Category: Uncategorized

Learning lessons and getting back to work…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on September 1, 2025

A large stream with small waterfalls set against a backdrop of autumn foliage. Taken by me in 2022.

Welcome to September. The spiritual end of summer, if not the meteorological or calendrical one. That also mean its the beginning of fall, and while we sadly get very little of it in my hometown these days, it remains my favorite season, nonetheless.

Okay, so last time we spoke I got pretty vulnerable about my fears concerning the then upcoming Narratess Indie Book Sale. So, how did it go? Were my fears justified?

Well, both yes and no. My sales for all three days combined were anemic, and that would be putting it very politely, so my first real chance at exposing my book to a large number of new eyeballs was met with a deafening yawn, which was exactly the reaction I wanted least.

That said, it wasn’t zero and I am grateful for that. So, to the handful of people who took a chance on my debut novel this month, you have my sincere and heartfelt thanks and I hope that my story is an interesting experience for you.

Staying focused on the positive, the sale did generate my first sales in the UK and Germany, so now I can say my book has a presence on three different continents (waves at Australia and my first international reader.) That’s pretty neat.

And while I did not get the desired results from joining the Narratess sale, there were things about it I did appreciate (as well as some criticisms) that I think will help me plan future marketing attempts.

In terms of the things I liked about it, the sheer volume and variety of titles being offered was amazing and truly shows the breadth and depth of what is being offered by independent & self-published writers and storytellers whose stories would never have had a chance to earn their creators money, let alone even be seen just 15 years ago due to the nature of traditional publishing. That in itself is a win for everyone, regardless of sales generated.

The other thing I really appreciated was how the sale website was set up, displaying the titles being offered in the sale randomly with each refresh, meaning that new books were always being shown each time the page was loaded. It made it feel like a thumb wasn’t being put on the scale, which is very much appreciate by those who work in niche genres and styles. It also had a filter search, making it easy to find books in your preferred taste in genres.

That said, the website did have some issues in regard to the filters, which seemed to treat everything as an AND, and never as an OR, meaning that unless you absolutely wanted a book that was both A AND B, it would not show books that were A OR B, which can be frustrating.

And while the website was built to show all sorts of books with no deference given to any specific titles, the author community participating was very much not of the same mindset and most social media posts promoting the sale and making recommendations seemed to keep pushing the same dozen or so titles. By the end of the weekend, it felt less like “Here’s a great sale with over 300+ unique titles to check out!” and more “Hey! Here’s your chance to grab these dozen books on the cheap and if you have a spare buck or two after that, maybe grab on these other books, or whatever.”

Finally, there were the bundles. I’m not opposed to bundles. I think they are both effective tools to promote multiple artists/projects and great for consumers who may have such limited disposable income that taking a chance on unknown piece of art is legitimately hard to do financially. My problem is running both a sale and bundles within the sale. Basically, the bundles got a ton of promotion before and during the sale and if your book wasn’t in a bundle (and there can be many reasons why you might not wish to participate), then you were relegated to “Oh and maybe buy these other books if you have any money left.”

That said, there is no sour grapes here and I will not begrudge anyone else any success they had last weekend, whether they were in a bundle or they had wrote one of the more popular titles being offered. Their success was earned and deserved and did not come at my expense. I can be both disappointed in my own lack of success and happy that others found some of their own.

This experience has not soured me on group promotions. I do plan to participate in another in October, though that one is much more genre focused and while my book isn’t a textbook example of the genre in question, it shares enough characteristics to be in the same neighborhood if not on main street. I’ll have more here about that when the time draws closer.

The other thing this experience has not done is deterred me from writing my next book. Indeed, the lack of interest in my book during the sale has only added fuel to a fire that had been smoldering for most of the summer. Taking a month off has also given that fire some much needed oxygen and it’s once more burning brightly to the point where I’m writing 4-5 sticky notes a day at work, so that I remember to type them up when I get home in the evening. I’m back to work, starting the first draft of what I’m pretty damn sure will be my next release. Some writers need coffee and scented candles to find the mood and energy to write. I apparently need video games and spite. I can accept that about myself.

Anyway, I’m not ready to drop any details about the before-mentioned next book, but I do feel I’ll be talking about it in more depth sooner rather than later, so stay tuned to this space for that.

Before I go, I wanted to take a quick moment to give both a hearty congratulations and much deserve plug for my awesomely amazing and amazingly awesome spouse who releasing their 12th book today! The Strangers’ Sanctuary is an authentic and beautiful story and I am incredibly proud to have been part of its creation as both an alpha and beta reader, but as also as a general cheerleader and sounding board as they worked on it. I honestly cannot recommend this book highly enough because any praise I give it would feel inadequate. This is a book that will make you feel… all sorts of things, but you will feel something, that I promise you. It’s an experience and its one I think worth exploring for everyone.

