—  Matthew pearce  —

Father, Husband, Author.
 

Hi there. You’ve found your way to my author page, a page that offers a glimpse into who I am, my interests, hobbies, and my journey to becoming a self-published author.

Just like any story, let’s start at the beginning, or close to it. Born and raised in Northamptonshire, England, I am one of four children, with two elder sisters and a younger brother. As a family of six, living in a modest house, space was at a premium. For the entirety of my childhood, I shared a bedroom with my brother; a compact space shared by an airing cupboard and boiler, we slept on bunk beds with our toys blanketing the carpet. Growing up, we found ways to reinvent the space we had, including using furniture in our Lego builds or converting beds into makeshift buildings for our action figures. The key to it all was imagination, which thankfully we had in abundance. Story building and play took place inside and outside, utilising our garden to create adventures in nature - the longer the grass, the denser the forests became.

Born into a family of Catholics, Sunday mornings as a child were spent at our local Catholic church. As a young boy, I found these outings to be tedious, wanting to stay home and play, or visit my best friend, who happened to live three doors down from me. At roughly age eleven, my parents gave me the option of continuing to go with them to church, or I could spend Sunday mornings at my friend’s house - safe to say that at the time it was an easy decision. And although I have not regularly attended church ever since, I remain a Catholic in my heart, and I feel that the time spent in church as a child has had a positive impact on both my life and my writing.

I went on to successfully navigate my way through school, obtaining high grades in my GCSEs with relatively little effort or preparation. Attempting to deploy the same tactic at A-level, however, committing more time to online gaming than to my studies, did not pay off. Yet, despite underachieving in my A-level results, I was lucky enough to receive a phone call from my would-be tutor at university and was offered a place based on my impressive application. Wanting to alleviate some of the financial pressure of attending university, I decided to take a gap year in which to work and earn as much money as possible before attending. Although this subsequently led to my never going.

It was a mixture of not wanting to fall back into a school-like environment and the allure of earning money and having a social life that secured my full-time placement within the pub trade for what would be the next nine years. The money that I had initially saved for university was used on driving lessons and purchasing my first car at the age of twenty. Little did I know that the decision to drive and the particular car I bought would lead to an event that would impact the rest of my life.

 In the early hours of November 12th, 2007, after an evening out bowling with friends, I was driving home and was involved in a car accident. Thankfully, I was alone, and there were no other people or vehicles involved, but as I crossed a small bridge, my car skidded on an unfortunate combination of ice and diesel fuel, and I lost control. The car rolled across the bridge, collided with a stone wall and a tree before sliding and rolling along a road until it stopped. I regained consciousness shortly after the incident, finding myself hanging upside down from my seat. Dazed and in shock, I undid my seatbelt and forced open the battered door, enabling me to escape. It was not until I attempted to use my phone to call my parents that the extent of my injuries occurred to me. As it happened, when the car slid along the road, I was up against the window, and as it smashed, my face and right arm were dragged across the road surface.

Managing to call my parents, they called for an ambulance, and I was taken to the hospital. After receiving surgery on my arm, I was informed of the extent of my injuries - I had torn away my right eyebrow, my right temple was torn to shreds, and had numerous pieces of glass and grit still embedded within it that the nurse could not remove. My right arm had been badly damaged, chipping off the tip of my elbow, tearing away part of my triceps, and severing some of the ligaments. It took months of physio to regain some of the movement in my arm, but unfortunately, it has never healed fully.

In 2008, still working within the pub trade, now as a kitchen manager, I moved out from my childhood home and moved in with my girlfriend and future wife, Denise, and her son Reece. In 2009 our son, Lucas, was born and thus, our little family was complete.

With my son growing up quickly and realising that I was missing out on spending time with my family, I grew weary of the long, unsociable hours associated with my line of work, and so decided to make a career change. I stepped down from my management role and took up a course in bookkeeping and accounts, studying at home on my days and evenings off work. As fate would have it, I unexpectedly secured a position within an accounts office.

My change in job happened at the same time that we decided to buy our first home, but thankfully, once everything settled down, life just seemed that little bit better. I finally had a job that I thought would result in a lifelong career, but it was now, with time to spend thinking and exploring, that I realised something was missing. My once-abundant childhood imagination had been lost, dampened by the stress of work and the constant search for something that I felt passionate about. And so, with a wealth of ideas in my head, I began to write.

The story of Adam did not reveal itself to me at first - it took some time, writing in a couple of different directions until Adam’s character shone through. And once Adam became a clear picture in my mind, the rest of the story fell into place, with characters such as Krysta Rose-Anderson, Seamus McCarthy, Serena, Brandt, and Claire Davenport revealing themselves within the pages one by one.

I began writing the Adam series in 2017 and finished the final draft for FEAR in 2020. As the first novel I had ever completed, and my first to attempt to publish, the transition from writing to publication was a huge surprise to me. A process that I naively assumed to be simple proved to be even more complex than piecing together the novel itself.

FEAR was finally published on the 22nd of March 2021 and has received rave reviews thus far. I hope you enjoy reading the Adam series. FEAR is just the start in this series of thriller novels, and I can assure you, there is plenty more to come!

PASSION, the second book in the Adam Series, was published in July 2023. This being my second publication, I had more of an understanding with regard to pre-publication marketing; however, I have found that as a whole, it is harder to market a second book in a series.

When I’m not busy reading, writing or marketing my books, I have many other interests to keep me busy and entertained. I love to cook and to bake. I cook for my family almost every day, rustling up quick and easy meals when time is tight, or putting together more elaborate combinations when able; I find the act of cooking therapeutic, and it’s always fun to try new things. I have a real sweet tooth, so baking desserts is a favourite activity of mine - from lemon meringue pies and cheesecakes, to Eccles cakes or crème brulée.

I enjoy watching TV series and I love losing myself in a good film! My favourite tv series of all time has to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as for films, although I’m open to almost anything, my top two have to be Gladiator and Field of Dreams - quite a contrast, I know, but for me it’s all about how they make you feel and how lost you can find yourself in the story. I often become so engrossed that I have no idea what is happening around me!

Games! Games have been a huge part of my life - not just computer games, but board games and card games as well. One night a week, for probably the best part of the last eight or nine years, I have gotten together with my brother and our two best friends to play games. We’ve played just about everything, from poker, Go Fish and cribbage, to Dungeons and Dragons, Exploding Kittens and Magic The Gathering. We have even created games of our own, or sometimes altered the rules of others to make things more entertaining, bordering on crazy. As for computer games, I don’t tend to have as much time to play these days; however, every Sunday evening I do play online for a couple of hours with my brother and friends. I am a huge fan of the Final Fantasy saga, though, having been playing them all since 1997.

I will admit that exercise features in my interests from time to time; however, I should probably partake in it more often than I do. I was an avid gym-goer for a few years, but then my appendix burst and I had to stop and never really got back to it. I took up running for a number of years, covering an average of 10 miles a week, but then I unfortunately developed two prolapsed discs in my spine and had to give running up for a while - as I’m writing this, I am starting to see a common theme developing!

Finally, another one of my main hobbies is gardening. I find it very calming to plant new things and watch them grow. I love nature’s natural colours, and so in both my front and back gardens, we have several different coloured flowers that bloom year-in-year-out. I am a lover of tulips, lilies, roses and gladioli - so naturally there are plenty of these!