Stephanie M. Matthews's Blog

I was struggling with the world I thought I knew versus the world I was seeing.

An author I respect once gave this advice for how to write a great story: write about what you’re going through. That could be anything from an existential crisis, to a philosophical question, to dealing with strong emotions that are hard to come to terms with. This question, or issue, should serve as the backbone of your story. Doing so will give your story that “x-factor” which makes your story stand out and become memorable to your reader, as you’re no longer simply writing a story, you’re finding the answer to your situation as you write your story. 

I’ve never before really ever told anyone why I wrote the stories that I did, “The Gift” and “The Eve’s End”. They are a full of darkness and religious conflict, a Christmas story unlike anything else. When Mark Bierman asked if I would write a guest blog post for his blog, I felt it was a good time to give the “why”. Using my own writing experiences as the example, I tell show you how to use your personal experiences to write a stand-out story. 

Head over to https://markbierman.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/please-welcome-author-stephanie-matthews-s_m_matthews/ to read the article, and make sure to check out Mark’s own novel, “Vanished”. 

Well, Happy NEW Year everyone! I see we’re all still here and that it is in fact 2021, and not Dec. 32nd, 2020; I didn’t want to jinx anything by posting a happy new year before the date actually changed. The year that was is over!

Unfortunately there’s no magical turn of the date that will reset us. There’s still many months to go before most of us will experience positive changes in COVID, and chaos breeds chaos. In many ways I was in a position to survive the year better than many. I was extremely blessed in the truest sense of the word to start a new job a month before the lockdown happened which allowed me to keep regular work hours in an industry heavily impacted by COVID. I found ways to stay active, kept lots of small, often silly goals to keep me focused, and my introverted self was happy as a peach. Sure, I missed traveling and my regular workflow and activities, but I tried new things with varying levels of success (it turns out that picking up dancing from YouTube tutorials is harder than it looks), and almost broke the 8k mark running on the trails, double of what I could do at the start of summer. But even with some cute cats and a good roommate keeping me from going isolation crazy, December 1st came and I really started to miss my people. I missed being able to shake a hand when I met someone new, give the odd hug. Missed simply walking into a store without being counted in. I missed having freedom to do what I want, go where I want, meet with whoever I want.

The “2020” year isn’t going away just because it’s now 365 + 1. But can we celebrate just one thing from the year that was? I haven’t announced it here yet but the title of this blog kind of blew my big news: thanks to all of you, “The Eve’s End” reached Amazon Best Seller status! It also hung out Top 10 in a number of categories, joining the ranks likes of Stephen King and Frank Peretti!

I can’t tell you enough what an amazing accomplishment this is for an indie author like me to achieve, and with only my second novel! If you haven’t read it yet, now is the time! Available at all major online retailers, “The Eve’s End” is the story that has been radically changing the Christmas story for people all over the world! And please, don’t forget to leave a review. Every review makes a difference.

Happy new year everyone! Let’s look ahead forgetting the past; it is behind us now

IT’S HERE! Release day has arrived! “The Eve’s End” is now available to purchase at your favourite online retailer, ebook and paperback! 

I am actually unbelievably excited for people to start reading this story, there’s so many things about it that I finally don’t have to keep a secret anymore! But, if there’s one group of people I really want to reach with this story, it’s everyone who has ever felt alone. “The Eve’s End” is about so much, but it is so very much about people who feel like they’ve missed their place in this world, who feel alone, or feel like they honestly don’t belong. This book is dedicated to all of you. You must believe that you are never alone, no matter how many vacant seats there are on either side of you.

“The Eve’s End”: There is no turning back.

It’s been twenty-eight years since Fae Peeters came to a little Belgian village for Christmas. Twenty-eight years since she received the Gift and came face to face with Nefas. Fate would ensure that twenty-eight years would not become twenty-nine.

Fae has found a successful life for herself, but she carries with her the secret of a traumatic past no one can understand: the Gift, and Nefas. She fears her past because it could still become her future. . . because Nefas hasn’t stopped haunting her. What does it take to get your life back from someone who stole it from you? Everything.

