Featured Author: John Goode

John Goode is a member of the class of '88 from Hogwarts school of wizardry, specializing in incantations and spoken spells. At the age of 14 he proudly represented District 13 in the 65th Panem games where he was disqualified for crying uncontrollably before the competition began. After that he moved to Forks, Washington where, against all odds, dated the hot, incredibly approachable werewolf instead of the stuck up jerk of a vampire but was crushed when he found out the werewolf was actually gayer than he was.

After that he turned down the mandatory operation everyone must receive at 16 to become pretty citing that everyone pretty were just too stupid to live before moving away for greener pastures. After falling down an oddly large rabbit hole he became huge when his love for cakes combined with his inability to resist what sparsely worded notes commanded and was finally kicked out when he began playing solitaire with the Red Queen's 4th armored division.

By 18 he had found the land in the back of his wardrobe but decided that thinly veiled religious allegories where not the neighbors he desired. When last seen he had become obsessed with growing a pair of wings after becoming obsessed with Fang's blog and hasn't been seen since.

Or he is this guy who lives in this place and writes stuff he hopes you read.

Connect with John Goode on Twitter @FosterHigh.

Q&A with Author John Goode:

1. If you could swap places with one of your fictional characters for 24 hours, who would you choose to be? Why? And what would you do that day?
   
   Sounds funny but Gayle, the owner of Nancy's diner from Tales from Foster High. She gets to see the entire town and how they interact. I think sitting back and watching Foster go through a normal day. I could get to see Brad and Kyle and Tyler and just how they go through their day.


2. Do you ever use real life experiences, people, and conversations when you write fiction or is it all from your imagination?
   
   I think every writer pulls from real people and events to build stories. I don't walk around with a notebook writing stuff down but I like meeting people and trying to see what makes them tick and they end up as archetypes in my stories.


3. What did you enjoy reading as a teenager and has your taste changed since?
   
   I grew up on comic books from a very young age and still read them today. From there is was easy to move into science fiction, Douglas Adams and Issac Asimov being some favorites. Once I made it into my teens I consumed S.E. Hinton's books and then discovered Anne Rice. Now I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman, Jasper Fforde and Christopher Moore.


4. We heard that you love John Hughes movies. So, if John Hughes wrote a part for you in the Breakfast Club, what kind of character would you be?
   
   I always wanted to be Ferris Bueller--he was cool, suave and could talk to the camera. With my luck I would just be a gay Ducky, which would be miserable since I can't pull off those hats he wears.


5. What would you like young readers to take away from your novels?
   
   That what they are going through is normal, that gay kids all over the world are going through what they are feeling right now. That being gay doesn't make them a freak or wrong, it just makes them different. That it not only gets better, but on a long enough time line the things that seem so tragic and life threatening won't even matter to them. That we are all the hero of our own story and people can only make you feel bad about being gay if you let them.

Now Available from John Goode:

Tales from Foster High
Kyle Stilleno is the invisible student, toiling through high school in the middle of Nowhere, Texas. Brad Greymark is the baseball star of Foster High. When they bond over their mutual damage during a night of history tutoring, Kyle thinks maybe his life has changed for good. But the promise of fairy-tale love is a lie when you’re gay and falling for the most popular boy in school. A coming of age story in the same vein of John Hughes, Tales from Foster High shows an unflinching vision of the ups and downs of teenage love and what it is like to grow up gay.

Stories included:
Maybe With a Chance of Certainty
The End of the Beginning
Raise Your Glass

A Special Lost Tale of Foster High
After coming out to the whole school, Brad Greymark and Kyle Stilleno could use some downtime. They should be studying, but soon their focus wanders to the pursuit of the impossible. Together, they just might find where they belong.
A free short story.

End of the Innocence (Tales from Foster High, Book Two)
Kyle Stilleno is no longer the invisible boy, and he doesn’t quite know how he feels about it. On one hand, he now has a great boyfriend, Brad Greymark, and a handful of new friends, and even a new job. On the other hand, no one screamed obscenities at him in public when he was invisible.

No one expected him to become a poster boy for gay rights, either—at least not until Kyle stepped out of the closet and into the limelight. But there are only a few months of high school left, and Kyle doubts he can make a difference.

With Christmas break drawing closer, Kyle and Brad are changing their lives to include each other. While the trials are far from over, they have their relationship to lean on. Others are not so lucky. One of their classmates needs their help—but Kyle and Brad’s relationship may be too new to survive the strain.

Distant Rumblings (Lords of Arcadia, Book One)
Kane Vess may be gay, but he is also extraordinarily ordinary a crushing weight in Athens, Iowa, where a person s worth is measured by his uniqueness. But when he meets the school s newest student, Kane s ordinariness seems to evaporate. He is desperate to get to know the mysterious stranger and that leads him into danger. Hawk is an exile from his homeland, an otherworldly traveler with impossible abilities and a changeling bodyguard. He s generally disappointed in Earth, which seems common except for Kane. But while Hawk and Kane explore their mutual interest, the forces that made Hawk an exile are busy tracking him down. Kane s newfound feelings pull him into Hawk s shadowy fantasy world, where he learns he needs to grow up fast. Kane s life may now be extraordinary, but if he isn t careful it could cost him everyone he holds dear including Hawk.

Eye of the Storm (Lords of Arcadia, Book Two)
Kane Vess thought his life in rural Iowa was mind-numbingly boring. Then Hawk, a prince from another world, appeared and turned Kane’s life upside-down. At first Kane welcomed the adventure and the chance to be with Hawk—but then a shapeshifter named Puck kidnapped Hawk and dragged him back home.

Now Kane is caught up in another planet’s magical civil war, searching for the boy he loves in a place he knows nothing about. With the help of a gem elemental, an ice barbarian, and a clockwork woman, Kane has to find Hawk and stop Puck before he can destroy the nine realms.