Trope (ish) graphic for The Strangers' Sanctuary. Tagline: When home betrays you, build a new home.
Mockup in center of ereader and paperback with cover: a woman and a man leaning on a fence, gazing over a hilly landscape.
Left side text:
* queernorm world & mostly queer cast
* thorny themes, cozy setting
* small-town festivals & gatherings
* supportive mentors
* found family (when the first one fails you)
Center text: cover: maybarros.carrd.co
Right side text: a small-scale fantasy novel with trauma, triumph and community

Okay, that’s it for me for now. If you have it where you are, then enjoy your fall. Take a walk, wear a sweater, enjoy some foliage, sit by a campfire, drink some cider, & perhaps even read a book or two.

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Narratess Sale: Where Excitement Meets Terror…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on August 22, 2025

Banner for the Narratess Indie Book Sale. A Dragon with a small pile of skulls and a ringed planet are surrounded by several dozen books.

Text: Indie Book Sale

indiebook.sale

Fantasy, Sci FI & Horror

August 23 - 25

Banner designed by Arden Powell

As I mentioned in my last post, Tales of a Stranger Sister will be part of the upcoming Narratess Fantasy, Sci-Fi, & Horror Indie Book Sale.

While this won’t be my first time running a promotion, this will be the first time I’ll be part of a large-scale group promotion. I had hoped to be a part of the last Narratess sale that was held in April, but of course, when I had learned it existed, the cutoff for signups had already passed, so I ran a solo promotion that same weekend to, well, ah… let’s say results, and just leave it at that.

Honestly, this is something I’ve been looking forward to ever since I published my debut novel. Living with a self-published author for these last 11 years, I’ve gotten to see how these group promotions tend to go, and my spouse/editor/publishing guru always seems to come out on the other side of these ventures seeing very positive results. So, now’s my chance to be a part of this and, honestly, it couldn’t have come at a better time for me.

We’re coming up on the six-month anniversary of the release of Tales of a Stranger Sister and sales, so far, have been… uh… Well, I won’t say they’re disappointing because I legitimately worried that no one would actually want to read my book at all, so the fact that a dozen people were willing to take a chance and give me actual currency in exchange for my work is something I will never not be both thankful for and in awe about.

That said, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish that number was more. I’m proud of this book and, dammit, I think there are people who would absolutely love it if they found it. It’s just been hard finding those people and putting it in front of their eyeballs, despite it feeling like I’m doing everything short of hurling copies at people’s heads and screaming “READ THIS!” So, this is my first real, true opportunity to expose my book to a large number of people and, in turn, hopefully generate sales, and, more importantly, eventually generate more reviews and ratings which can only help boost its footprint in a vast internet ocean (Footprints in the ocean? Sorry, I think that metaphor got away from me.)

So, I’m excited for this weekend to finally see what my story can do with actual exposure to a its potential audience.

And I’m equally terrified.

Because there is also the chance that it completely fails to generate any interest with the indie book-buying public, and I will no longer have that excuse that sales have been slow because no one knew it existed. I would have to face the fact that I might have created something that no one wants, or worse, even if it was something they wanted, what I’m offering is mediocre or even bad. That I am a bad writer who wrote a bad book and the best I can hope for is a dozen readers who are too indiscriminate with their disposable income and too kind to tell me to eff off with my bad book.

So, yeah, I got that running in the back of my mind. Good ol’ imposter syndrome with an unhealthy dose of insecurity. Boy, what a fun blog entry this turned out to be, huh? Aren’t you glad you stopped by?

Okay, enough of that! I’ve always said that I wrote and self-published this book the way I did because I wanted to have the freedom to make the creative decisions I wanted to make and to let the book succeed or fail on my own terms. So, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?

That said, as there are over 300+ books in this sale, written by fellow indie authors from all across the vast spectrum of humanity, I should also do my share to support them as much I hope they’ll support me. So, here are a selection of some of the titles I plan to pick up this weekend to help carry me through the fall and winter reading season (Please click on the book below to see the full-sized image and description):

Narratess Indie Book Sale Ad for "Non-Player Character" by Veo Corva

Text:
Tar and their found family role-playing group get transported into the world of their game in this cosy queer portal fantasy for adults

Narratess Indie Book Sale Ad for "Journey Home" by May Barros

Text:
Amara e Luiza are witches in a queerplatonic relationship. Luiza leaves of a quest through space and ends up finding trouble. Amara follows, hoping its not too late.

And, of course, I’d be a real dingus if I didn’t also give a hearty, full-throated endorsement of my amazingly awesome and awesomely amazing spouse’s own entry for the sale:

Narratess Indie Book Sale Ad for "How I Became a Therapist in Another World Vol. 1-4" By C.A. Moss

Text:
Reborn in a Fantasy world, a queer 30-something therapist finds new friends, new purpose and a bit of romance while untangling the mysteries of the otherworld.