A mysterious mandate brings Fae back to the Belgian village for Christmas where it all began. It’s a place she swore she’d never return to, but she determines to find reprieve from what—and who—still haunts her.

Unsettling events, however, shatter her plans for finding peace.The ghost of a teenager, who legend said Nefas had killed years earlier, is seen wandering the streets. A young woman who has interests beyond the Christmas festivities knows more than she should, and she seems to have awoken the Gift in a way it hasn’t been since Fae had twenty-eight years earlier. Even many of the local villagers have become ignorant of Nefas’ darkness.

Faced once more with Nefas’ inevitable call, Fae will be forced to discover the courage to exorcise her past once and for all by surviving one more Christmas Eve with the Gift and with Nefas. He has had twenty-eight years to make sure Fae doesn’t escape him again, and his ambitions have grown beyond the village walls.

Purchase now at:
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk

Have you ever wondered what my party trick is? What I love about writing? Or what the hardest part of writing “The Eve’s End” was? Good thing I answered those burning questions for you, then! Whew. It was such a pleasure to be interviewed by editor and fellow writer Kirsten McNiell on her blog “The Art is Ours” where we sat down and talked about my upcoming release, “The Eve’s End” and some other stuff . . . Like party tricks and the Instagram LIVE video we’ll be doing together next Wednesday, Nov.4th at 7pm ET! Check out Kirsten’s Instagram page to watch @writer.kirsten

Do you have questions about me or my books? Drop your questions below and I’ll answer them live next Wednesday!

Read the full interview now at: “The Art is Ours”– Sit Down with Stephanie M. Matthews

[image error]

I think the one day that is almost just as exciting as Release Day is Cover Reveal Day! Everything starts to become that much more real, and I’m pretty proud about how my cover turned out!

There is an ominous dread hanging over the village walls–literally! On Christmas Eve when the Gift and Nefas take over the little village, one thing has always been very clear: the village walls are a containment boundary. But this year it looks like that rule is being pushed to its limits…!

“The Eve’s End” is the stunning sequel to the breakout thriller “The Gift”. Re-immerse yourself in the vivid writing style, provoking storytelling, and addictive suspense that made you love the first novel!

It’s been twenty-eight years since Fae Peeters came to a little Belgian village for Christmas. Twenty-eight years since she received the Gift and came face to face with Nefas. Fate would ensure that twenty-eight years would not become twenty-nine.

Fae has found a successful life for herself, rising to the top of her field as a highly sought after architect; she has a healthy family, home, and future. But she carries with her the secret of a traumatic past no one can understand: the Gift, and Nefas. She fears her past because it could still become her future. . . because Nefas hasn’t stopped haunting her. What does it take to get your life back from someone who stole it from you? Everything.

A mysterious mandate brings Fae back to the Belgian village for Christmas where it all began. It’s a place she swore she’d never return to, but she determines to find reprieve from what—and who—still haunts her. Unsettling events, however, shatter her plans for finding peace.

The ghost of a teenager, who legend said Nefas had killed years earlier, is seen wandering the streets. A young woman who has interests beyond the Christmas festivities knows more than she should, and she seems to have awoken the Gift in a way it hasn’t been since Fae had twenty-eight years earlier. Even many of the local villagers have become ignorant of Nefas’ darkness.

Faced once more with Nefas’ inevitable call, Fae will be forced to discover the courage to exorcise her past once and for all by surviving one more Christmas Eve with the Gift and with Nefas. He has had twenty-eight years to make sure Fae doesn’t escape him again, and his ambitions have grown beyond the village walls.

“The Eve’s End” releases on November 17th. Find at your favourite online retailer.

[image error]Available as e-book and hard copy

In “The Eve’s End”, sequel to “The Gift”, the main character Fae Peeters gets to share the pages with two new POV characters. Both of these new characters get to tell the story of the Gift more thoroughly than Fae ever could on her own, and I’m excited to formally introduce you to Katie Windsor and Henri Meyer!

