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A youth spent dreaming up fantastic tales of heroes and monsters has paid off for 1994 Cape Henlopen graduate Matthew Amerling. Last May, he published his first novel,” The Midknight,” the plot of which is a decadelong elaboration on a story idea he came up with way back in the ninth grade.
Amerling, 28, wrote the original draft of “The Midknight” by hand on 20 pages of lined notebook paper, filling both the front and back sides. The story centers around a boy named Jesse: a high school student who’s picked on by his peers and emotionally abused by his father. Amerling describes Jesse as the ultimate loner and outsider.
When a gang of bullies forces Jesse to drink a mysterious serum from the school’s chemistry lab as a prank, the story takes an exciting turn toward comic book action. The serum grants Jesse superhuman strength and speed, inspiring him to become a vigilante crime fighter.
“When I first created the idea I could really identify with the character. All teenagers feel lonely, like they’re on the outside. It’s a time in your life when emotions are really running high and things can get blown out of proportion” he said.
The story kicks into high gear when a gang of ruthless killers begins chasing after Jesse to get a sample of his supernatural blood, while two government agents begin chasing him for their own reasons. As the plot progresses, Jesse must fight both for his life and for those of his friends and family.
Now living in Columbia, Md., Amerling works for the state department training civil service officers headed for overseas positions. Looking back on his high school experiences, the author says he’s embraced what he calls his “inner geekdom” - the love of comic books and science fiction - and incorporated those free wheeling elements into a piece of adult fiction.
“When the story began, it was really basic. However, as I’ve grown, the story has grown with me and become more complicated. Throughout my 20s I adopted a much more descriptive, in-depth style of writing,” he said.
Much of that maturation, said Amerling, involved weaving elements of mythology and philosophy into the narrative, which he discovered as a student at Delaware Tech.
Amerling uses the traditional themes that fill mythology to tell his modern thriller. Like Greek heroes such as Hercules or Odysseus, Amerling’s character progresses through his own coming of age journey while stalking the cityscape of Washington, D.C.
“The book’s filled with old philosophical motifs that can be found in any of the classic myths,” he said, “but I want people to look at this and feel they can relate to it because it’s more up to date.”
Amerling’s also been a long time fan of Noir detective fiction, which he said is obvious in his plots. They’re filled with a series of suspenseful twists and turns, leaving nothing as it seems until the very end of the narrative.
As it stands, the book is equal parts Socrates, Richard Stark and “Star Wars.”
“I’ve written a number of other things over the years, but I just kept coming back to this one,” said Amerling. “The idea that I could just keep running with it and spinning out all its characters’ individual stories was a lot of fun.”
Publish America, the Baltimore-based company that printed Amerling’s story, sent the author’s copy of “The Midknight” to him just after he’d returned from his honeymoon this spring. He said looking through the book with his new wife was a dream come true.
“I was holding the book in my hands when I first got it and said, ‘Wow. This is like a real book.’ My cousin, who happened to be there, said ‘It is a real book.’ I could barely believe it,” he said.
Though Amerling said a sequel to “The Midknight” might be in the works someday, he’s currently writing two very different books. One is the story of television producer suffering through a family tragedy while the other centers around a detective tracking down a serial killer.
Though Amerling’s taking off in a different vein, temporarily leaving behind the supernatural genre that came to him so easily in high school, he said all his books are written in the same voice and with the same desire to push his characters to the limits.
“That’s what makes all drama good, whether it’s in books or on TV or in film,” he said. “What I like is to test the characters and see how they react, no matter what the situation is.”
“The Midknight” is available for purchase at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and publishamerica.com.
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