Name: Mason T. Matchak. Real name, not a pen name, and yes I'm keeping the middle initial.
Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction. At least in writing. I once tried to tell my former boss I was fictional, and he asked if that meant he could pretend to pay me.
What genres do you write? Fantasy of various flavors. The book I'm working on now is somewhat magepunk because magic is an everyday thing, but I've written urban fantasy as well, and I'm working on some interplanar stories too.
Are you published? I had one short story published, back in 2007. It's called "The Crystal Girl", and appeared in issue #54 of Leading Edge, a small-press magazine.
Do you do anything in addition to writing? I have a day job, but. . . .
Where can people connect with you? Here at the blog, as @MasonTMatchak at Twitter, or via e-mail (address altered to foil spammers).
Is there anything else you’d like us to know? I'm really big on diversity in sci-fi and fantasy, and in fiction in general. The book I'm currently editing, The Accidental Warlock, has both LGBT and person-of-color characters, which I think we don't see often enough. I know things are changing, but it's a slow change, and I'm glad to help support it. Heroes don't have to be straight white people, simple as that.
I love the idea of New Adult and I wholly support those who write it; I think it's something missing from YA and Adult fiction and needs to become a recognized category. I just haven't listed myself as writing it because, well, I don't have anything that's NA planned. But considering how many plots I wrestle with regularly, that could change.
Other than that, I'm here to meet some new people and spread the word a bit. TAW is a ways from being ready to submit (if it's ready by the year's end, I'll be a little surprised), but I've been blogging about writing for long enough without really putting myself out there, so it's time to change that.
Hi. I'm Mason. It's good to meet you. ^_^
Mason, I love the title of your blog and your sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating in Follow Fest! :)
Thanks! I wasn't the first to think of the term, but I thought it worked well. And thank you for starting Follow Fest! ^_^
DeleteHi Mason, so great to meet you! I am definitely subscribing to your blog. Good luck to you and your WIP.
ReplyDeleteGood to meet you too! Following you now as well. ^_^
DeleteGood to meet you! I'm following on twitter, although I'm not there super often. (Ah the joys of being WAY too busy.) Here's some virtual cheese for your fictional self. ;)
ReplyDeleteGood to meet you too, and trust me, I understand being way too busy for most anything. @_@ It's why I don't update this blog as often as I'd like to.
DeleteSo nice to meet you!
ReplyDeleteLikewise! ^_^
DeleteHey Mason, it's great to meet you! Thank you, THANK YOU for being so focused on diversity. I'd love to see more LGBT characters, and characters who are everything and anything but white. So I'm a fan :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I've been working with this particular couple for a long time, and I never thought there was anything unusual about writing LGBT characters until I realized how uncommon it was. Now I just need to finish the thing and find an agent who's seeking diversity too. ^_^
DeleteGood luck with the book! Following you on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteThank you; following you as well. ^_^
DeleteYay! :) Thanks for participating, Mason!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Thanks for being part of this too. ^_^
DeleteHaha! Pretending to pay as fictional - priceless :)
ReplyDelete*wave* Nice to meet you! And I agree, NA is definitely an open territory with so many possibilities.
Yeah, my boss learned to counter my weirder jokes very quickly. Eh heh heh. ^_^ Good to meet you too.
DeleteIt's really nice to meet you :)
ReplyDeleteLikewise! ^_^
DeleteSo nice to "meet" you! I'll go check out your links.
ReplyDeleteYou too! My tweeting is mostly just babbling about writing and other geeky stuff, but I try to keep it interesting. ^_^
DeleteHit me with weirdness and humor anytime. :D Great meeting you, Mason.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your former boss sounds like he had quite the sense of humor. ;)
Weirdness and humor I can always do. I had to delve into nonsense when my boss got too used to me. ^_^ Good to meet you too.
DeleteHi! Love your voice/humor- so great to meet you!
ReplyDeleteYou too!
DeleteLovely to meet you Mason! I actually used to work on Leading Edge Magazine, so it's neat to see you've published with them! I have a few copies on my shelf, but none from 2007, alas.
ReplyDeleteNow there's something I didn't expect to hear. @_@ It's a good quality magazine, the illustrations for my story were well-done.
DeleteNice to meet you through Follow Fest. Love the humor and that your once told your boss you were fictional!
ReplyDeleteThank you, good to meet you too. ^_^
DeleteIt's good to meet you too, Mason. I came by yesterday morning, but your post hadn't published yet. Just got the "page does not exist" window.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have things rolling along nicely, and I applaud you for your advocacy of diverse heroes and main characters. You're right...there's just not enough of that out there. Take care and come by!
M.L. Swift, Writer
I had the post scheduled for 6AM the day Follow Fest started; I'm a real morning person so I'm not used to people being up earlier than me. Eh heh heh...
DeleteAnd thank you. Fortunately, I've seen several agents looking for more diversity of this sort in main characters, so hopefully it's a continuing trend.
Love your sense of humor. Best of luck with your WIP!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I just read your work haikus and loved the one about the heads. ^_^
DeletePleased to meet you, Mason. Good luck with your writing!
ReplyDeleteYou too, and thank you!
DeleteGreat to meet you, Mason, and your WIP sounds really intriguing. Looking forward to following here. :)
ReplyDeleteGood to meet you too. ^_^ I feel like I should actually talk about the book more here, but I also don't want to spoil people in case this one actually gets published. Hrm...
DeleteThe book you're editing seems really interesting!Let me know when it drops, my sister and I, in addition to a writing blog run a book blog where we review books that feature diverse characters!Guess you could say it's our passion!Can't promise to love it, but if we do, we'll be sure to advertise a book we were in love with on our blog!!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad we could connect!
Your blog has one of the best header images I've ever seen. ^_^ I'll follow you two on Twitter and definitely keep you posted if TAW works out, thanks!
DeleteHello, Mason, nice to meet you. I also love the title of your blog and your wip sounds truly amazing, good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you, good to meet you too! ^_^
DeleteHi Mason. It's nice to meet you from this follow fest. Love the variety that you write about. My WIP has to deal with a gay Christian, and it's a mixed-race couple. Hope to come back and visit sometime. Writer’s Mark
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit late here, but thanks for stopping by. ^_^
DeleteFollowed you on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteI have not heard of magepunk until I popped over here today. But I'm intrigued! :)
ReplyDeleteI have a dayjob as well, which enables me to daydream about my writing night job :)
I'm not sure where I first heard the term, but I really like it - magic should change everything about the world, not just be the one thing different in an otherwise medieval/Renaissance-style society.
DeleteAnd yes, I get a ton of story ideas at my day job. ^_^