Seriously, it’s great, and you should grab a copy this weekend if you haven’t gotten one already.

And also speaking of my better half and partner in literary crimes, their newest novel, The Strangers’ Sanctuary, is now available for pre-order and will be out on September 1st! It’s amazing, honest, & authentic. A genuinely good read, so check it out if small-scale fantasy is your proverbial cup of tea.

The cover form The Strangers' Sanctuarty by S.E. Robertson. Vover features a male and female figure standing next to a fence looking at a road leading to a building in the distance.

Anyway, I hope you all find some books this weekend that scratch whatever itch your imagination has at the moment and if mine happens to be that particular backscratcher, then thank you! Thank you so very much!

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Good News, Everyone!

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on August 11, 2025

Well, I said I was hoping to have some good/interesting news to share soon and, as it turns out, I do!

Tales of a Stranger Sister will be a part of the upcoming August Narratess Indie Sale!

Banner for the Narratess Indie Book Sale. A chonky dragon reads a book at the bottom, a pile of skulls with a candle and ghost sit on the left of the text, and a space ship flies by a planet on the right of the text.

Text: Indie Book Sale

indiebook.sale

Fantasy, Sci FI & Horror

August 23 - 25

Banner designed by Arden Powell

This will be my first opportunity to put my book up for sale alongside my fellow Indie Author peers, including my always amazingly awesome and awesomely amazing spouse/editor/publishing guru!

So, please, come check out indiebook.sale on August 23^rd through 25^th and peruse the over 300+ books on sale, including mine, which will be available for 0.99¢ (or the closest international equivalent) for that weekend. It’s time to stuff your e-reader of choice with all the indie books to carry you through the all-too-short fall and long cold winter to come.

I now return you to the too-damn-hot summer, already in progress.

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Updates from Vacation Land…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on August 9, 2025

A scene from "Laid-back Camp" in which one of the main characters relaxes in a camping chair by a fire next to a calm lake.

We’re a week into my August self-imposed vacation from writing, and the results so far have been interesting. I do feel like taking the time away from sitting down every evening to write has let my brain get some much-needed breathing room and as a result, new ideas are already beginning to flourish.

The biggest benefit of this has been that I think I finally nailed down what my next project will be. It’s an idea I first came up with like 5-10 years ago, but really, it was just a setting without an actual story attached, so the idea kinda just sat there waiting for an actual story to come along.

I think I finally have the beginnings of that story. Now, this comes along with a lot of big ol’ caveats. I only have a handful of story beats even remotely fleshed out in my head and on paper, but what I have is the general 10,000-foot up view of what acts 1, 2, and 3 will be about, along with some character notes, and some other general hodge-podge mish-mash of scene ideas and plot points.

Nothing that makes feel like I must cut the vacation short and rush back to the writing desk, but enough to also not make me dread that rapidly approaching time when I will. I’m excited about starting this new project but not necessarily chomping at the bit.

Yet.

So, what else have I been do with this time away from the literary grindstone? Mostly getting our new gaming rig set up with all the stores and emulators I’ll need for the next wave of games. I did treat myself and picked up the Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober Team when it was 40% off on GOG.

Silent Hill 2 holds a special place in my heart as a video game. Both it and its precursor mark the first time a video game made me feel legitimate dread and unease while playing, which is quite the feat for any game from the PS1/PS2 era. The first game’s atmosphere was something that few “horror” games had attempted in the 90s, as most preferred to rely on the classic jump scare. The sequel, however, might just be not only the best written horror story in video game history, it might be one of the best stories, period. Now, nearly 25 years later, a remake built for modern graphics expectations arrived and I’ve been eagerly waiting to travel once more into the quiet, foggy town of Silent Hill.

I played the original PS2 version of Silent Hill 2 at least a half-dozen times, so I’m well versed in the story and the narrative twists and turns James’ journey takes him through. I wondered if I could possibly feel that same sense of dread and foreboding playing this graphically superior version.

The short answer: Yes. I find myself tensely gripping my controller as I try to navigate even the earliest parts of this story. The game not only looks absolutely gorgeous; the atmosphere of isolation and loneliness has been perfectly preserved. Logically, I KNOW I shouldn’t be running into anything too difficult or deadly this early on, and yet, I’m cautiously creeping along wondering if even the most basic monsters will eat my face. Indeed, the limit amount of combat I’ve seen makes me realize that if I can avoid it, that’s the smart play because James is as physically fragile as he is emotionally (which is as it should be, IMO.)

As it is a remake of a late 90s/early 2000s game, it definitely retained some game design elements from that era, for good and ill. Just been stabbed? Better drink an energy drink! That’ll patch you right up. Now, why would you think that you could walk up those stairs? Can’t you see the single bucket blocking your way affixed to the earth like it was Mjölnir waiting for Thor. That is something you absolutely definitely could never EVER just STEP OVER. Nope.

