Matthew Minson         

I'm a writer, among other things. I'm also a cartoonist, an inventor, a scientist, app creator, a physician and a film director. My work has been recognized and/or published by Faulkner-Wisdom, Writer's Digest, Zoetrope, Texas Tribune, Texas A&M press and the Texas Book Consortium, Living Springs, Inkshares, the Nicholl Fellowship administered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Amazon publishing, Southwest Writer's anthology and more. I got my start with the help and encouragement of Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, whose support carried me through those early days of rejection. My work has been described as informative, recommended, deceptively simple, beautiful, elevated, and brilliant. It has also been described as confusing, slow, too fast, too complex, too simple, perverse, holier than thou, disturbing, comforting, a little bit obscene and complete trash. I'm in complete agreement with all of it. So, one could ask, why do it? Why should any of us? Why throw the contents of your soul out there for the unrestrained reviews of the masses? When asked why I do it, I'm reminded of the perfect response from surrealist Rene Magritte when questioned about the reason behind his work. He simply said that the purpose of art is mystery. As if he needed to justify it. I'm in complete agreement. As for style, I think the greatest truths arrive on the back of a feather, not iron skillets. I don't stick with genres. I don't grind axes. That's for televangelists and obligate mouth breathers. I love courage in the work and I hate labels, calves liver, people who can neither text nor drive and try to do both simultaneously. I think every story is the story of us all and I don't think there are any rules when it comes to art. It's there to provoke, to offend, to enlighten, elevate, and question without apology. To me it doesn't matter if the story is about a creepy heroine who takes noir to a whole new level, murderous teenagers who seem like nice kids, old people trying to find their place in the world with the aid of government engineered pot seed, a detective who discovers her lover isn't even of the same species as herself, or the greatest mind of the Renaissance whose genius was unfairly punished by the Church. And don't even get me started on cheese! All of those characters have something to say. Regarding my influences, I read everybody. I write about what moves me. I hope it moves you too.