Hi, and thanks for taking the time to read my website. Like so many stories, things are not always what they first appear. The books that you see here are not just stories of pure fiction, they actually depict many of the inner thoughts and feelings that have shaped my life. You would not guess from reading The Rising , Lagoon or even 3 Phaze that I am actually a Christian. That is because they were written on my journey to Christ. Mark and other books not listed here (lost manuscripts) have been written on my journey through life with Christ and therefore explore the life of faith that I now live.

Let me explain, or you can leave, the choice is yours.

Some time, back in 1990, I had finished with a longtime girlfriend and had begun my exploration of how I felt by expressing those feelings in words through poetry. It came to me easy enough so I just let it all out. That was fine for a while but then I got a taste for something more so inevitably I decided to write a novel. So one day I sat in my bedsit at my Atari ST and wrote down all that I had in my head for a novel: A halo of soft golden light was falling beyond Shadow Hill. That was it! So I leaned back in my chair and thought 'what's next?' At that point the room was filled with the most awesome white light in the midst of which stood a figure in a white robe. The light was too bright to see any features but it was there, solid and real. The figure walked across the room towards me and placed a hand on my chest. I could feel it burn deep, not hot and painfully but warm and powerful. Then it was gone.

"What the hell was that!" I said to myself, I sat forward and began to write. The story just flowed from me, 20 thousand words in a couple of days, it just kept coming. When my then girlfriend came home I explained to her what had happened, to which she said, "Oh, that was Jesus." Then she went on to explain how she had been the nanny for the the family that ran the Campus Crusade for Christ but that had been a long time ago.

So I carried on and wrote the book, which to me is actually about the foundation of God and how he works through people. It tells of how he is three in one and how when all of the parts are working together nothing can stop him. You can do anything if God says so.

After the I finished 'The Rising' I went straight into '3 Phaze'. This is more of a soul search. Here I was trying explore my deeper thoughts about what is out there and what makes it all gel together. Part way through the story my main character, Tupelo is reborn but I could not resist having a tongue in cheek dig at those born again believers. Nine months later I was to join their global family.

Before that time I started on 'Lagoon'. This was the first book that I started but had no idea what the end was going to be, but that was just a small detail. Now, during this time I had quit drinking on the advice of my doctor because I was over doing the lager with Pernod tops a bit. I was working full time for a pharmaceutical company and cold calling for a double glazing company to earn some extra cash. Here is where I met Margo, a slightly nutty New Zealander. Margo was a great laugh, real friendly and deeply devoted to Jesus. I liked her because she was honest, and cute, but that was it. she was a bit too good for a scum bag like me. Margo was always full of life even when she was a bit down. That was interesting in itself, so I began to ask her all about what it was that she believed. I listened to her, asked questions. Those that she could answer she did and those that she couldn't she didn't. Wow; someone who did not pretend to know it all or have everything all sorted out and in order!

Margo invited me to her church. I went along but she failed to meet me (twice). Never mind, she was sincere enough so I found out where it was and made my own way there. I even went twice in one day! Then one evening she invited me along to her church house group. So that night I finished up where I was in 'Lagoon'. I had actually no idea what I was going to write next at that point, and so I went out.

That night I met more nutters in one room than I have anywhere, period. They all went about their meeting, prayers etc at full volume, not having any idea that I was not a Christian in the slightest. Then Margo casually introduced me to the group and said, "So Matt, do you want to give your life to Jesus?"

"Yeah, why not," I replied, causing a bit of mild shock to reverberate around the room, "he couldn't make a worse job of it than I have."

And so that was it, I was born again just like Tupelo! That night when I got home I thought that I could not possibly finish 'Lagoon' as It was far from Christian. So I prayed about it. You see, I knew that 'Lagoon' was a good book; not brilliantly written but a good read nonetheless and I did not want to see it die. I had no publisher or anything but it was my baby and I wanted it to live. That was when I got an answer from God that surprised me. He promised that He would finish the story, just as well as I had no idea what was next. So the next day I sat down and began to write the rest of 'Lagoon'. I can only attribute this change in my life to the completely new direction that the book took off in. There is no way that I could ever have reached that conclusion to the story without the change in the heart and thinking that I had when I took on Christ.

After that I wrote a short fantasy story, only fifty thousand words, called the 'King of Kings' which is to become the notes, as it were, for the series that I will begin in 2007 called 'For the One'. I also wrote a sci-fi story in the Star Wars / Star Trek vein called 'The Boy From Nowhere - A World Lies Bleeding'. Both of these later titles have been lost, though a copy of the manuscripts is known to exist in Oregan.

My current work is 'Emun of Mor', of which you can read here. I hope to have this one finished in the summer of 2007, it should be around 120-140 thousands words. I already have the sequels planned which are: Lo the Prophet, A Chord of Three Strands and Megiddo, which will end the current series.

I am now living in Cheshire, UK, with my wife, whom I love and cherish deeply together with my 3 small children.

If you made it this far, many thanks, you must be either very easily entertained or short of something better to do. Thanks and again and I hope you enjoy the books.

Mathew E C Bridle.
29th January 2007.

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