On the other hand, the voice acting is much improved from the original. I mean, the original part 2 was leagues above part 1’s, but even then, there were bits where you could tell Konami was not going to pay for a second take, which leads to some, um, interesting choices on how the actors read their lines. In the remake, it’s clear (so far) that the actors took the time to try and understand their characters and match the performance to them.

Anyway, I’m not even out of South Vale and I’m taking this playthrough deliciously slow (also, I’m avoiding playing too close to bedtime because I do not need THAT running through my brain as I sleep. Further updates as warranted.

Next, as we’re firmly into August, let’s look back at July’s sales figures for Tales of a Stranger Sister:

Well, it’s not zero, so that’s something, at least. Do I wish it was more? Oh, most definitely, but I won’t say that the two people who took a chance my debut novel is nothing, either. I’m still blown away that anyone would want to read my book, so the fact that there have been multiple someones is something I will celebrate.

I won’t post a graph of Kindle Unlimited page reads for July because, well, there were none. In the last five and a half months, there’s only been one complete readthrough and one where someone got five pages in and noped out (which is their right, and I won’t begrudge them that.)

That leads me to my next bit of business. My current term on Kindle Select / Kindle Unlimited runs out right before the end of August and I think it might be time to leave the program and go wide for the ebook version. It’s a shame, really, because Kindle Unlimited actually pays me MORE per full read than what I charge for the ebook version, but it doesn’t matter how good the royalty rate is if NO ONE is reading it there, so this is the official announcement: Tales of a Stranger Sister will be leaving Kindle Unlimited on August 27th. If you are interested in reading it with that service, please download it as soon as possible as if you download it before it leaves the program, you will still be able to read it using Kindle Unlimited after it leaves.

Once I get the book set up on other ebook services, I’ll make the announcement here, so stay tuned for that as well as for some other ebook-related news in the next week or so (fingers crossed.)

Okay, I’m gonna wrap up things here for now. I’m hoping to have some good/interesting news in the next week or so and if it comes, I’ll share it here. So, until then, stay cool folks.

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Taking a break…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on July 27, 2025

Calvin and Hobbes sitting under a tree, resting, next to a sign that says "Time out". Ary by Bill Watterson — Art by Bill Watterson (1994)

Okay, so let’s talk writing and productivity and, more specifically, the lack of it. Ever since I published Tales of a Stranger Sister, I’ve been trying to make real, substantial progress on my next book.

Results have been… well, not great to be honest. I’ve attempted to start three separate projects in that time and while I penned several thousand words across these three projects, I wouldn’t exactly say I’m satisfied with much of it. I think I have three interesting and fun ideas to write about, but what I don’t have is a single story amongst the three, and certainly not one that would fill a novel.

As I said in my last post, this last year has been interesting. Between finishing the debut novel, jumping into promotion and marketing mode (“BUY MY BOOK!“), career changes, family health issues both human and feline, and the state of the world being what I could charitably describe as “a radioactive septic tank fire”, it’s possible that it all might just have been a touch too interesting for me.

But beyond that, I spent over two and a half years straight working on Stranger Sister. Every day. It became a habit, a part of my daily routine and, frankly, it’s been hard to break free from the mindset of needing to sit down and tweak that text just one more time.

Lastly, and to be at my most blunt, I’m tired. I’ve been adjusting to a new life routine that is very different from the life routine I had while drafting and editing Stranger Sister. It just feels exhausting to force myself to tack on trying to create a new story every evening. It’s starting to become where I now resent the time I set aside every evening for writing. A time which I normally love but am growing frustrated with because nothing I writing right now feels like it’s moving me toward my goal of having a second book.

I am well aware that resentment than easily morph into hate and loathing and I very much don’t want to hate the time I spend writing. So, knowing that, I have made some decisions on what my next moves will be in both the short and medium term.

I’m going to take a short break from writing. Not a hiatus. More like a vacation. Possibly even a working vacation.

Until the end of August, I’m taking some time for myself. I’m not stepping away from writing 100% during the next 5 weeks or so, but I’m also not going to force myself to sit at my laptop for 1-2 hours every night trying to force words for a story that just isn’t coming right now. If I get ideas about one of my premises that might finally blossom into an actual story, I’ll take the time to write it down. If I do nothing writing related that day, I won’t angst about it. No pressure. No writing or creative obligations for 5 weeks.

I plan to catch up on some media I’ve backlogged for the last 4 months, play some games on our new gaming rig, and even read a few books from my TBR pile that I’ve neglected for far too long. In other words, expose and immerse myself to other stories and let myself get inspired again. Get out of my head and let someone else steer my imagination for a while. Honestly, that usually helps a lot when I find that I’m spinning my wheels.

As I said before, this will be a bit of a working vacation. I still plan to promote Stranger Sister during this period, and indeed I have some plans in the works for late August in terms of both promoting and expanding the availability of my debut novel. So, I will obviously have to still dedicate time to that, but I’m feeling optimistic that it will ultimately be productive for me as a creator.

