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Three Times Time
One of America's foremost short story writers has made available 3 of his most intriguing stories for a new promotional ebook. These 3 stories (first published in the 1980s) were chosen because they are accessible, intricately written and provocative on many levels. Also included is a long interview with the author about the craft of storytelling. Total: 23,000 words.
87 year old Jack Matthews has published hundreds of short stories, 7 novels and 8 volumes of literary essays. This ebook republishes three of Jack Matthews' best stories. "Amos Smith, the Gunsmith" reaches into the folk tale tradition to produce a nice allegory about human labor. "A Woman of Properties" is a satirical suburban tale (reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor or Cheever) about a real estate agent with a grudge. "The Girl at the Window" is an unsettling and mysterious tale about our relationship to the past.
This short promotional ebook is intended to introduce new readers to the fiction of Jack Matthews. Personville Press is dedicated to publishing and republishing several low-cost editions of Jack Matthews novels and short stories in ebook format.
During his career as a writer, Mr. Matthews was distinguished professor of Fiction Writing at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio for over 4 decades. Winner of Guggenheim and several arts grants, Matthews has been anthologized widely, translated into several languages and nominated for a National Book Award. His own books have been praised by Eudora Welty, Anthony Burgess, Shirley Ann Grau, Tim O’Brien, Doris Grumbach, Walker Percy and a host of other famous and highly accomplished authors.
"Mr. Matthews is a master of prose conversation and deadpan charm. He is ironic, cool, and shrewd, and he writes a lucid prose." (Tim O'Brien, New York Times)
"Matthews' always graceful prose finds that precise telling detail. It's easy to fall in love with such writing." (Perry Glasser, North American Review)
"Engaging wit and irony have been characteristic of Matthews's writing from the start, and both are strongly present in his latest gatherings of stories. His irony is increasingly darker, however, and his characters' obsession with memory and its distortions plays a more dominant role in this later work, much of which deals with death. For the most part, these are stories with deceptively simple and ordinary surfaces, but they are driven by powerful and ominous undercurrents, which often fuse the local and regional with the archetypal. Few can do it better. Without question, Matthews has established himself as one of America's finest storytellers." (Stanley Lindberg, editor, Georgia Review)
87 year old Jack Matthews has published hundreds of short stories, 7 novels and 8 volumes of literary essays. This ebook republishes three of Jack Matthews' best stories. "Amos Smith, the Gunsmith" reaches into the folk tale tradition to produce a nice allegory about human labor. "A Woman of Properties" is a satirical suburban tale (reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor or Cheever) about a real estate agent with a grudge. "The Girl at the Window" is an unsettling and mysterious tale about our relationship to the past.
This short promotional ebook is intended to introduce new readers to the fiction of Jack Matthews. Personville Press is dedicated to publishing and republishing several low-cost editions of Jack Matthews novels and short stories in ebook format.
During his career as a writer, Mr. Matthews was distinguished professor of Fiction Writing at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio for over 4 decades. Winner of Guggenheim and several arts grants, Matthews has been anthologized widely, translated into several languages and nominated for a National Book Award. His own books have been praised by Eudora Welty, Anthony Burgess, Shirley Ann Grau, Tim O’Brien, Doris Grumbach, Walker Percy and a host of other famous and highly accomplished authors.
"Mr. Matthews is a master of prose conversation and deadpan charm. He is ironic, cool, and shrewd, and he writes a lucid prose." (Tim O'Brien, New York Times)
"Matthews' always graceful prose finds that precise telling detail. It's easy to fall in love with such writing." (Perry Glasser, North American Review)
"Engaging wit and irony have been characteristic of Matthews's writing from the start, and both are strongly present in his latest gatherings of stories. His irony is increasingly darker, however, and his characters' obsession with memory and its distortions plays a more dominant role in this later work, much of which deals with death. For the most part, these are stories with deceptively simple and ordinary surfaces, but they are driven by powerful and ominous undercurrents, which often fuse the local and regional with the archetypal. Few can do it better. Without question, Matthews has established himself as one of America's finest storytellers." (Stanley Lindberg, editor, Georgia Review)
ebook
First published September 24, 2012
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About the author
Jack Matthews
83 books4 followersJack Matthews was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and former professor. He published 7 novels, 7 collections of short stories, a novella, and
8 volumes of essays. He was an avid book collector, and many of his book finds served as a basis for his essays and the historical topics he explored in his fiction. His 1972 novel The Charisma Campaigns was nominated for the National Book Award.
Here's a long interview with Jack Matthews from 2010 .
8 volumes of essays. He was an avid book collector, and many of his book finds served as a basis for his essays and the historical topics he explored in his fiction. His 1972 novel The Charisma Campaigns was nominated for the National Book Award.
Here's a long interview with Jack Matthews from 2010 .
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 18, 2018
3.5 stars
October 29, 2013
Jack Matthews is one of America's foremost short story writers. Not my opinion, those are Robert Nagle's words. Robert Nagle is a technical documentation writer in Texas somewhere. Not sure why I followed his blog many, many years ago, but I've since learned to check something out when he says "check this out".
So here we go! 3 American short stories and an interview w/ the author for free! When I say "American", I mean white people being white and guns. There's a white guy buying a gun, a white lady inspecting a house, and a white guy examining a photo. I can safely say the author is a master of his craft because this is some riveting shit.
Not one space marine in this book, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did.
Whatever e-reader you have, it's available in that format. And these are short stories, so you have no excuse.
So here we go! 3 American short stories and an interview w/ the author for free! When I say "American", I mean white people being white and guns. There's a white guy buying a gun, a white lady inspecting a house, and a white guy examining a photo. I can safely say the author is a master of his craft because this is some riveting shit.
Not one space marine in this book, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did.
Whatever e-reader you have, it's available in that format. And these are short stories, so you have no excuse.
April 30, 2013
The only disappointing thing about this volume is that there are only three stories. I definitely wanted more, but this volume is just kind of a teaser. I know that for more I need to go to the other short story collections that Matthews published. It's just that these three are so intriguing and have such a range. One builds off a kind of folk tale model, one is a fairly usual bit of psychological realism (though good), and one is something odd enough that you can get it but perhaps not quite explain it. In any event, I greatly enjoyed these stories. I'll have to look into Matthews a bit further.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews