All The Best Roads Still Lead West by Matthew Fish

12/4/2020

Multi-volume, multi-genre author, Matthew Fish introduces us to his latest story, “All The Best Roads Still Lead West”:
In the summer of 2019, a Photographer who has lost their way and a young woman who is losing her vision go on a meandering journey westward. Over the course of their travels, they both strive to connect and find happiness along the open road and the spectacular views of nature the trip affords them.
All the Best Roads Still Lead West is a story about dealing with the difficulties that can often be found in life and holding onto the idea of hoping for better days ahead. Along with the story, the novel contains over eighty photographs from my own personal journey west. The idea was to create a compelling narrative revolving around the idea of travel and mix it with my love for photography.

This is a surprising book. It seems like a book about photographing a cross country vacation. But it is really about two people discovering each other and learning to share a small part of their life together.
I love photography and there are a lot of nice pictures in the book which is really refreshing. The story of the trip these two make across the country imbues the photos with pathos. We know the young woman is losing her vision and nothing can be done about it. Her apparent equanimity in facing her increasing blindness unravels somewhat when she employs her sharp-edged humor.
I found the writing to be compelling. The descriptions were luxurious, and set the stage quite well for dialogue and for action. The story is told in the first person, pulls me in deeply.
The characters were well constructed, they played their roles in a very natural way, they came across as real and alive.
I award 4.6 stars to “All The Best Roads Still Lead West”.

You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Roads-Still-Lead-West-ebook
https://www.goodreads.com/all-the-best-roads-still-lead-west
https://www.audible.com/pd/All-the-Best-Roads-Still-Lead-West-Audiobook

You can follow the author:
https://twitter.com/Matthew_MFish

Copyright © 2020 Mark L. Schultz except for the author’s introduction

15 Comments

Matthew Fish

12/7/2020 08:42:38 am

Hello! Thank you for you very well written review, I really appreciate it!

Mark

12/7/2020 09:28:14 am

You are very welcome. I enjoyed reading your book quite a bit.
First questions.
Please, tell us more about yourself. Perhaps something a little bit beyond your bio.

12/9/2020 06:37:29 pm

Hello! Sorry for the rather late reply, I have been going through a cancer ordeal that has left me rather tired lately. Regarding myself, beyond my bio, I enjoy being outdoors. Although, this year has been rough with everything that is going on lately. I enjoy hiking when I am able to do so. I love to fly drones and have only crashed and destroyed five of them, I am hoping the sixth one will be the lucky one to survive. I enjoy travelling as much as I can, once again not a good year for that. Last year was really good because I did manage to do a lot of travelling and got a lot of photography done. I spent weeks just meandering across the country and it was really great. I also got to fly in two vintage WWII aircraft which was amazing, I have always been a huge fan of aviation. This year, my main hobby seems to be sleeping--at least since my diagnosis. I'll go for an hour or two nap and end up sleeping for twelve or more hours...interesting way to end the year I suppose.

12/9/2020 06:46:24 pm

As much as I love talking to authors here, it's more important that you get the rest you need. Cancer is hell. Sometimes the cure is worse.
Except for drones, we could be twins. I love being outdoors, travel, and aviation. My dad owns two planes, I have served in the Air National Guard also. My dad used to own a plane from WW2.
New questions.
Are you a full-time or part-time writer?
If you are, how long have you been a full-time writer, and how much time did it take you to make the transition from part time?

12/9/2020 07:14:23 pm

I would say that I am a full time writer. Though, I do a lot of graphic design work and also have done a lot of event photography. I started writing when I was around twenty-two, that was when I actually sat down and started taking it seriously. I wrote my first novel that year...it was this large two-hundred thousand word beast that was absolutely terrible. I have never considered putting it out into the world or even trying to fix it, I see it as just absolutely awful. After that, I wrote my first real novel 'A Window in the Earth' and that did extremely well. I was working at State Farm at the time in a job that I absolutely hated and it allowed me to quit and move to somewhere more rural and close to canyons, rivers, waterfalls--things people do not associate with Illinois. So I would say that between my first terrible novel I wrote at twenty-two to my first successful book I would say it took about seven years. I have been writing continuously for the past eleven years in which I've written about thirty plus novels but probably have only published about twenty or so.

12/9/2020 07:26:51 pm

That is a lot of creative activity!
Classic story about your first novel. Some editors tell an author when presented with the first novel, "throw it away, and write another; it will be so much better." You didn't even need to be told that. Well done.
That is great output! Thirty some novels.
New questions.
Are you in the writing business for love of writing or for money?
Does your past work have any influence on your writing?
What inspired you to write this book?

12/9/2020 07:51:25 pm

Honestly, I feel that it is a pretty even split. I write books because I love writing. It is what I wanted to do ever since I was a kid and I would just devour book after book. I remember thinking that I always wished that the stories would end differently or explore a different path--so, it was following that idea that led me to decide to write stories for myself. Regarding money, I do not love money, but I do appreciate the freedom that comes with being able to do things. I think that it would be untrue to say I only write for the love of it because having money has allowed me to travel, to experience new things that I would not have gotten the chance to, to continue writing, and buy equipment for my other interests and forms of income. That said, I am also a minimalist. I value experiences over material things and I am perfectly happy to not let money or the need for constant consumerism to become more important than the things that really make me happy.

