E.S. Matthew is many things and he tries to be even more.

 

For readers of this site, he is the author of The Dragon’s Back, the first novel in the fantasy series The War of Hope and Doom. Inspired by his years of teaching literature to high schoolers, he has chosen to write retro-fantasy in an attempt to rehabilitate the classic genre for modern young readers and contemporary adults. 

 

The stories he loved as a kid about fantasy worlds, awe-inspiring landscapes, foundling destinies, magical creatures, unlikely companions, and heroic journeys are ones he still enjoys sharing with his own children and students. But he realizes that these stories are often built with wrong-headed perspectives on many, many important things.

 

His love for this genre, and the exuberant imaginations that fuel it, are matched only by his passion for this generation of readers to find themselves within it. He was lucky to see himself in fantasy literature as a child, and he wants nothing less for his readers, his children, and his students. 

 

But he also wants something for grown-up readers, like himself. He wants to re-capture some of the hope that fantasy once inspired in him. For adult readers in our modern, angry world, he seeks to offer such hope through refreshed landscapes—where nostalgia and progress can coexist, where our shared fright, tears, gasps, and joy can thrive.

 

So…he has ambitions. He has ambitions for himself and his readers. He hopes you find something of value in his work, The Dragon’s Back.

 

When he’s not teaching or writing, he cooks elaborate meals inspired by his favorite movies and books or accompanies his daughter on guitar for improvised Broadway musical revues.