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.
Biography
Early years McIntosh is a native of Federal Way, Washington.John Marshall, "New Seattle novelist’s grasp of despair goes far beyond his years," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 4, 2003. 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. 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."Jim Jacobson, "UI student wins Playboy college writing contest," The Gazette (Cedar Rapids), March 20, 2011.
Well McIntosh's debut novel was published in 2003, when he was 26 years old.Darren Reidy, "Books," The Village Voice, September 23, 2002. Well is a series of vignettes about the bleak existence of desperate characters living in the Seattle suburb of Federal Way, Washington."Well," Publishers Weekly, May 19, 2003. The book earned praise for its realistic characters,Martha Southgate, "McIntosh’s ‘Well’: a promise of voice and energy," Baltimore Sun, August 10, 2003. stark writing style and for being ambitious.Jennifer Reese, "Books In Brief: Fiction," New York Times, October 26, 2003. It was both praised and criticized for its structure and unrelated storylines.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.
theMystery.doc McIntosh'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. 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.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 Washington Post called it "a supersize version of Well" and said that reading it "is like wandering through a gigantic art installation."Steven Moore, "Finally, a novel that looks like a 21st-century production," Washington Post, October 24, 2017.
Bibliography
Novels Well, New York: Grove Press, 2003 theMystery.doc, New York: Grove Press, 2017
Stories "Fishboy," Playboy, October 2001 (as Matt McIntosh)The FictionMags Index. Accessed June 8, 2013. "Chicken," Ploughshares, Spring 2001Matthew McIntosh Author Detail, pshares.org, May 24, 2001. "Looking Out For Your Own," Puerto del Sol
References
External links Well website theMystery.doc website