Matthew Cesca's Blog, page 6
June 23, 2020
Redemption & Ruin Available NOW!
The day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived! "Redemption & Ruin" is now live! If you preordered your eBook, you should have it on your device now. If you're more the type who prefers immediate gratification, you can buy it now and have it delivered to your device in a matter of moments.
As for the paperback version, hopefully Amazon finishes the review process and makes them available soon. As someone who prefers paperbacks, I'm personally looking forward to seeing the physical copies in people's hands - and getting my copy for that bookshelf bling.
Obviously, a lot of work goes into putting out a novel, and though the writing process is a solitary endeavor, it takes a lot of people to bring a book to life. So if you'll indulge me, I've a got a few people to thank.
First off, the beautiful cover art and fantasy map within are the work of the wonderfully talented Richard Chapman. You can find his work on Instagram as @FantasyMapInk. He's extremely easy to work with, and I feel like both the covers and map give the book an iconic look.
Secondly, I'd like to thank the best motivational critique partner/editor/best friend the world could ask for, Jae Vel. Perhaps one day she will complete her own edits and publish her first novel. Maybe one day you might even get to read the collaborative novel she and I keep talking about writing. You'll be sure to see me promoting the crap out of her when that does finally happen, the way she promotes the hell out of my work. Frankly the only bigger cheerleader I have is my mother, and she's biologically programmed to do that.
And speaking of... lastly I need to thank my mother, Betsy Carola. On top of being a first class cheerleader, she's also been extremely helpful in setting up my social media presence, running ads, and doing marketing research in parallel to my own to help expand my reader base. Also, she used to change my diapers, so I really should thank her just for that.
"Redemption & Ruin" is Book 2 of a trilogy, which means that there's a final entry in the series still to come. You may be excited to know that I've already begun to do some work on it. I'm equally excited to bring the story's conclusion to you. I'm aiming for summer 2021, but we'll see what the muse says about that.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy "Redemption & Ruin." a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into bringing this book to you, and I look forward to hearing what you think of it.
June 16, 2020
It's Almost Time!
Can you feel the excitement in the air? Maybe it's just me, I don't know. But we're just a week away from the release of my third novel, "Redemption & Ruin" and I'm pretty stoked about that.
In truth, "Redemption & Ruin" is the culmination of a year's worth of work. Writing this manuscript was a daunting task, as the middle act of a story always is. You need to advance the plot and keep things interesting while still saving the biggest bang for the final act. I like to think that I've pulled this off pretty well, but I leave you to be the judge of that.
One thing I try to do in each story in this trilogy is have a self-contained story that fits within the overarching narrative. In "The Forbidden Scrolls", the story was of Juliya's journey home to the city of Felbreach. Everything in the story leads up to her having to face the demons of her past.
In "Redemption & Ruin", the self-contained tale is that of the six paladins coming together to face Frost as one for the first time. Juliya is still the main character, but the importance of a number of the other characters becomes more far prominent. The chase is the story, as is quest to find the scrolls before the evil sorcerer gets his hands on them first.
"Redemption & Ruin" is my biggest book to date clocking in at a tight 529 pages. It takes place in the immediate aftermath of "The Forbidden Scrolls", so I definitely recommend having read the first book in the series first. While the stories are self-contained within the larger narrative, there are important details that are fleshed out in the first book. In the end, I had to walk a balance between having each story stand completely on it's own for new readers, and being repetitive for old ones. I choose to stand by the fact that it's a trilogy, and that you're probably going to have to read all of the books to get the full tale.
As this is the middle act, I would be remiss if I didn't remind you that it's not going to tie up all the loose ends. However, when you finish Redemption & Ruin, you should hopefully feel like you got a complete story that leaves you wanting for more.
And on that note, some good news; I'm already working on book three in the series. I have a title, but feel like giving that away now would be a bit spoilery for the book that's about to come out. I've also finished the rough draft of the first chapter. While I can't guarantee that this will be the next book that I put out (I am working on my sci-fi trilogy, "The Miranda Project" as well), I can assure you that I don't intend to pull a Robert Jordan and die before I finish this series.
In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy "Redemption & Ruin" as much as I loved writing it. I look forward to hearing what you all thought about the twists and turns this story takes.
You can
June 8, 2020
The Road Ahead
We've been leading up to this moment over the last couple of weeks.
With "Redemption & Ruin" releasing in just two weeks, It's time to drop an except on you all. This is the first three chapters, and they're fairly meaty (especially chapter 2).
"Redemption & Ruin" takes place in the immediate aftermath of "The Forbidden Scrolls", so I do recommend that you've read the first book in the trilogy before you dive too deeply into book II.
You can find both "The Forbidden Scrolls" and "Redemption & Ruin" on
June 7, 2020
Merch Store Now Open!
I could say something, like "you asked for it," but we both know that would be a lie. But even still, it's official! I now have my own
There are currently 20 designs available on more than 600 different products in total. I fully expect to be adding more designs as time goes on. I already have a couple of ideas that I'm working on.
I'd Also like to thank fellow indie author
In the meantime, be sure to check out
June 6, 2020
Merch Store Now Open!
I could say something, like "you asked for it," but we both know that would be a lie. But even still, it's official! I now have my own
There are currently twenty-three designs available on more than 700 different products in total. I fully expect to be adding more designs as time goes on. I already have a couple of ideas that I'm working on.
I'd Also like to thank fellow indie author
In the meantime, be sure to check out
May 30, 2020
Taste That Which is Forbidden
It's time for another peak inside one of my books. This time we're featuring "The Forbidden Scrolls". This is the first book in a trilogy, and book two will be releasing in less than a month!