First up is Katie. From Redding, England, Katie is in her middle-twenties and works as a contract photographer. Hired to shoot for a new coffee table book featuring work by top, modern architectures, including Fae Peeters, Katie had been finishing up her work in Reims, France, when she struck up a conversation with an older gentleman at the bus stop. They found a mutual admiration for the designs of Peeters and he suggested Katie make a sidetrip to a certain little Belgium village to discover some off the record projects Peeters has there. With the chance for a handsome bonus on the line, Katie postpones her Christmas break and makes the short drive into Belgium to see what she can find. . . Much more than she expected. Who was it that sent her to the village? Good forces or bad? Why?

[image error]

When Katie does arrive, she starts on an awkward foot when she accidentally crosses paths with Fae Peeters. . . sort of. Upon arriving and checking into the hotel, Katie finds the award-winning architect herself in the same hotel. It catches Katie off guard, so rather than going back down the stairs to introduce herself and see what she can find out about this mystery project, she does the logical thing- runs away in a panic! Can you relate? Katie is a painfully relatable character for us common people and I can’t wait for you to read the rest of her and Fae’s continuing story!

Next up is Henri Meyer. Henri gets to tell the story of the Gift from the view of one of the few who were not born in the village so is not involved in the Gift like everyone else. In his late twenties, Henri kind of hates his village. He hates how the Gift isolates them from the rest of the world, how it makes everyone afraid. He had moved away as soon as he could and didn’t look back. But, then he lost his job to a cold market and ran out of options. He was forced back to his parents where he kept looking for a new job. . . and found love with a local girl named Josie. Two and a half years later, he’s still in the village- for her- but he’s getting antsy to put the village behind him again, and has picked up rock climbing to help him get rid of some of that pent up energy. Josie, however, is scared for what might happen if she left the village with Henri. Can Henri and Josie stay together with the village between them? What does a scruffy man neither of them know want with Henri? And how does Fae’s arrival change the stakes?

[image error]

When we first meet Henri, he’s hanging off the side of a climbing wall, muscles exhausted, no climbing harness, and debating whether or not he has strength enough to finish both the climb and to come back down. I wanted to give his opening chapter a struggle right from the start and I knew exactly the struggle I wanted him to have: doubt and fear. Spoiler alert, Henri falls off the wall. What does wall climbing have to do with the Gift, Henri’s role as a character, or why you should care? It has everything to do with all the above. Henri, you see, gets caught up in the Gift, and with Nefas, in a way that only Fae will be able to understand. Henri’s struggle is played out as a climb, one where falling has more consequences than just a couple bruises. Does Henri make it through Christmas Eve? In “The Eve’s End” not everyone does. . .

“The Eve’s End” releases November 17th.

Photo credit to Joseph Pearson and Andre Unger

It’s not the first time someone has given me this feedback in a review: “I don’t like Fae.” “I didn’t think I was going to like her.” And you know what? As the author and creator of Fae Peeters, I can tell you that these people aren’t wrong to think this.

Fae begins her journey as a young 20-something with a massive chip on her shoulder; we just happen to be in the part of her story where that chip gets hacked away at with a dull shovel. She comes into the story already a bit stressed by the mystery of her grandmother’s purpose in sending her to this small, little no-name village, and then her personal trigger gets triggered. Over and over again. If you met her under in any other circumstance she’d be just like anyone else you’ve met. While I admit, in my mind I had written her character to be a little more (okay, quite a bit more) subtle (writing is a learning curve), I’m also not sorry for how she turned out.

For one thing, everything she goes through in “The Gift” means that much more even if you can’t fully sympathize with her; and second, we’ve all been terrible people in the past, especially when we’re younger and still learning how to best interact with the world around us. I know there’s been so many times when I lost control of myself and acted pretty horribly, or said things that were uneducated and as such were straight-up hurtful. It’s human. Not everyone is going to like everyone all the time, and in this way, Fae is painfully human. Even though she can be unnecessarily rude, I still see my own failures to be a good person in her at times when I should’ve been less horrible, and I hope my readers can see that in themselves too.