I would say that for this book 'All the Best Roads Still Lead West' that much more of my past comes into play...including my former profession without naming it specifically and a lot of family details. I feel that it is a unique book because I came up with the story first and I decided to journey west and see how that could translate into a photographic novel without coming off as just another travel journal. It was really important that the story could stand on its own merits and I hope that I have achieved that as I wanted something grounded in reality but still engaging. Overall, I feel it is the most personal because both the the protagonists embody parts of my own past and personality. I was ultimately inspired to write this because I had made a similar trip right out of college and I needed to see it again. I was surprised by what had changed and the places I had skipped the first time. Also, being a huge fan of Christopher McCandless's story in 'Into the Wild' I felt that I always wanted to write something that payed homage to his story in some small way...even if it was a drastically different premise. I think mainly I wanted to express my appreciation for nature and the immense possibility that can be found with each new day on the road and the excitement that exploring things that are unknown to you can bring.

12/9/2020 08:10:57 pm

I think you met all of the objectives for the story. And you did it in an excellent way. I found myself drawn into your story quite deeply.
I went to Europe, one summer, during my college years and that was a transforming experience for me.
New questions.
Why did you choose this genre, or do you feel the genre chose you?
Who designed the cover of your book? Feel free to drop a link if appropriate.
This next question might seem obvious, except that I sometimes miss something the author intended. What do the elements on the cover represent?

12/9/2020 11:47:47 pm

The reason I chose this genre was specifically because a lot of what I normally write has elements of sci-fi, horror, fantasy, even mystery at times. I really enjoy never being tied down to one specific genre, I believe the longest I committed to one genre was when I wrote a four book story and it was hard for me to stay on track. Mainly I wanted to write a more grounded story that focused on human nature and the relatable obstacles that everyone faces. I’ve always been a huge fan of slice-of-life stories and films and realized I’ve never created one, so it was really nice to check that one off.

Regarding the cover, I design all of my own covers. I enjoy having creative control over what I feel represents the story in my mind. I’ve actually been going through my older books and updating the covers because I feel that they were a bit dated. I chose this image that was during a stop between the New Mexico-Arizona border, I just absolutely loved the way the sky looked and the weather-worn fencing that was nearby. It was mainly just one of my favorite images I captured during the trip that I felt set an interesting mood.

12/10/2020 09:31:02 am

Sci-fi and fantasy are at the top of my list of favorite genres. I wasn't sure what genre this story belonged in. Roads is listed in several photography categories on the Amazon page.
Control is one of the most important things for self-publishers.
New questions.
Was it hard to come up with the title? What was the process?
Were the character names difficult to develop? How did you choose them?

12/11/2020 03:07:04 am

That is a good question, the title for the book was really difficult to come up with. I wanted to create a title about travelling west that seemed interesting so I believe I went through quite a few titles before this one just stuck, it felt right. I even talked about to a friend of mine who does music and he wrote a song called "All the Best Roads Still Lead West" for the story. The problem is, I was never able to actually get it out to people as I had planned on leaving it as a link that people could download the song from at the end of the book....however, that was not really allowed. When I feel a little better I plan on making some kind of music video with a link to download it on Youtube,

Regarding the characters, there is really only one named protagonist out of the two. I chose Samantha for the girl who was slowly losing her vision because I felt that at the point that the characters were committed to going on this adventure together, the main protagonist would eventually just call her "Sam." After that moment, the main character never refers to her as anything else. Also, regarding the main character they were specifically written without gender, any description, or even a name. This made writing the novel difficult...but, I felt that it would be an interesting way for people to allow themselves to immerse their own persona into the storyline. The main character can be whomever the reader wants. I do not know why that was important, I just felt that it had not been done and I enjoy doing weird things that are not represented very often in writing.

12/11/2020 09:42:47 am

That is the first time I have heard of an author having a song written for a book. Very nice. I look forward to hearing it someday.
I didn't notice that the main character, who provided the first person POV, was not named or gendered. I assumed that the POV character was male, it felt right to me because I identified heavily with that character, including the hobby of photography. Much of the POV's personality reflected my personality.
When I started to write my review I panicked because I couldn't remember the POV's name. I started to scan sections of the book and gave up after a few minutes. I went with the flow.
That method of writing is fascinating to me. I will be interested in reading the reviews written by others to find out if they have a similar experience.
New questions.
What other books and genres have you written?
What are the Amazon categories you chose for this book, besides photography?

12/13/2020 06:29:36 am

For other books that I’ve written, the main ones that really come to mind are A Window in the Earth which was YA supernatural/paranormal fiction. C-Shapes was really well received, it’s more of a sci-fi action story. The Bittersweet Song of Canary was really fun to write and that was in the dystopian sci-fi genre. Buried in Sunshine is one that I forget about a lot, but it’s a personal favorite and that’d a paranormal mystery. I know there are a lot so I won’t to completely nuts with the list, I think...finally my personal best work is Charlotte’s Feathers which I would say is more of a paranormal mystery as well. It has a really unique feel and though it has been a bit controversial, I was always really proud of it. With regards to All the Best Roads Still Lead West, I put it under photography and general fiction. I was a little unsure as to where that should go as it was really unlike what I normally write. I know that a lot of books are covered under that and it probably would have served me well to pick something else, I just had a really hard time nailing it down in terms of genre.

Also, if anyone is interested, All the Best Roads Still Lead West is available for free until next Saturday along with about eight other titles.

12/14/2020 11:14:24 pm

You have written quite a few books and in different genres. I have been remiss, I forgot to put a link to the review of The Bittersweet Song of Canary on this review. I will cross-reference both of these reviews..
It would serve you well if you can find more categories for this book on Amazon. Look up Dave Chesson's blogs about that topic, he goes into quite deeply and makes a good case for it being a major factor in success on Amazon.
Offering so many of your books free until December 19, 2020 is a very generous offer.
Thanks for joining me on Word Refiner. Our prayers for a full recovery from this cancer.

12/15/2020 07:00:33 am

Thank you for the recommendations, will definitely look into them. Also, thank you very much for your time and consideration. I had a great time engaging in the interview. Hope you have a great holidays ahead!

All The Best Roads Still Lead West by Matthew Fish

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