Now, seeing that this is day one of my self-imposed writing vacation, that means I managed to write 1200 words of notes on a story premise I backburnered five years ago and an entire blog post today.

…

Because of course I did.

Tomorrow. I’ll start my writing vacation tomorrow.

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Another trip around the sun…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on July 13, 2025

The character No-Face from "Spirited Away" eating a slice of cake

It’s my birthday weekend! I’m now, officially, in my “Late 40s.” So, um… yay? Yay.

No, seriously, yay! YAY, even! This has been a, let’s say, interesting year to say the least, but I’m still kickin’ and I’m still moving forward every day, even if it’s only a few measly millimeters (Yeah, I’m throwing metric at all yinz.)

This year has been marked by some drastic life changes for me and my spouse, some health drama, and, of course, *wildly gesticulates out the window at the world* all THAT. But in the end, my spouse and I are still standing and even, dare I say, thriving.

Probably the thing that had the biggest impact on my life in the last year was that of some upheaval in my professional life. I prefer not to go into the specifics here, but it looks like I’ve come out the other side of it finding myself in a similar, if possibly slightly better (in some ways) place. The second biggest thing was some medical drama involving my awesomely amazing and amazingly awesome spouse. Again, we’ve managed to come out the other side of it relatively fine, everything considered, to which I’m extraordinarily grateful to the universe for.

Which brings us to the third most impactful item of the last year: Finally publishing my first novel. But what do I mean by impactful? Do I mean it has impacted my life financially? Uh… no. Not really. I’ve sold maybe a dozen copies in the last 4 1/2 months. Has it impacted my life in terms of fame? Again, no, because A.) I write under a pen name, and B.) even if I didn’t, I’ve, again, sold maybe a dozen copies so the number of people who are even aware I wrote a novel could all sit comfortably on a city bus.

The characters Chihiro and No-Face sitting on an empty train at night — Conceptual depiction of the fans of my book all gathered in one place

And yet, I can’t help but feel like the simple act of creating a book and putting it out there has changed my life forever, even if I can’t define how in easily tangible ways.

Anyway, as it is my birthday, let’s talk gifts. I decided to give myself a gift this year and bought my spouse and I our first high-end dedicated gaming PC. I have been a console gamer for years, but was getting steadily frustrated with not being able to play everything I’ve wanted to because it was either A.) exclusive to a console we didn’t own (e.g. The Last of Us), or B.) already on a console generation beyond what we already own. So, instead of dropping money on yet another console that won’t have like 35% of the games we want to play/try available for it but will cost several hundred dollars and take up space we don’t have on our entertainment center, I decided to make the investment to buy a gaming PC. The biggest benefit of which is that like 97% of console exclusive titles are available on Steam for PC and I’m now set up to play all the upcoming games in the franchises I love or have been meaning to try for years, but couldn’t due to lack of correct console.

In any case, I’m practically giddy with anticipation about playing Borderlands 4, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Silent Hill 1 Remake, Silent Hill F (Wait, a non-Remake Silent Hill and it’s written by the team behind Higurashi?! Well, sign me the eff up!), The Last of Us I & II remasters, Grand Theft Auto VI, The Outer World 2, and somewhere in the far, FAR distant future, Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5. Oh, and the library of some like 200+ games we’ve already accumulated from Steam, GOG, and Epic. Also, I love watching my spouse play some of their favorite games, so even when the joystick’s not in my hands, I’m being entertained. That’s the classic win-win.

Moving from gifts for me, let’s talk gifts for YOU (Yes, you reading this!). That’s right, I’m pulling a Hobbit and using my birthday as a chance to give gifts to others For the next 24-hours or so, the ebook version of Tales of a Stranger Sister will be 0.99¢. That’s nearly 66% off! Heck, let’s be generous and say it’s practically 67% off! If you’ve been thinking of checking out my debut novel, or you have and know someone who might enjoy it, then today’s the day to grab a digital copy!

So, looking ahead, what’s on the horizon for the next trip around the angry flaming ball in the sky? Well, besides all the gaming I’m about to do? This next year will be interesting as I try to balance marketing the book I’ve already written while continuing to try and pen the next one. Do I expect to have a second book out by the time we meet back up here in a year’s time? Honestly? Probably not, but I do fully expect to have a clear idea when it will be ready for release as I hope to be fully engaged in the revising, rewriting, and editing phases of that project by that time. I’m not making any promises other than I’ll work hard and try my best to not make anyone hoping for another book wait an unreasonable amount of time. As I get closer to a finished draft I’ll more likely than not start sharing details of the next story, so there is that to look forward to.

So, let’s put a bow on this chat and close it out by telling anyone reading this the following:

Thank you!

