James Mathews
VETERAN / FICTION WRITER / SONG WRITER
James Mathews
VETERAN / FICTION WRITER / SONG WRITER
About the Author
Biography
Biography
Biography
James Mathews grew up in El Paso, Texas as well as a variety of Army bases throughout the country. After active service in the U.S. Air Force, he settled in Maryland with his wife and children.
He graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland and later received an M.A. in Writing from the Johns Hopkins University.
He has spent most of his professional career working in and around Washington, D.C., writing speeches and congressional testimony for various government officials, including the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
He is also a retired Chief Master Sergeant with the D.C. Air National Guard. After 9/11, he was activated and deployed overseas numerous times, including tours in the Middle East and Iraq (in 2003 and 2006). These military experiences have figured into many of his short stories, his longer written works, and his songs.
He is currently a fiction instructor with The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland where he served on the Board of Directors for 9 years.
In addition, he is a lecturer and writing instructor for the Veterans Writing Project in Washington, DC and is Senior Editor/Fiction Editor for the literary journal O-Dark-Thirty.
Writing
Biography
Biography
James was raised in a home where books were everywhere and cut across all genres - from scholarly historical works to paperback mysteries and horror. He read voraciously and, for a time, aspired to be the next Stephen King. It was only after reading Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" that he became determined to explore and write literary fiction. After many fits and starts, he published his first short story ("Shoot the Parents") in The Florida Review in 1994.
Since then, his short fiction has been published in numerous literary magazines including Northwest Review, the Greensboro Review, Carolina Quarterly, the Wisconsin Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, the South Carolina Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, and many more. He has also been the recipient of a number of awards for his work including three individual Maryland State Arts Council Grants. His short story “Many Dogs Have Died Here” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was included in the 2015 Best American Mysteries anthology.
His book, Last Known Position, a short story collection and winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Short Fiction, was published in November 2008 by the University of North Texas Press.
Over the last several years, James has delved more deeply into song writing, penning over 100 songs in the last two years alone. This work can be found on his personal SoundCloud page as well as under the name War Bride -- which includes songs co-written with his son, Austen Mathews.
Teaching
Biography
Teaching
After learning from some of the best fiction instructors in the world, James has taken to lecturing about and teaching the art of fiction as he sees it.
Since 2009, he has taught well over 50 workshops to hundreds of aspiring fiction writers -- many of whom have gone on to achieve great success in the writing and publishing world. He has also lectured at major writing conventions and college venues, including the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Marshall University, George Mason University, North Texas University, The University of North Carolina, Purdue Learning University, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, The National Museum of the US Navy, The Writer's Center, among others.
A firm believer in page-turning fiction and conflict above all else, he is particularly focused on how to drive story forward, using a variety of methods, most notably third person dramatic point-of-view - an approach that conveys limited exposition while maximizing inference through character action and dialogue.
Among the authors he cites often are T.C. Boyle, Tobias Wolff, James Dickey, Lorrie Moore, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Anne Tyler, and Denis Johnson.
Published Work
Nonfiction
Copy That! The Creative Writer's Military Guide, (with Jerri Bell and Carmelinda Blagg). The Veterans Writing Project, 2018.
Fiction - Book
Last Known Position (short story collection), The University of North Texas Press, Fall 2008.
Fiction - Short Stories
"Stick," As You Were, Vol. 19, November 2023.
“Spiral in D Major,” Green Briar Review, Issue 5.2, Winter 2019 (pp.40-54).
“Inferior Animals,” Blue Lake Review, August 2018 (online).
“Silence All Who Cry Out,” War, Literature & the Arts – Folios: Body, 2018 (pp.81-85).
“Many Dogs Have Died Here,” New York Subway Library Project, featured story, e-Book Anthology, Fall 2017.
“The Idiot’s Guide to Killing Your Mother-in-Law,” Mystery Weekly Magazine, November 2016.
“Many Dogs Have Died Here,” The Best American Mystery Stories 2015, Anthology, Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 2015 (pp. 291-313).
“Extended Tour,” The Fourth River, Issue 12, Spring 2015 (pp.73-81).
“Many Dogs Have Died Here,” Iron Horse Literary Review, Vol. 16, No. 3, Summer 2014 (pp. 3-20).
“Speaking of the Circus,” Spittoon, Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 2014 (pp.7-22).
“Blondes to the Rescue,” Painted Bride Quarterly, No. 87, Winter 2013 (pp.339-343).
“Transit,” Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Anthology, The Missouri Council and Warriors Arts Alliance, Vol 1, Fall 2012. (pp. 163-167)
“Breathe,” Eunoia Review, December 2011 (online).
“Blondes to the Rescue,” Freight Train, Winter 2010 (Online).
"Last Known Position: 2,000 Feet Above the World and Descending,” The Heartland Review, Volume 10, Number 2, Fall 2009 (pp.15-34).
“Funeral Fantasies,” Potomac Review, No. 45, Winter 2009 (online).
“First Day,” Stress City: A Big Book of Fiction by 50 DC Guys, Fiction Anthology, Paycock Press, Spring 2008 (pp. 312-315).
“The War Diet,” Combat, Volume 6, Number 2, Spring 2008 (online).
“Strong Arm,” The Roanoke Review, Volume 31, Spring 2006 (pp. 105-116).
“Seven Rifles at Dawn,” Timber Creek Review, Volume 11, Number 4, Winter 2006 (pp. 41-55).
