Matthew McIntosh (born 1977 in Federal Way, WA) is an American writer known for his 2003 novel Well. His second novel, theMystery.doc, was published in 2017.
Matthew McIntosh | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1977 (age 46–47) Federal Way, WA |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 2003–present |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Notable works | Well (2003) theMystery.doc (2017) |
| Website | |
| themysterybook | |
Biography
editEarly years
editMcIntosh is a native of Federal Way, Washington.[1] He graduated from the creative writing program at the University of Washington in Seattle after years of being enrolled on-and-off, during which time he held numerous menial jobs.[1] He also attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. As a second-year workshop student, he won Playboy magazine's short story contest for university students for his story "Fishboy."[2]
Well
editMcIntosh's debut novel was published in 2003, when he was 26 years old.[3] Well is a series of vignettes about the bleak existence of desperate characters living in the Seattle suburb of Federal Way, Washington.[4] The book earned praise for its realistic characters,[3][5] stark writing style[1] and for being ambitious.[6] It was both praised and criticized for its structure and unrelated storylines.[5][7][8]
theMystery.doc
editMcIntosh's second novel, the 1,660-page theMystery.doc, was published by Grove Atlantic on October 3, 2017. He began working on it shortly after Well was published in 2003.[9] It tells the story of an amnesiac writer trying to write an ambitious follow-up novel to a previous work. It contains many subplots, unusual page layouts, styles and fonts, as well as photos.[10][11] The Washington Post called it "a supersize version of Well" and said that reading it "is like wandering through a gigantic art installation."[9]
Bibliography
editNovels
edit- Well, New York: Grove Press, 2003
- theMystery.doc, New York: Grove Press, 2017
Stories
edit- "Fishboy," Playboy, October 2001 (as Matt McIntosh)[12]
- "Chicken," Ploughshares, Spring 2001[13]
- "Looking Out For Your Own," Puerto del Sol
References
edit- ^ a b c John Marshall, "New Seattle novelist’s grasp of despair goes far beyond his years," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 4, 2003.
- ^ Jim Jacobson, "UI student wins Playboy college writing contest," The Gazette (Cedar Rapids), March 20, 2011.
- ^ a b Darren Reidy, "Books," The Village Voice, September 23, 2002.
- ^ "Well," Publishers Weekly, May 19, 2003.
- ^ a b Martha Southgate, "McIntosh’s ‘Well’: a promise of voice and energy," Baltimore Sun, August 10, 2003.
- ^ Jennifer Reese, "Books In Brief: Fiction," New York Times, October 26, 2003.
- ^ Jessica Turner, "Cover Story: Well Enough Alone," Cincinnati CityBeat, September 10, 2003.
- ^ Martha Southgate, "Vignettes don't add up to a novel," Chicago Tribune, August 20, 2003.
- ^ a b Steven Moore, "Finally, a novel that looks like a 21st-century production," Washington Post, October 24, 2017.
- ^ Sam Sacks, "The Best New Fiction," Wall Street Journal, November 3, 2017.
- ^ Jason Sheehan, "You're Going To Hate 'TheMystery.doc,' And That's OK," NPR, October 7, 2017.
- ^ The FictionMags Index. Archived 2012-11-14 at the Wayback Machine Accessed June 8, 2013.
- ^ Matthew McIntosh Author Detail, pshares.org, May 24, 2001.