“The Gift” was never written to be a book to just sit down and enjoy a quick thrill; it’s as much of a mirror to the reader as the actual mirrors are in the story. Judging by how many of the reviews are positive (4.8/5 on Amazon!), my readers have stayed along for the full ride and haven’t quit, and to them, I am grateful.

And that brings us to “The Eve’s End”. There’s a couple of reasons why I decided to set it twenty-eight years after “The Gift”, and one of them is to give Fae the opportunity to mature. She’s still not perfect, she still makes decisions a “great” protagonist wouldn’t, but in that way, Fae again reflects back to us our own humanity because if you put yourself in her situation, you’re not always going to be the hero. We’re not always the hero of our own story because it’s hard. It hurts. And it’s scary as hell. If it was easy, we’d all be heroes all the time. For my readers I believe that “The Eve’s End” will offer some level of redemption for Fae’s attitudes in “The Gift” because now she’s part of the group who knows all the secrets and there are others who do not.

To all the readers who had difficulty reading through the heavy handed attitude of Fae Peeters but didn’t give up, thank you. It was worth it in the end, wasn’t it?

Make sure to look for “The Eve’s End” at your favourite online retailer when it releases on November 17, 2020

IT’S HAPPENING!

Guys, gals, y’all, miei amici, everyone, “The Eve’s End” is dropping hot November 17th! I hope you enjoy this announcement video, though, I’m not a YouTuber so scale your expectations accordingly!

The Eve’s End: It’s been twenty-eight years since the events of “The Gift” left Fae Peeters forever changed. She’s lived her life as best she can under the shadow Nefas has put on her, but now, her old guardian Dominic, has forced her hand to come back to the little Belgian village for Christmas. Fae swears she’s going to have nothing to do with the Gift regardless of why she’s back, but of course her plans mean nothing… not when Nefas has had twenty-eight years to make sure she doesn’t get away from him again… and not when there’s a ghost of a young teenager Nefas killed years ago wandering the village streets; though why he was killed, no one knows. As mysteries begin to unravel a bigger picture begins to emerge: this Christmas Eve is about more than just one soul. Nefas has ambitions.

I’ve got a lot of great promo content lined up to get you ready for “The Eve’s End” so make sure you’re following my Instagram (@stephaniem.matthews) and Facebook to make sure you don’t miss anything!

If you have not yet read “The Gift”, you really should because 1) it’s an awesome read, and 2) you won’t have to worry about spoilers! You can buy here:

Amazon Canada: Click Here!

Amazon USA: Click Here!

Indigo-Chapters (Kobo & hard copy)- Click here!

Barnes & Noble (Nook & hard copy)- Click here!

iTunes Store: Click here!

I recently sat down with fellow Canadian, blogger, author, and writing service extraordinaire Kirsten McNeill to talk about some fun facts, “The Gift”, and what’s coming next. I talk about Big Macs, tease my upcoming project, and reveal the one thing I’d like to tell other authors. Don’t miss this fun and insightful interview, click the link to read it now! https://kirstenmcneill.com/stephanie-m-matthews-author-interview/

[image error]

What an awesome way to to start the year and to end the month: thanks to everyone who voted these past two weeks, The Gift has been voted “Best Cover” at Alternative-Read.com!

[image error]

With your help, The Gift won with 70% (!!!) of the votes!

So, other than bragging rights, does this actually mean anything? Of course! The Gift will be given some coveted advertising space on Alternative-Read.com, a top 100 UK Book Blog, so that others will be given the opportunity to experience the thrill of The Gift for themselves. Then, at the end of the year, it will face off against the other winners of 2019 for the Best Cover of 2019.

Of course, all this wouldn’t be possible without the wonderful talent of my cover designer Aaron J. Morton, so all credit to him for his AWARD WINNING design!

Also, if you haven’t read The Gift yet, you can download the first three chapters for free, with no registration here: Preview The Gift

You can read the full release here:Announcing the January 2019 AltRead Best Cover Winner