The Red Plains (The Forbidden List Book 3) (36 page)

G R Matthews began reading in the cot. His mother, at her wits end with the constant noise and unceasing activity, would plop him down on the soft mattress with an encyclopaedia full of pictures then quietly slip from the room. His father, ever the pragmatist, declared, that they should, “throw the noisy bugger out of the window.” Happily this event never came to pass (or if it did the baby bounced well). Growing up, he spent Sunday afternoons on the sofa watching westerns and Bond movies with the self-same parent who had once wished to defenestrate him. When not watching the six-gun heroes or spies being out-acted by their own eyebrows he devoured books like a hungry wolf in the dead of winter. Beginning with Patrick Moore and Arthur C Clarke he soon moved on to Isaac Asimov. However, one wet afternoon in a book shop in his home town, not far from the standing stones of Avebury, he came across a book by David Eddings – and soon Sci-Fi gave way to Fantasy. Many years later, he finally realised a dream and published his own fantasy novel, The Stone Road, in the hopes that other hungry wolves out there would find a hearty meal. You can follow him on twitter @G_R_Matthews or visit his website at
www.grmatthews.com

You can find out more about G R Matthews at

http://author.to/GRMatthews
- Amazon Author page

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7372090.G_R_Matthews
- Goodreads

http://mybook.to/silentcity
  - Silent City, Book 1

It is a strange thing to leave this to last when, really, it should come first. Without these people, and many more, none of the books would have any words in them.

Thanks have to go to my family. To my wife and children, for giving me the peace (occasionally) to write. To my mother, for encouraging, reading and suggesting. You’ll know by now that these books are, at heart, a story about families, with all their tragedy, joy, problems, conflicts and love.

Thanks to Sarah Chorn (
www.Bookwormblues.net
), Mihir Wanchoo (
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.co.uk/
) and Marc Aplin (
http://fantasy-faction.com/
) because you cannot write a book without encouragement.

Speaking of which, my total and utter thanks to Julia Sarene for the good words, the final checks and pushing the books on people like the world’s best book salesperson – which is a strange coincidence.

Brian Collins, thank you so, so much for championing the series from the get-go and suggesting the change at the end. You were right, it works much better.

Thanks to the most vocal set of supporters on Facebook; Marc Morris, Craig Addison, and Mariëlle Ooms-Voges alongside the aforementioned Julia. You’ve really no idea how much it means to me.

Also my grateful thanks go to Mark Lawrence for the beer at Bristolcon, to T. O. Munro because we started the journey at the same time and when I need some science, he is there. Thanks to J P Ashman – look after your daughter and she will look after you – for the help and encouragement. To Kareem Mahfouz – we have to sit down and drink whiskey soon!

“I knew my voice was getting louder. It's one of those things anger does to you, dulls your hearing and opens your throat. You have to shout just to hear your own words.”

Corin Hayes, Silent City.