Gerald C. Matics -- Author

Maybe it's morbid, but I have been listening to parts of the KYW-1060 NewsRadio coverage from September 11, 2001.  Every year they stream their archived coverage, unedited and uninterrupted, in real time throughout the day, and every year I can't help tuning in.  I have a dreadful fascination with the events of that day, and the broadcast always takes me back.

With my son Jack just starting first grade this week, I know he's going to start hearing about September ...

When I first started writing seriously, I asked myself a pie-in-the-sky question:  Should fame and fortune ever come looking for me, what name do I want it to find me under?  This might be an easy question for most people, but I struggled with it a little bit.

The reason?  For most of my life I hated the sound of my own name.

I can't explain why that is, really.  Oh, I'm sure I could go all Freudian (or maybe it's Jungian, I don't really...

My Yahoo! account for some reason throws a lot of random stuff into the Spam folder. When it comes to Viagra ads, notices of fictitious lottery winnings, or come-ons from Russian women dying for a husband, I say Spam folder, do your thing.

But often things I have more than a passing interest in land in there, and I have to rescue them before they pass into oblivion forever more.  Case in point: an e-mail from the editor of

As mentioned last time, "The Sisters" is officially my second published piece of fiction.  It being Friday the 13th, today's the perfect day to check it out.  Go to Fantastic Horror and have a look at it and some of the other fine pieces the site has to offer.

And when you're finished, please come back and let ...

It's taken awhile -- longer than I expected -- but "The Sisters" has found a home.

I found out on Sunday that this story, my second-oldest piece of horror fiction (not counting a piece I wrote in grade school called "Dr. Heidigger's Experiment," which was a horror in a whole 'nother sense), was accepted for publication by

I know where you live.

I know a surprising amount about you, in fact, all you "anonymous" visitors.  Most people don't realize that people who run Web sites have access to a startling amount of information.  Your personal information.

I know you live in cities throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware -- no surprise there -- but also in Cambridge, MA...Dublin, OH...Jacksonville, FL...Chicago...San Diego...and even one young man in Thailan...

A brief post to wish you all the happiest of holidays.  If you care to learn what's been happening with my family over the past year, check out The Maticses' Christmas Message for 2008; it's become quite the tradition over the last several years.

A couple of weeks ago Timothy Egan wrote an article in the New York Times after learning that "Joe the Plumber," who became a symbol during the election run-up for the common man, had a book come out this month. Egan is incensed by the fact that a publisher would pay JTP a no-doubt handsome advance while so many m...

Hello.  My name is Gerry, and I'm addicted to Facebook.  And it's all my sister's fault.

That's right, me.  Rarely drink, don't smoke, never did drugs in my life, avoid video games like they're telemarketers.  I'm addicted to Facebook.  My sister Emily -- a fantastic artist, by the way -- invited me to join in November.  I haven't had any spare time s...

I warn you now, this will be a long one. Yesterday was a tough day for me, and I have to share the reason: my best friend from childhood -- and who, although we have seldom spoken in our adult lives, I still consider the best fri...

So I was all set to rant about directionless, pointless stories, but then something cool happened that I just had to write about first.

In my last post, I gushed a little about a new review of Dark Distortions I that mentions "Enthralled" favorably, but I said I wouldn't be going out to...

Okay, it's been ridiculously long since I've updated.  Ironically, writing for a living has left me with precious little time -- or energy -- to write.

Anyway, like most healthy Americans who aren't my mother, from time to time I Google myself to see whether anything's been posted about me, kind or otherwise.  In the "kind" category, yesterday I discovered a new review of ...

I don't know about you, but whenever I visit a Web site, even one I've been on before, I scroll down to the bottom of the home page and check the number of visitors the site has had.  I've always wondered why this is so.  I think maybe, in some deep-seated, Freudian manner, I'm looking for validation for having chosen that particular site in the first place.  After all, there are buckets of truth behind the saying about there being safety in numbers; in this case I'm not talkin...

Yesterday I ran the Collegeville 5K Run/Walk for Arthritis, which is sponsored in large part by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where Lisa works.  It's not a bad little race, and it was actually the first race I ran last year at the beginning of my latest comeback.  (I think I'm on number 197, but who's counting?)  Then, I'd been r...

Yesterday I took my mother to see a doctor in West Chester.  Mom lives way the hell out in Chester County, nestled close to the Lancaster County border, so it's a bit of a drive.  On the way back I knew she was hungry, so I took her to a little market called Triple-Fresh a couple miles from her house (she doesn't drive and can't walk far, so to her it might as well be on the dark side of the moon).

Standing in line at the deli counter, I met the eye of a...

You may have noticed that the countdown clock on the front page has expired.  That's because Dark Distortions I is now officially available and shipments are being made.  Yesterday my wife received two copies she ordered (thank God for Lisa!).  That means if you preordered a copy, you should be receiving it any day now, if you haven't already.

It also means

There's a favorable review of Dark Distortions I by a site called "Bookgasm: Reading Material to Get Excited About."  The review is quite positive, beginning with: "Should you choose to read

Last night I attended a reunion of my eighth-grade class.  My 25th year reunion, to be exact.  The night belonged to the Our Lady of Charity Class of 1983.

I have to say I never really expected to see many of these people again, but I'm so glad I went because it was a really good time.  Out of 70-odd people i...

First off, I can't believe it's going on three months since I updated this page.  That will change, I promise.  Web 2.0, social networking, whatever the hell you want to call it -- it's here to stay, and I'm getting on board.

Second, I finally received my author copy of Dark Distortions I in the mail yesterday.  What a sweet ...

Any day now, Dark Distortions I, an anthology of horror fiction and poetry from Scotopia Press, will be released and available for preorders.  The book happens to contain my first published piece of horror fiction, "Enthralled," so how about giving it a look?  Trot on over to