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Ilona Andrews is the pen name of Ilona Gordon and Andrew Gordon, an American husband-and-wife duo who write urban fantasy and romantic fiction together under a portmanteau of their first names. Early lives Ilona Gordon was born in the Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States as a teenager to attend private school. She attended Western Carolina University, majoring in biochemistry and it was there she met her future husband and writing partner, Andrew Gordon.Andrew Beauregard Gordon was born in Florida, U.S., and spent part of his childhood in the Appalachia region of North Carolina. He explained in one interview that he was named after the confederate general P. G. T. Beauregard who fired on Fort Sumter and started the American Civil War, but most often chooses to go by his last name "Gordon" since that is what he went by during his military service. Andrew served four years in the United States Navy as a communications officer. He attended Western Carolina University to study history and political science where he met Ilona in a writing course and they began collaborating and editing one another's work and essays. Gordon's studies in history and mythology and Ilona's knowledge of Slavic folktales went on to influence the world building and inspiration behind their bestselling novels. Ilona usually writes the lines of the female characters and Gordon the lines of the male characters. Early career According to interviews and their own recollection of their early publishing history, Ilona and Andrew were interested in publishing novels as early as their college years. In a recollection of their publishing journey on their website, Ilona recalls that after completing drafts of two novels, she attempted to get traditionally published with very little prior knowledge and it went very poorly. In one interview, Ilona recalls attempting to write a "horrible ninja hobbit novel" that ended up being rejected for publication. Similarly, Andrew stated that he wrote a failed "James Bond-y fantasy" series that eventually ended up partially inspiring parts of their future novel Bayou Moon (2010).Ilona started writing what would eventually become the first entry in the Kate Daniels series as early as 2002, but it went through multiple edits before they managed to find a literary agent and get published. One publisher rejected it on the basis that it was too similar to the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. The novel went through multiple stages and various cycles of rejection, and Gordon helped Ilona rewrite one of her discarded submissions into "Lost Dog" which was eventually accepted and published as their first novel Magic Bites (2007). Reception Their first novel, Magic Bites (2007) was released to good reviews and decent sales. And its sequel, Magic Burns, reached even greater success, managing to reach the #32 spot on the New York Times extended bestseller list in April 2008. Since their debut they have published at least 30 novels, in addition to dozens of additional novellas and short stories. Their novels have reached #1 on the NYT and Wall Street Journal's Bestseller Lists, and #2 on the USA Today Bestseller List, with over 3.5 million of their books in print and foreign rights sold in at least 18 countries.After the immense success of the first book in the Aurelia Ryder series, Blood Heir (2021), they have indicated that they are considering moving away from traditional publishing contracts in the future since they now have a large enough audience to make a living off of self-publishing. Personal lives The Gordons live in Texas, they write a highly successful blog chronicling their lives, the publication process, and post snippets of free fiction and serial novels. They have two adult daughters, anonymized as Kid 1 and Kid 2 on their site. Their blog posts include fan engagement, polls, recipes, stories, publishing advice and updates about their current works in progress.In the lively comments sections of their website moderated by their assistant (anonymized as Mod R), they are known as Ilona or Gordon and collectively as House Andrews, while their fans have adopted the nickname of "BDH" or "Book Devouring Horde" as a play on the Hope Crushing Horde from their Innkeeper book series. Works Kate Daniels (2007–) Kate Daniels is an urban fantasy series. The first ten books were published under the Ace Books imprint of Penguin Random House from 2007 to 2018. The series was continued in a new setting - Wilmington, North Carolina, beginning with a novella titled Magic Tides that was self-published on January 17, 2023.The first ten books of the series are set in a post-magic apocalypse version of Atlanta, where the world switches between periods of magical and technological dominance, and follows Kate Daniels, a sarcastic mercenary who makes a living dealing with a vast array of magical and mythological creatures. The series follows Kate as she navigates the various factions of shifters, necromancers, magic users and magic-based organizations that hold power in the city.The various entries in the series include conflicts with monsters, gods and beings from Slavic, Celtic, Islamic, Jewish, indigenous, Hindu, Greek, Nordic, Babylonian and Assyrian mythologies. Featuring beings such as upir, formorians, djinn, golems, wendigo, rakshasa, greek gods, draugr, and lamassu alongside a modern take on werewolves and vampires. Iron Covenant (2018-) The Iron Covenant is an ongoing spinoff novel series set in the Kate Daniels World, published independently through NYLA, which follows Hugh D'Ambray, a character who previously featured as a villain in the main Kate Daniels series. The series takes place between the events of Magic Binds and Magic Triumphs and follows former warlord Hugh and his army, The Iron Dogs, as they attempt to move on from their dark past by creating an alliance with a colony of druids ruled by Elara Harper, a powerful and dangerous witch with unknown and terrible powers.Ilona Andrews originally stated the series would likely eventually be a trilogy. The release of the second book in the series has been delayed with no current date of expected publication. Aurelia Ryder (2018-) A second spinoff of the Kate Daniels World, featuring Kate's adoptive daughter Julie Lennart-Olsen, now going by the name Aurelia Ryder. Taking place 6 years after the events of the main Kate Daniels series, the Aurelia Ryder series follows Aurelia's return to post-apocalyptic Atlanta as she attempts to solve a series of murders and comes face to face with a changed version of a man she once loved.The first novel in the series, Blood Heir (2021) began as a serial work on the Ilona Andrews blog in 2020 originally titled "Ryder" and was later edited for self-publication. Despite being self published, Blood Heir climbed to the #5 combined print and ebook fiction ranking on the New York Times Fiction Bestsellers List and #2 on the USA Today Bestseller's List shortly after publicatio.... Discover the Lisa Shearin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Lisa Shearin books.