Thank you for checking out my site and blog. Thank you for following me on social media. Thank you for checking out my book. Thank you for especially buying it. Thank you extra especially for reading it. Thank you extra EXTRA especially for rating and reviewing it. A year ago, I wondered if any of the previous statements could ever be true, but they’ve all happened and that might just be the best gift of all.

It’s time for another go-round on this 584-million-mile ride on a ball spinning at 1,000 miles per hour as it flies at 67,000 miles per hour through effin’ SPACE.

Anime characters riding and screaming on a roller coaster

So, please, keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times.

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Navigating down the river and into a much larger ocean…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on July 2, 2025

The character Anne Shirley, a red-haired girl in a simple dress, sitting in a small boat that has sprung a leak and is filling with water.

Ever since Tales of a Stranger Sister debuted in March, it has been an Amazon exclusive. In terms of ebook sales, that will continue to be the case until at least the end of August, at which point I will have to make a decision as to whether I should leave Kindle Select and start selling on other ebook retailers.

However, as my Kindle Select membership only impacts the current availability of the ebook version, that does not prevent me from announcing that the paperback version is now available for sale outside of the Amazon ecosystem through Draft2Digital.

So, if you’ve been holding off on trying my book on the principal of not handing one of the frankly too many creepy billionaires another penny of your money, then this is some, albeit probably tempered, good news.

Full disclosure – the paperback is more expensive outside of Amazon. However, I am by no means trying to get rich off my audience. I chose a price that simply kept the same royalty-rate as I earned on Amazon, the paperback version already being smallest royalty of the three options currently available. Honestly, this is not so much about trying to make more money (I am barely making any as it stands now) and more about offering my potential audience an alternative if they are not comfortable shopping Amazon under the current world circumstances (which, hey, I totally get.)

As I am no longer on only one marketplace, I have created a books2read page and link to make it easier to see where my book is currently available for sale. As of this posting, it is still only Amazon, but in the next two weeks, it should (hopefully) begin showing up as a print book for sale from a number of different book retailers worldwide. I will be updating the links as these retailers start listing it. Anyway, here’s that link:

https://books2read.com/stranger-sister

I hope this minor tweak in availability will help those looking for a story like mine find it. And of course, to those who have already found and read it – Thank you for giving my book a chance. I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Update: Tales of a Stranger Sister is now available as a paperback at Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and Booktopia (for our friends down under.)

Moving on, It’s July, so that means a whole new batch of sales data for the previous month. Let’s see if I managed to top my Scrooge McDuckian fortune that was last month’s take of one cent…

A sales chart showing 1 book sold for the month of June

Another sales chart showing 804 pages read through Kindle Unlimited in the month of June

Okay… This is a lot better than a penny. After not selling a single copy in almost 2 months, it’s nice to see the blip of life on the sales chart again. Honestly, I’m more intrigued by the KU page reads this month. It appears that someone tore through the book over the course of a 4-5 days at the beginning of the month and a second person has started it at the end. So, at least the kindle select exclusivity isn’t totally going to waste.

Well, that about wraps up this update. I always feel at a loss as how to end these posts, so… Cats?

Two grayish-brown American shorthair cats laying on a blue couch. — Cats.

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Midsummer!

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on June 22, 2025

Hi again! A happy, and hopefully not-sweltering, midsummer/summer solstice to everyone who reads these little snippets of my thoughts. May the longest day and shortest night of the year bring you good times with good weather and with great people.

A field of yellow dandelions under a cloudless blue sky with the sun shining down on everything

Without going into spoilers, midsummer features very prominently in Tales of a Stranger Sister, so I wanted to talk a little bit about that here. Honestly, those chapters were probably my favorite to write during both the initial draft and subsequent rewrites, and it was one of the few times during the whole process where I never struggled to move from one word to the next. A chance to put into words those feelings of pure, unadulterated joy is one of the memories I’ll most treasure as I look back on creating this book in both the near and distant future.

More than anything else, those chapters were definitely the most fun I had during the whole process, and I certainly made sure to indulge in describing as much wonderful summer food as possible. Much of it was based on, or at least heavily inspired, by the food I would indulge in as a younger man during the long summer months, and while we’re still a few more weeks away from the best sweet corn of the season here, every time I re-read those passages while editing, I could taste it in my imagination.

The other part that was an absolute joy to write was the midsummer night bonfire sequence. Again, without giving any spoilers, that whole sequence has been something I’ve wanted to do in a fantasy story for a long, long time, so I’m eternally grateful that I had the opportunity to do so with my debut novel.

Anyway, to those who’ve read it, I hope you felt the joy that I felt crafting those chapters, and to those who may be thinking of giving my story I try, I hope it brings to mind pleasant memories of long warm days, short warm nights, good food, and better company.

And to help set a mood for those chapters and for summer in general, here’s a piece of music from The Gothard Sisters that will hopefully inspire thoughts of summer festivals full of merriment and wonderful food under clear, blue skies.

