Luke Matthews

I have two accounts here on Bluesky:

This one (LukeMatthews) is my author account, where I give updates on my books, talk about writing, and discuss publishing-related stuff.

If you want more personal, geeky, stream-of-consciousness stuff, check out @geekelite.bsky.social.

You should have him follow it up with the comic book We3.

Glad to see that @bsky.app has implemented an Instagram-style account switching option via a long-press on my profile pic. So much easier than having to go into settings to do it.

Related to that second request: If you can't afford them, or some other hardship prevents you from picking them up, DM me, and I'll send you DRM-free ePubs of them.

If you *can* afford them, please refer to the statement in the previous Bleat: Don't be a dick.

I am going to make the forbidden request:

If you have read my books (CONSTRUCT & COMPANION), tell me what you thought of them.

I'm bringing this on myself. Don't worry if your opinion is negative. Just don't be a dick.

2nd Request: If you haven't read them, read them, and tell me what you think.

The passage of time has become meaningless to me. I'm only now realizing, after so many delays, life events, and catastrophes, that next year will be the 10-year anniversary of the publication of CONSTRUCT.

And I only have one other book out. I'm starting to understand why I have no "fanbase".

Notice the headline was not ""...could reduce ticket prices by $XX..."

Posting about my work and getting zero engagement (not just here; happened on Twitter, too) is one of those things that dumps me into the hole of feeling like a) nobody reads my stuff or b) they've read it and don't like it.

/end_whining

CW: Glum Whininess (feel free to skip)

I'm a little envious of creatives who have followers who will auto-share their promotion and talk up their work. I hate having to beg for reach, which is why I don't self-promote well or often.

I very much agree with this. Sometimes you come into a character's life when they're beyond really "growing", and you're reading about how they deal with whatever the story presents.

That dilemma resulting in character growth/change is not a prerequisite for quality.

I have found, even among big-time famous authors, that prose within a novel is almost always wildly inconsistent. I can't remember the last book I read where the style carried through every page.

Especially not the first-page style authors feel necessary to hook folks who won't read further.

I marvel at folks who can say they decide whether to read an entire book based on the first page.

I can barely make that assessment in the first *half*, much less the first page.

It's interesting seeing famous and semi-famous folks who have a built-in following marvel at how their engagement here is nearly the same as when they had way more followers on FuXoff.

As someone with no fame or fans, it's the absolute polar opposite for me.

No worries! And hey, I appreciate the compliment on the cover design!

Just so there's no confusion, it's a prose novel, not a comic. 😊

Finally set up my office desk yesterday.

Just the process of moving bits around and connecting cables absolutely wiped me out.

I have a feeling this is going to be a very long recovery process.

LOL. This is the thing that all greedy-ass social media platforms COULD do, but are smart enough NOT to do. Bye Twitter.

I've finally come out the other side of COVID. Hopefully within the next week or so I'll actually be able to do some of the massive list of work I have to do, and soon... SOON... get back to writing.

It's probably because the businesses and politicians in those states know they have a limited amount of time to bleed them dry before they need to fuck off to another place to escape the consequences of their own greed.

@cullenbunn.bsky.social Thank you, sir. I really appreciate the boost. 😁

I don't have much of a following, as I'm bad at self-promo and never really go "viral". If you can find it in your heart to share this post (and maybe my post about Companion, too) I'd be forever grateful.

I wish I could boil down my books into single-sentence buzz-phrases like other authors can. It's a very useful skill for social media that I severely lack.

When I was promoting my first novel, I had someone tell me - unsolicited, mind you - that if I needed an editor to "doctor" my writing, I shouldn't be writing.

Sometimes I wonder what ever happened to that dude.

No I don't. That's a lie.

The second book in my Chronicler Saga series, COMPANION, is available now wherever you get eBooks!

Www.chroniclersaga.com/buy-the-book

“Matthews’ vivid description, brisk pacing, and page-turning mystery hooked me from the first page. The haunted construct Samuel is as fine an example of a compelling fantasy character as I could hope to find. CONSTRUCT is a delight!” 

– Cullen Bunn, writer of The Sixth Gun

www.chroniclersaga.com

Someday, when I'm no longer sick and our new house is in some semblance of order, I will return to writing CAPTIVE.

When I do, this will be where I talk about writing, what I'm working on, and things of that nature.

Until then.... I dunno.

It has definitely been a while! Once I deleted my Twitter account and pretty much stopped frequenting r/Fantasy, I lost track of some folks.