"Scrolls" has been available for about nine months now, so hopefully you've had a chance to read it already. If not, you've got twenty-four days until "Redemption & Ruin" comes out to get caught up. And I'm even putting the first three chapters in this blog to give you a taste of the forbidden.
"The Forbidden Scrolls" follows the story of a young thief named Juliya who stumbles into an evil necromancer's plot to take over the entire land. His family had once controlled half of the continent thousands of years prior, before being defeated and deposed. Now Frost searches out the four forbidden elemental scrolls of ancient power in order to become the most powerful being in Teren'vei.
As for Juliya herself, she's a half-breed, raised on the streets of Felbreach, a city that despises her kind. She was forced to turn to petty thievery as a child to be able to survive, until she eventually caught the attention of the local branch of the thieve's guild. Eventually, she was able to save up enough coin to get out of her Felbreach. She leaves and goes freelance, and that's when she accepts a job from Frost DIrvent to retrieve a scroll from a monastery in the small town of Barhnal.
As for what happens next, you'll have to click on the file to the right and download the PDF. If you enjoy what you read, you can pick up the entire novel on
May 25, 2020
Enter a New World
Over the next few weeks leading up to the launch of my third novel "Redemption & Ruin", I'm going to be releasing excerpts from each of my triumvirate of books. And I'm starting today with my first book, "The Stairs in the Woods".
While "Stairs" is technically almost two years old now, I have it on good authority that many of you haven't read it yet. Sales figures don't lie.
Frankly a lot of this is my own fault, as I released the book without really having any idea what I was doing with regards to publishing or marketing. I was just extremely excited to hit that publish button.
As such, the book has undergone some changes. The most dramatic of which is to the cover. I mean, just look at how much better the second cover is than the first one:
Rule number one, outsource your artwork to a professional. I am not a professional.
I like to think that each book I've released since has been a better product than my original version of "Stairs" was, but also that the current edition available is the best version available. ,Along with the obvious cover change, I also learned a lot about formatting since the original version of "Stairs" released. And of course, as I've caught typos I've gone in and fixed them as well. If there's one really large benefit of being completely independent, it's that I have ample opportunity to grow and learn from my mistakes.
,As for the finished product, I leave that for you to judge. I've included a PDF to the right with the first three chapters below for you to download. ,If you enjoyed this peak inside of "The Stairs in the Woods", you can pick up the entire novel on
May 22, 2020
Going Back to the Beginning
For writers, our books are like our kids. We nurture them, from that moment when they were barely a twinkle in our eyes until we release them out into the world to fend for themselves.
We also have a favorite, we just don't usually talk about it. It's kinda considered uncouth. You want everyone to love all of your books.
Luckily when it came to kids, I only had one. I can tell the whole world that he's my favorite with no fear of judgement. But now that my third novel
Stairs is still my favorite book that I've written for that very reason. It's the book that started me on this journey. It was also extremely cathartic, as a lot of the themes in the book were about a transformation I was undergoing at the time that I wrote the book.
To be fair, it's also the worst book I've written.
"But Matt, you said it's your favorite of your books?"
,Yes, this is true. But the reasons why a writer may love their own books is usually different from the reason why a reader loves them. A reader usually falls in love with the story and the characters. And truthfully, so does the writer. But we also tend to know a lot more about what was happening in our own lives at the time that we wrote each book.
In the case of Stairs, I was in the middle of a divorce, and I was learning to grow and become my own person again. Thus the reason why Kaitlynn's story is one of growth and her acceptance of her true self. There's a tremendous amount of parallel between the fictional character I created, and the person I was at the time. I see her growth, and I also see my own. This is why it's still my favorite of my books, and probably always will be.
,All of that being said, I have grown so much as a writer since I released Stairs. I look at each book I've written in succession, and I can see the growth. I know what my weaknesses as a writer are now, and I know to be on the lookout for them in ways I couldn't even begin to understand when I was working on Stairs.
,I also have a larger support group now than I did when I first started writing. As a writer, sometimes you simply don't see your weaknesses. And what's worse, you'll see when other people have the exact same weaknesses, but when you're reading your own writing your brain fills in the gaps because you knew what you meant. So having other writers that I can count on to share my work with is a massive asset.
,The best part about growth, is that it never really ends. If you ever reach the point where you believe that you're the best at something, I hate to break it to you... you're not. And that's okay! The chase of perfection is half the fun. Getting there seems like it would be pretty boring though. It also feels like it would be pretty limiting. I'd rather be flawed and keep improving as writer, and a person.
,So in summary: keep learning, keep growing, and surround yourself with good people. You'll be glad that you did.
May 18, 2020
Redemption & Ruin Available for Preorder!
The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived. The digital copies of
I also created and made new bookmarks for my various books, and I'm dying to get my hands on those. You can check out the designs below. Each row is front and back for the three different designs that I made.
,I like to use bookmarks as business cards. I think it's a nice touch. But if there's any interest for them from my dear readers, I may go ahead and sell them for a couple of bucks each. Let me know if there's any interest in the comments below and I'll follow up on it.
May 16, 2020
Redemption & Ruin Announced! Releases June 23rd!
In this book, we'll follow Juliya and her friends in the aftermath of the events in The Forbidden Scrolls as they continue to track down Frost Dirvent and attempt to stop him from collecting all of the elemental scrolls of magic. We'll visit new parts of Teren'vei and make new friends along the way.
The title is an apt theme for this chapter in the story, as there will be highs and lows for our heroes to endure. Truth be told, things are a little darker overall in this middle act of the trilogy, but as the old adage goes, "it's always darkest before the dawn".
Or maybe not. That remains to be seen in Part 3. I'm as excited to find out how it all ends as I'm sure you will be.
