Born in Warsaw, Poland, Mat immigrated to the States as a young boy. He grew up in Michigan exploring the Great Lakes and fell in love with all things Detroit. He graduated from Oakland University, and later Wayne State, before receiving his M.A. in Literature and Writing from Utah State University.

His debut novel is a direct descendent of a short story he wrote while a student at USU. Though not good enough to place any higher than third in a student writing contest, the story laid the foundation for what would become the Stone Edda.

After 13 years of either being a student, teaching, or exploring the beauty of the Mountain West, Mat and his family decided it was time to return home to the Midwest. Accompanied by his wife and two kids, along with a dog more stubborn than him, Mat moved to Wisconsin. He now enjoys exploring its many beautiful landscapes and towns.

When not teaching, or working on the Stone Edda, Mat also writes poetry, plays music (these days mostly the bass), snowboards, streams way too many movies and shows, and reads as much as he can. He’s quite partial to magical realism and science fiction, and of course a good fantasy book. Though he makes it a point to also keep up with middle-grade and YA stories. In the end, he’ll probably never grow up.

But most importantly, he re-reads The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings at least once every two years. Hopefully he’ll have many more of those reads before it’s all said and done.