Mathias B. Freese's Blog

Excerpts from a beautiful review by Rose Auburn 5 Stars! Freese originally wrote Straw Shoes in his early 30s. Some fifty years later, he revisited it, a much older man with five decades of lived experience effectively co-authoring with his younger self. Freese seamlessly blends youthful energy with elderly wisdom. This fascinating cross-era collaboration has […]

5 Stars! Review by Noémie Media Mathias B. Freese’s Straw Shoes is a remarkable literary achievement that transcends the boundaries of historical fiction to become something far more profound. It is a meditation on duality, resilience, and the eternal human struggle between surrender and defiance. Freese, a teacher, psychotherapist, and author of ten books, has […]

A special thank you to Grady Harp for this thoughtful review of my latest and final work, Straw Shoes. ‘The humble earth may outlast defiant rock’ – An eloquent journey in time “Mathias B. Freese earned his degrees from Queens College of the City University of New York and Stony Brook University, and is a […]

I’m happy to announce the publication of my final book, Straw Shoes, released June 9th, 2026. Betty Lee Sung inspired me to write my book. I met with her between 1969 and 1972. I was working on a Title 111 federal project, a racial-ethnic one, writing curricula for schools. I met with her in person […]

My book, In the Throes, was recently featured on Shepherd.com, now BookDNA, a book recommendation website. I shared 5 books that inspired me when writing In the Throes, in the hopes that readers will find my book, and others with similar themes that they’ll enjoy. Titled “The best books to awaken your mind to spiritual […]

My book, In the Throes, was recently featured on Shepherd.com, a book recommendation website. I shared 5 books that inspired me when writing In the Throes, in the hopes that readers will find my book, and others with similar themes that they’ll enjoy. Titled “The best books to awaken your mind to spiritual and psychological […]

By Mathias Freese Thoreau said it best, “to live deliberately,” probably the best use of anadverb in the English language. Yet, how do we go about livingmoment to moment? The answer is written on the wind. As my humanmechanism deliberately falls prey to aging, I see less clearly at nightat the wheel, my driving skills […]

Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers’ Favorite Set in a brutal apocalyptic world with two suns, Mathias B. Freese’s In The Throes follows the story of a creature that unexpectedly attains awareness. The only thing Gruff’s undeveloped mind could fathom as he opened his eyes to the world was that the Close One’s slashes didn’t […]

By Mathias Freese In 1974 an editor, without my knowledge, submitted my story, “Herbie,”to Martha Foley, editor of the prestigious annual anthology, The BestAmerican Short Stories of 1974. In a section called “Distinctive ShortStories of 1974.” I was listed, unfortunately, with the wrong author’sname. That is another story. I was notified that Foley, who had […]

By Mathias Freese At a summer’s writers conference in Athens State University inAlabama, I was on a panel with a media specialist [Caylah Coffeen of Creative Cornerstones] and two other writers. The panel met after I had taught a workshop on self-awareness — or what Khrishnamurti called the awakening of intelligence which was the theme […]