CHECK OUT MY INTERVIEW WITH MELINA
Gordon on Writing
What is your writing process like?
Gordon: I like to say I write like I eat—organically. What this means to me, is I do not prepare or follow an outline. I have an idea of my characters, the historical setting and an inkling of where they’re headed and off I go on the journey with them. This offers me the opportunity of providing the reader with a honest and riveting experience with lots of turns and twists along the way.
There’s not a day that goes by without a contribution to the current novel I’m working on.
What was your biggest publishing struggle or lesson learned?
Gordon: As a new writer, everything has been a learning process. Beginning with working with a professional editor who taught me such things as: point of view, showing-not-telling and developing relationships. After that, the marketing and selling took a while to figure out, though I have to say, I’m still trying to find effective ways of creating awareness in the cluttered marketplace. By far what I’ve learned the most is my love for writing and the ability I have to do so, as proven by the many glowing editorial and reader reviews I have earned.
Tell me about your latest release.
Gordon: Hope City: The Alaskan Adventures of Percy Hope
Hope City is the adventure story of Samuel Rothman and his best friend, Liam Kampen, two teenage boys from San Francisco who, in the summer of 1898, venture into the goldfields of the Alaskan wilderness.
Warned by his father to conceal his Jewish heritage from the ruffians he may encounter, Samuel changes his name to the less conspicuous Percy Hope. This fateful decision gives a yet-unnamed mining village a new identity and catapults Percy into a world where the good and the righteous must face greedy and ruthless adversaries.
Along a waterway known as Turnagain Arm, the newly named Hope City and the more established Sunrise are like opposite sisters. The good and virtuous Hope, with a Catholic church led by the influential Reverend O’Hara, admonishes residents against committing the seven deadly sins. In Sunrise, villainous saloon owner Magnus Vega tempts prospectors with whiskey, gambling, and women.
Hope City weaves the tale of a young man falling down a proverbial rabbit hole of unexpected toils and hardships and struggling to find his way back out, amid a wild and unforgiving environment where ambitious men and women seek their fortunes.
What’s next for you?
Gordon: Sadie’s Sin: The Zwi Migdal’s Reign of Terror
Sadie Wollman, a young Jewess in 1924 Warsaw, Poland, has fallen in love with a handsome university professor. But when her traditional parents learn about this possible unholy matrimony, they hastily arrange a brokered marriage to a wealthy Argentine Jewish business man — Ezra Porkevitch.
Believing they sent their daughter off to a glamorous life of wealth and luxury, this young woman instead faces a new reality of becoming a Polaca, a sex slave to the Zwi Migdal, a Jewish organized-crime group who traffics young women into forced prostitution throughout Buenos Aires.
Her lover Alexander Kaminski, a war hero of Poland, learns of the deception, and he, along with his life-long friend and albino, Jan Mazur, seeks out to rescue Sadie from the grips of this wicked group of men protected by the Argentine political and law enforcement establishment.
Sadie’s Sin is an epic-romantic tale of an innocent woman’s torment as she is sold to the city’s most prestigious brothel — The Tango, and the hero’s journey across three continents, seeking her rescue.
Who is your favorite author and why?
Gordon: Ken Follett. He’s a master of historical fiction. I am awed by his ability of weaving his fictional characters into real historical, world changing events.
Gordon on History
What is your favorite historical era and why?
A Cobbler’s Tale
Gordon: So far I’ve been drawn to the early twentieth century. I believe it’s because of my first novel, A Cobbler’s Tale, which begins in 1910. It’s an era that I find comfort in telling my stories. Perhaps its because the world felt much larger back then. Journey’s across oceans took weeks, not hours and events unfolded in ways that took lifetimes for others to learn about.
What historical figure would you like to spend a day with and why?
Gordon: I would spend my day with Jack London. His zest for adventure and writing about it, is inspiring and would propel my skills to another level.
Name three historical events you’d like to witness if you had a time machine?
Gordon: 1) The signing of the Declaration of Independence 2) Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address 3) VE-Day in France
Do you enjoy genealogy? If so, what’s the most interesting story you discovered in your family tree?
Gordon: A Cobbler’s Tale is based upon my Great-grandparents journey to America.
You can find Neil Perry Gordon on Amazon, Goodreads and his website.