitable schism occurred.
Nineteen-year-old Trenekis Idero lives in the heretical village of Hiera. Brought there as an infant, he has only recently been told he's Arasen's son. Knowing this, he dares not tell anyone he's gay.
Niko Savaidras and his planetary exploration team discover Arasen's long lost destination. Niko, who is also gay, is unaware that he will soon be intimately involved with the son of a notorious mass murderer. Trenekis has no idea this will solve multiple problems he faces.
But the Path Holders are watching and they intend to keep their isolated planet a secret, even if everyone has to die.
More Spotlights at my wesbite: elisarolle.com, My Lists/Gay Novels
More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2010
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