LIFE & STYLE
Matthew Ryan’ s leap from e-books to bookshelves
by Maryann Callaghan
North Richmond’ s Matthew Ryan is a time traveller. He escapes into the past, building mystical worlds page-by-page in your imagination, teasing the eager reader along with the unexpected in his fantastical tales.
Matthew is one of the Hawkesbury’ s youngest self-published authors, whose fantasy Til Time series sees friends Ashton and Imogen embark on time-bending adventures through ancient and modern worlds.
Since the Independent last spoke with Matthew, three of his stories have leapt from digital pages into paperbacks, in the young adult, fantasy, science-fiction genre.
At just 26, Matthew has published three novels- The Sultan’ s Siege( set in 12th Century Jordan during the Crusades), The Frankish Fille( set in 9th century Francia during the twilight of the Carolingian Empire,) and A Song of Sorrow( set in 8th Century China during the fall of the Tang Dynasty), each weaving historical detail with a sense of dark magic and adventure.
But for Matthew, this is only the beginning.
The break-out author’ s next books, following the exploits of Ashton and Imogen, continue to build on his body of work.
The Platonic Plot, steeped in the intrigue of the ancient world, is set for release as an e-book by the end of this year, with The Dutch Deadlock, set in the early modern period, following in early to mid- 2026.
“ I would like to get traditionally published … it’ s definitely on the horizon,” Matthew said of aiming for the mainstream market and onto the shelves of major bookstores.
“ There’ s pros and cons to selfpublishing. You need your own marketing plan, creative controls, you don’ t have an agent.
“ I’ m in the early stage of my writing career as a debut author and to be on a bestseller list in Australia or anywhere in the world, would be incredible.”
And just like that, Matthew’ s books started to make their mark. One week after our initial interview, his Til Time series made it onto the shelves of Galaxy Bookshop, opposite the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney.
“ So now if anyone wants to buy them from a bookstore, they can … and hopefully they’ ll be appearing in other stores soon!”
The library at Colo High School – Matthew’ s alma-mater – was an early purchaser of his newly printed book set. Last month he was also their special guest speaker with book-signings for the students.
Taking his latest inspiration from American author Brandon Sanderson, Matthew is learning to‘ build worlds’ around his narratives.
“ Sanderson is inspirational, his writing techniques, style and world building … I’ m learning more about balancing historical verse realistic, some ways are more fantastical, with some worlds delving deep into human worlds.
Matthew is a member of the Hawkesbury Writers’ Group and this year began with West Words, an organisation that is part publisher, part writing support, in Parramatta.
“ The tutors I’ m involved with are from speculative fiction, fantasy, sci-fi and horror.”
Matthew said his Til Time series began as a dream“ with me and my friends inside my imagination”.
Matthew Ryan has published three e-books into paperbacks.
“ I woke up and said I have to write that down.”
Lucky, he did, as now his dreams are turning into an author’ s reality... for this writer with“ 100 stories still rattling around in my head”.
For those eager to dive into his fastpaced historical adventures, the Til Time series is currently available on Kindle and across major e-book platforms.
Hard copies are available at his Shopify store, https:// mattryanwrites. myshopify. com /, as well as at Galaxy Bookshop Sydney. You can follow news and stories on Matthew’ s social pages https:// linktr. ee / mattryanwrites.
Light Up Windsor and Savour the Flavour go biennial
Two of Hawkesbury City Council’ s iconic major events – Light Up Windsor and Savour the Flavour – are moving to a biennial format from 2025.
The decision to hold these two events every second year on an alternating roster recognises the reality of the rapidly escalating costs of holding major events. Council considered whether to significantly increase the events budget to maintain the annual program, cancel some events completely, or move to the biennial format.
Light Up Windsor and Savour the Flavour were chosen for this new format as they are Council’ s two most expensive events to stage. The new format will also allow the two events to continue to meet the high standards that the community has come to expect.
Savour the Flavour will next be held on Saturday 18 October 2025 at Richmond Oval.
Light Up Windsor will next be held in December 2026 in Windsor Mall, date to be determined.
The decision to move to a biennial format will mean that there will not be a Council-funded Christmas tree or installation in Richmond town centre or Windsor Mall on years when Light Up Windsor is not held.
There will be no change to Hawkesbury Fest and Australia Day on the Hawkesbury, which will continue to be held annually.
Save the date in your diary and make a plan to be at Savour the Flavour in 2025.
Roving entertainment at Savour the Flavour 2024.
Great turn out against
by Greg Martin
Domestic Violence
The Walk, Run and Ride Against Domestic Violence event at Hawkesbury Showground on August 24, raised a tick over $ 50,000. That huge amount was raised through the $ 30 registration fee for those 300 hardy souls who put in the hard yards to support the event.
Also chipping in with valued sponsorships were Windsor, Richmond and Kurrajong Rotary clubs as well as a host of donations from those in the community who couldn’ t let their legs do the hard yakka.
The fundraiser got underway at 8.30am when the cyclists mounted their bikes and completed one, two of three 3 3.5km laps of the showground. The runners then hit the road, riding over the same distances and last, but far from least, the walkers then stepped out to do the old“ left-rightleft) thingy.”
The aim of the event was to promote and support awareness programmes in the community.
This far too frequent problem within the community needs to be called out if anyone becomes aware of domestic violence on themselves or others.
Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, psychological, or technological actions or threats of action or other patterns of coercive behavior that influence another person within an intimate partner relationship.
To report domestic violence contact 1800respect( 737 732) or the police.
12 ISSUE 184 // SEPTEMBER 2025 theindependentmagazine. com. au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT