The Beginning of This, The End of That: Part 1: The End

After an iron astroid hits the earth killing almost everyone, those who survive begin to write stories. Those stories became the foundational documents of a new civilization. 1,000 years later a scholar at a university collects the myths and publishes them. This book contains those stories.

The Beginning of This, The End of That is a literary novel that examines the controversy surrounding story itself in society, in governmental rule, and in religion. The myths and legends contain the travels of two college graduate students, Ewan and Alysa, in a fantasy adventure across pagan Europe in the 7th century, where the gods themselves are under attack. The book's fictional editor, Professor Harkness, comments about each myth. The story has elements of Umberto Eco's The Island of the Day Before and Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

As a senior technical writer for some of technology's most important companies, James E. Matteson has been obsessed with the written word. Now, in his first novel, he uses his communication skills to tell a fantasy adventure story based upon persistent, ancient myth, with an unexpected twist on the tale of innocence lost.

Reviewer Comments

"... this is a story I liked... this story easily warrants a five-star rating... [It] has a fascinating premise with a marvelous setup describing the power and functionality of myth and an editor that acknowledges the seeds of truth from which myth can spring, while resisting belief in the more obnoxious supernatural fallacies that make something truly mythical." FF

" [This] is one unique and ambitious mixing of a post-apocalyptic utopia with fantasy adventure--complete with those irritable and vindictive gods of yore, dual-edged magic potions, and elves, lots of elves--carrying with it an exploration of philosophical topics that range from spiritual paths to governmental rules." CM

"The story is a fascinating blend of fantasy and myth-fiction that took me on an unexpected journey forwards and back through a timeline of mythic events. To me it read almost like an archeological mystery story and I thought that the way the mythic story unfolded was uniquely inventive." Francesca