Featured Interview With J.J. Matthews
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in East London but lived most of my life in the Lakes District of North-Western England. I moved back and forth between the north and south numerous times before settling in the North for the final years of my teen decade and the starting years of my adulthood. Once I finished university, I decided to go on a new adventure further into Europe and have been living in the Netherlands for the past five years.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I wrote my first ever creative piece sometime before I was ten years old. Granted, it was a short and rather primitive piece considering it was for a school project, but I am certain that it was that project that triggered my love of literature and fiction. After this project, I specifically remember my class having to read and study Kensuke’s Kingdom, by Michael Morpurgo. This was the first book I read that I wanted to read privately. It was enthralling to say the least. After that, I became more interested in general fiction. I remember reading Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird, at the surprise of my local librarian. I didn’t start writing in earnest until 2015, when I realised I had many ideas but needed a way to let them out. I started by posting horror short stories on the creepypasta website and eventually worked my way up over the years to the full novel I have written and released earlier this year.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite authors right now are Stuart MacBride and Stephen King. I’ve always been a fan of Stephen King, particularly when I read Misery, but Stuart MacBride is a more recent discovery. I like a variety of different genres but my top favourites are fantasy, horror, scifi and gritty noir crime. Though I do admit I love a good mystery thriller as well.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Rise of the Old Gods is a book set in a multitude of fictional worlds, inhabited by a general population of creatures known collectively as Enders. It is their belief that they are destined to bring about the end of all existence and return everything back to the times of only the void. In this book, the young Warlock Mortius Maleos joins the school that raises young Enders, the Pendle Institute of Magic, where he must learn all about his species, his people and his powers. During his education, he learns a lot more than he bargained for as he learns about his family and of an eldritch threat that is being summoned back into the material plane to usher in the Apocalypse.
This book involves a deeply intricate and concisely crafted magic system with emphasis on incantation and rituals involving ingredients and sigil signs. It also contains a sparse and vast world with numerous other worlds built in between along with interactions between the magical and the human world. In this book there are a variety of different species, all with their own home worlds, cultures, religions, customs, features and much more. All of them either correlate alongside or are inspired by various myths, legends and folklore.
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