“Whoever else Dean shared this space with had yet to reveal themselves, and he silently prayed they never would. In fact, he had no great desire to uncover whatever secrets this world harbored,” State High graduate Matt Farley writes in his debut novel, “The Last Beacon,” which he has been working on for the past 6 years. 

Set in the fall of 1999, “The Last Beacon” begins as a murder mystery in a seaside town in New Jersey, where characters are experiencing the internet for the first time. What starts as a murder mystery with touches of horror evolves into a science fiction novel exploring the future of our world. Farley is using a unique crowdfunded publishing platform called Inkshares to publish his book, where he must secure 750 preorders to begin publishing. 

About Farley

Farley, class of 2008, currently works as an Accessibility Consultant at Penn State World Campus, where he helps make courses more accessible for people with disabilities. 

Farley described how he has been able to exercise his love for writing, “This has been a side project for me. I also do some freelance writing for the Town and Gown Magazine in State College. I have always enjoyed writing, but it is never something that I’ve had a full-time job doing,” Farley said.

Farley has also been able to connect with past State High teachers in the process of debuting his first novel. “I definitely have very vivid memories of most of the English classes I have been in,” Farley said. “It has been great to reconnect with some of the teachers that I have had throughout the years to share this news with them.”

In recent months, he has connected with Rebecca Thorsen, his 11th-grade English teacher, who now serves as the LE/ARTsmART Para. 

“I think it is a great idea when you are writing and trying to get your work out there to connect with people that you have known in the past, and especially people that you know are supportive of writing and being lifelong learners,” Thorsen said. 

Other teachers echoed that viewpoint, emphasizing the importance of shared experiences between writers. 

“I think one of the values of reading a book by a State High grad is that not only are you honoring all the work that he put into doing the book, but you are also connecting with a fellow student, someone who has gone to the same school as you,” social studies teacher and advisor of Acclivity Writing Club Elizabeth Delafield said. “We all know just how critical the world can be, and to know that somebody has done that [written a book], somebody who is like us, is an incredible thing, and well worth taking a look at.”

Inside “The Last Beacon”

The book takes place in a small seaside town, Farrow Point, New Jersey, inspired by Farley’s own experiences visiting Cape May, New Jersey. 

“I always enjoyed being by the beach. I always thought it was a relaxing setting, but at night, a beach town can be a little eerie at night when it is quiet, and you can just hear the waves out in the distance. That was definitely an inspiration for the setting,” Farley said.

The book reflects the rise of the internet, as characters begin to explore the transition to the digital age. “I grew up in the 90s, it was a time when the Internet was brand new, and it was sort of mysterious since we were figuring out how to get online to talk to people. There’s a major character in the book who is discovering that for the first time. That is the opening into a larger world that eventually expands into a bigger mystery,” Farley said.

In the opening chapters, readers are introduced to three main characters connected to the investigation surrounding a murder at the town’s lighthouse. “In the opening chapters, you get the opening discovery of the murder, and you get to meet a couple of the key characters who are involved in the investigation. You start to get a little bit of their backstory, and they start providing some hints that maybe they are not really who they say they are. They are not telling the truth about what happened on the night of the murder.” Farley said. 

“It is going to offer you some breadcrumbs to get you excited to find out where these characters go as the investigation starts,” Farley said.

The novel follows Caroline Chambers, a teen girl whose friend is now dead, Dean Orwell, the lighthouse keeper who found the body, and Sarah Mathews, the detective on the case. Only Sarah is faced with a bigger issue, as she hunts for the killer, she is worried the tragic personal reason she moved to Farrow Point for will arise, making her the last person anyone would want to trust. 

Interested readers can find the first three chapters linked here, which introduce the three main characters’ perspectives, as the point of view shifts throughout the novel.

Path to Publication

Farley is using a crowdfunded publishing platform called Inkshares to publish “The Last Beacon.” Inkshares allows any author to submit work to the platform. To meet the publication threshold, authors must reach 750 presales to demonstrate interest in the book, so Inkshares can begin publishing. 

Farley described what the process is like after an author reaches the 750 preorder goal: “The book will be designed, edited, and published by Inkshares. They distribute the book to Barnes and Noble and Amazon,” he said. 

 Inkshares has a partnership with one of the largest distributors in the world, Ingram Publishing Services. 

“I went this route because it’s really difficult for a first-time novelist to get noticed by an agent or a publisher,” Farley said.

Farley met with other writers who have used Inkshares and been successful, but noted the challenges to the process. 

“I have been reaching out to literally everyone I have ever met in my life to let them know about it before the deadline approaches,” Farley said.

Advice for Aspiring Writers

Throughout writing “The Last Beacon,” Farley hopes to pass along his advice to State High students who are also interested in writing. 

“If you are just getting started writing, try to think smaller. I thought of a couple of smaller plots or backstories for a couple of characters, and then started thinking about more ways the story could expand into the larger narrative. That’s when I really started moving forward with it and realized I had a fully formed story in mind,” Farley said.

Dagmar Wilson, who teaches Creative Writing, described one of the benefits of the Creative Writing class as students follow the same process Farley uses.

“One thing that is interesting about Creative Writing is how the units are broken down into all the components that create a plot,” Wilson said. “We work on characters, and then we think about how the setting is a big part of the plot. They see the conflict develop. They see how all these parts start to come together to create the plot.”

In addition to the creative writing class, the library offers many resources to help students write independently. 

“We do have a collection of books that support students with writing, exploring creative ideas, and even workbooks that have writing exercises for students to explore that talent,” Mark Morath, one of State High’s librarians, said.

Once students have developed a writing piece, the State High Library offers a way to share their work through a short story dispenser. This website provides more information about uploading a short story. 

Morath offered his thoughts on how reading can improve writing quality. “We all have experiences, our own headspace, our own imagination of things, and our own stories to tell, but actually transferring that story to a page is about understanding how a book is structured. This is about how you build and develop characters and establish your setting, and how those pieces come with experience of how that works. Keep on being a big reader, and you lay all the groundwork to become a big writer,” Morath said. 

Acclivity Club is a student-run, student-driven writing club where students can publish their submissions in a magazine. 

Delafield, an advisor of the club, shares the benefits of joining a writing club. “I think it is important to make connections with other writers. I think one of the joys of Acclivity Club is that it is very low-key. You come, and you write. I think the strength of a writing club is that it gives you an early audience for your writing. It gives you people who are also interested.”

For students inspired by Farley’s story, he encourages them to take advantage of the many writing opportunities State High offers. 

Getting ‘The Last Beacon”

Even if students are not interested in the book’s premise or cannot preorder it, Farley wants them to know that they can still support the project by sharing it with family members and friends. Readers interested in “The Last Beacon” and supporting Farley in reaching the 750 Inkshares goal can preorder the book here.