“Cannibals in the Basement,” The GreensboroReview, Number 77, Spring 2005 (pp. 15-36)
“You Have to Want It,” The Laurel Review, Volume 38, Number 2, Summer 2004 (pp.56-74).
“Our Deepest Sympathies,”Wilmington Blues, Volume 5, Number 4, May-June 2004.
“Grenade,” Beacon Street Review, Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2003 (pp.16-33).
“Roar,” The Northwest Review, Vol. 41, Number 1, Winter 2002 (pp.23-46).
“Man Swallows Goldfish While Sleepwalking, Chokes to Death,” The Madison Review, Vol. 22, No. 2, Spring 2001 (pp. 94-104).
“Among Crows,” Crucible, Volume 35, Fall 1999 (pp. 36-48).
“Say Nothing,” The Carolina Quarterly, Vol.51, No. 1, 1998-1999. (pp. 15-30).
“Devil’s Rain,” Gargoyle, Number 41/42, Winter 1997. (pp.284-299).
"The Strays Are Never Far Behind," The South Carolina Review, Vol. 29, No. 1, Fall 1996. (pp. 258-271).
"Will You Take My Baby To New Jerusalem?" The Pacific Review, Vol. 13 1994-1995. (pp. 32-48).
"Beg Forgiveness," The MassAve Review, Fall 1994. (pp. 15-23).
"The Fifth Week," The Wisconsin Review, November 1994, Vol. 29, No. 1. (pp. 21-25).
"Shoot the Parents," The Florida Review, Spring 1994, Vol. XIX, No. 2. (pp. 42-63).
Awards & Recognition
Fiction
2018 Elixir Press Fiction Award, (Semi-Finalist, for The Year of the Reaper)
2017 James Jones First Novel Competition, (Semi-Finalist, for The Year of the Reaper)
2017 Plympton and Subway Library Project - Feature Story (for short story “Many Dogs
Have Died Here”)
2015 Best American Mystery Story, The Best American Mystery Stories of 2015,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (for short story “Many Dogs Have Died Here”)
2014 Pushcart Prize Nomination (for short story “Many Dogs Have Died Here”)
2013 Sante Fe Writer’s Project (Finalist, for Among Crows)
2013 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction – University of Georgia Press (Finalist,
Among Crows)
2013 HudsonPrize – St. Lawrence Press (Semi-finalist, Among Crows)
2013 Ropewalk Press Chapbook Award (Semi-finalist, Among Crows chapbook)
2012 Iron Horse Literary Review Single Author Chapbook Competition (Finalist)
2012 Ropewalk Press Chapbook Award (Finalist for each of three individual entries)
2010 Maryland State Arts Council Grant, (Grant Award for short story collection Funeral
Fantasies) -- $1,000
2009 Sante Fe Writer’s Project (Finalist, for Among Crows)
2009 Arthur Edelstein Prize for Short Fiction (Finalist, for short story, “Funeral
Fantasies”)
2008 Washington Writers’ Publishing House Fiction Award (Finalist, for short story
collection, Among Crows)
2008 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction, (for short story collection LastKnown
Position: 2,000 Feet Above the World and Descending] - $1,000 and publication
2007 Washington Writers’ Publishing House Fiction Award (Finalist, for novel Angel of
the Burning Fog)
2006 Maryland State Arts Council Grant, (Grant Award for short story collection Last
Known Position: 2,000 Feet Above the World and Descending) -- $3,000
2004 Distinguished Mystery Story, The Best American Mystery Stories, Houghton Mifflin
Co.(for short story “Roar”)
2001 Chris O’Malley Award for Fiction (Finalist, for short story “Man Swallows
Goldfish While Sleepwalking, Chokes to Death”) -- publication
2000 F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Award (1stPrize, for short story “Beg Forgiveness”).
-- $1,000
2000 Writer’s Digest Short Story Contest (Honorable Mention, for short story “Beg
Forgiveness”).
1999 Carolina Quarterly Charles B. Wood Award for Distinguished Fiction (1st Prize, for
short story “Say Nothing”). -- $500
1999 Crucible Best Story of the Year (2nd Prize, for short story “Among Crows”)
– $200
1999 Maryland State Arts Council Grant, (Top Grant Award, for short story collection
Among Crows). - $6,000
1996 Jenny McKean Moore Fellowship
1996 Tobias Wolfe Award for Fiction (Finalist, for short story “Say Nothing”).
1995 Heekin Grant Award for Novelists (Finalist, for novel The Taste of Red Water).
1990 Forest A. Roberts Playwriting Award (Semi-Finalist, for play The Hazard of the
Die).
1984 Paint Branch High School Award for Literary Excellence (1st Prize, for short story
“When It Rains”).
Songwriting
2022 Song Door International Songwriting Competition, Song Contest, (Honorable Mention, for "Livin' in a Sci-Fi Movie")
2022 Song Door International Songwriting Competition, Song Contest, (Honorable Mention for "Heart of Eden")
2022 Song Door International Songwriting Competition, Featured Song/Video for Veterans Day Weekend, (for "Brothers of the Wall")
2021 Song Door International Songwriting Competition, Song Contest, (Honorable Mention for "Open Window")
2020 Songwriter’s Association of Washington (SAW) Lyrics Contest, (Honorable
Mention, for “Brothers of the Wall”)
2020 Songwriter’s Association of Washington (SAW) Lyrics Contest, (Honorable
Mention, for “Ring the Church Bells If I Die”)
2019 American Songwriter Magazine Lyrics Contest, (Honorable Mention, for “I Believe
in Me”)