Until next time, stay cool, everyone!

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Pride and Joy…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on June 6, 2025

The Intersex-inclusive Progress Pride Flag

It’s June and that marks the start of Pride Month, a celebration and recognition of the LGBT+ community.

This marks my fifth pride month as an out bisexual man. I came out on my fortieth birthday which fell after pride that year. Obviously, I’ve been bisexual for a lot longer than six years. My whole life, actually, though I wasn’t comfortable expressing or even acknowledging that part of myself for large part of it.

I’m a member of the microgeneration known as Xennials. One of the defining aspects of my adolescence was the constant fear of being called “gay.” Not stupid. Or weak. Or poor. Or weird. No, it was that three-letter word, or it’s three-letter slur sibling that drove many boys from my generation to throw hands or undertake attempting something either dangerous or stupid. Usually both.

If you were branded as being “Gay” or “Queer”, you were a social pariah, especially in my rural community. I wasn’t exactly popular as it was. I wasn’t athletic. I wasn’t rich. I didn’t have cool things. I wasn’t particular attractive. I was a doughy boy who grew up to be an equally doughy man. So desperate was I to never have that label tattooed on my person, that I refused to do any introspection about who I was as a person at a time when that’s the most important thing we as humans can do for ourselves.

So, for the first few decades of my life, I simply turned a blind eye to the internal thoughts that should have made it obvious that I wasn’t 100% straight. By the time I finally acknowledged my own thoughts and attractions, I still had difficulty being able to vocalize it to others. There were a lot of reasons why, which I don’t want to rehash here or now, but when turned forty, I gave myself the gift I should’ve given that adolescent who was terrified of simply existing as they really were. I came out and stated to my friends and family, clearly and proudly that I am bisexual. From that day on, I refused to hide who I am. I don’t lead with it or make that aspect of my life the focal point of who I am, but all the same, if someone asks, I never deny it. That’s all I really, ever wanted. To simply be and not deny any part of who I am.

While things are, to put it lightly, not particularly great for the LGBT+ community right now, especially for our Trans and non-binary siblings, I am grateful that more young people are willing to not only announce who they truly are, they’re willing to accept and support those around them who do so. I have to believe this current environment of hatred is the last, futile gasps of a dying breed of bigots who will eventually be buried and forgotten, replaced by a better generation of humans.

Until the day those better humans finally claim their rightful place at the top, I’ll be here, getting Bi.

Er… getting by.

Moving on, let’s talk a little about LGBT+ representation and my own work. I would never claim that Tales of a Stranger Sister is a LGBT+ story, because those themes and issues are not the focus of the story. However, that doesn’t mean that LGBT+ representation wasn’t important or relevant to this story.

The most obvious example of this is the character of Dr. Rinaldi, who is a gay man that is married with a husband. Again, as the book wasn’t about him or his life, that aspect of his life was not fully explored, but in the same vein, it was never denied or treated as something lesser. That’s ultimately what I wanted to do with Streamhaven and Litia. I wanted to create a world where LGBT humans can simply exist in the world as themselves, and it’s not seen as strange or weird. I’ve heard such settings described as “Queernorm,” so if someone were to ask, then yes, Litia as a world is very much Queernorm.

There were four other characters who identify as LGBT+ in Tales, but I refuse to announce who they are (for now.) I don’t want to be seen as pulling a Joanne, claiming representation cred without actually stating it clearly in the work. Even though I’m the author, I don’t believe that something is truly “canon” until I put it down on paper and share it. In any case, those aspects of these characters’ lives were not the focus of my first novel.

Though, with that said, if I ever decide to return to that world and those characters, I have planned to make those aspects very relevant to the story, so I did lay out some context clues in Tales about who those particular characters are or will become if we continued to follow their lives. If you ever want to take a guess, feel free to email me or DM me on BlueSky and let me know your insights. I won’t lie if you get it right, though I may ask that you keep the info to yourself until I choose to share it.

Anyway, I hope one day we achieve not only a queernorm world, but one of fairness and justice for all humans, regardless the color of their skin, the gods they do or don’t worship, who they love, or how they express who they are. I’ll take a great amount of pride if we can achieve it in my lifetime and it’ll be a true joy to live in that world.

The “Intersex-inclusive Progress Pride Flag” and “Bisexual Pride Flag” graphics were created by the Human Rights Campaign and the whole collection along with information can be found here.

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Across a thousand, million nights and thirty years…

Published by J. Robert Matthewson on May 26, 2025

A sketched map of the world depicted in El-Hazard: The Magnificent World

On May 26^th, 1995 the gates to the magnificent world of El-Hazard were opened. Thirty years later, it still stands as my favorite anime series of all time, if not one of my favorite stories, period.

El-Hazard: The Magnificent World was originally a 7-part OVA [Original Video Animation – a direct-to-video series not aired on TV or released in theaters first (Note: being direct-to-video was not seen as a mark of lower quality in the anime industry during the 80s and 90s, and OVAs often had larger budgets and more freedom with runtimes than TV series.)] It was animated by Anime International Company (AIC), produced by Pioneer LDC, and created by Hiroaki Hayashi (Original concept/ Director), Ryoe Tsukimura (Writer), and Kazuto Nakazawa (Character designs), with music by Seikou Nagaoka.

Hayashi has said that El-Hazard was heavily inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ story A Princess of Mars, which was the beginning of the Barsoom/John Carter stories that inspired a lot of science fiction and science fantasy of the early 20^th century.

Like Barsoom, El-Hazard is a portal fantasy, with a group of normal Earth humans transported to a strange, new world and where they find themselves playing vital roles in the grand events that unfold.

A sketched scene from El-Hazard: The Magnificent World. This depicts Makoto, a young man, meeting Ifurita, a mysterious woman, for the first time in the ruins under his school.

The basic gist of the story is that Makoto Mizuhara, a high school student at Shinonome High School, is seemingly “called” to recently discovered ancient ruins under his school. When he entered the ruins, he is greeted by a beautiful and mysterious woman who acts as if she knows him, even though he’s never met her before. She informs him that she must now send him to El-Hazard where he will confront his destiny.

A moment later, he finds himself transported to an alien world full of strange creatures and peoples seemingly out of the pages of Scheherazade’s A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Transported to this new world with him (though he is not aware of all of them at the time) are three others who were at the school at the same time. They are his history teacher, Mr. Fujisawa, his childhood friend/crush, Nanami, and his one-sided rival Katsuhiko (who is also Nanami’s older brother.)

The story takes off from there. It has almost everything! Monsters, princesses, superpowers, mistaken identities, war, comedy, drama, prophecies, quests, magical warriors, subterfuge, demon-gods, apocalyptic weapons…

A watercolor illustration of Makoto and Ifurita from El-Hazard: The Magnificent World. Makoto has his arms around Ifurita as the pair sit under a tree.

…and even true love.

Part of me wants to recap the whole four-hour story, but a bigger part of me wants people to watch it and fall in love with it like I did when I first saw it in 1997.

The original OVA is not available currently on any streaming services and Pioneer/Geneon Entertainment went bankrupt in the 2000s, so many of their older titles have vanished or have been in licensing limbo. As of right now, it is available on Blu-Ray through a company called Nozomi Entertainment, which was bought by Crunchyroll. However, Crunchyroll have stopped selling it on their store website, so it is not known once the existing discs are sold if further pressings will be made. If you want to own a physical copy, you might want to buy one sooner rather than later.

Nozomi did release the first 45-minute English-dubbed episode of the series on their YouTube channel, so if you can probably get a good idea if you would want to see the whole thing from that:

It’s definitely a 90s anime and it does lean into some of the tropes that were popular at the time, especially considering that both Hayashi and Tsukimura were heavily involved with the original Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVAs. However, I like to think it stands out from other fare of the era and it zigged when other series zagged, but that might simply be the rose-colored nostalgia goggles firmly affixed to my face. I will let others judge for themselves.

Like many 90s series that achieved some success with the audience at the time, El-Hazard became a franchise. There was a second follow-up OVA series, as well as a 13-episode follow-up tv series that continued the original story (though without most of the original creative team.) There was also another 26-episode tv series that came out around the same time as the original OVA was being released that was a psuedo-retelling of the original story, but with many major and significant changes to the plot and characters. Unlike the original series, that version is available on streaming through Crunchyroll and on YouTube. It does lean heavier into goofball comedy than melodrama, so if that’s your thing, you might enjoy that version more.

Along with the other video versions, there were also music CDs, drama CDs, radio drama shows, a Sega Saturn video game (which was another version of the story), art books, manga [comics (which were yet another different retelling of the story)], a tabletop role-playing game, and the occasional merch from figurines to playing cards.

Honestly, I could literally sit here all day and gush about these series. I’m such an uberfan that in the days of Geocities and other website hosts, I had not one, but two websites purely dedicated to El-Hazard fandom. Even all these years later I can still make a detailed argument that there are at least 13 distinct possible timelines of events depending on which radio dramas you listen to and supplemental books you read. Gushing would not be a problem. But hey, if you remember and liked this story, too, then please feel free to drop me a line through email or Bluesky and we can geek out together sometime.

Because if you still love this story, even thirty years later, then the gates of El-Hazard will always be open to you.

El-Hazard: The Magnificent World, El-Hazard: The Wanderers, and El-HazardL The Alternative World and all associated video, images, and audio are owned by AIC, Pioneer LDC, Geneon, Nozomi Entertainment, and Crunchyroll. Copyrighted 1995. Used without permission under Fair Use doctrine covering commentary/critique

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