The River in Winter, a Novel by Matt Dean
2010 Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Gay Fiction
About The River in Winter:
Jonah Murray has known much happiness—a supportive mother, a decent job, and fulfilling hobbies. But after the end of his first great love affair, the rawness of his emotions leads him into a dangerous entanglement.
Spike Peterson—heartbreakingly good-looking, imperturbably self-assured, relentlessly carnal—rekindles Jonah’s longing for companionship. But Spike isn’t the kind to offer companionship. Excitement, yes, but not companionship.
Eliot Moon, a counselor who facilitates a support group for gay men, offers Jonah a more transcendent path to happiness. But Jonah soon discovers that to take Eliot’s way, he will have to make difficult sacrifices.
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Contact Info:
Matt Dean
c/o Queen’s English Productions
No. 276
1643B Savannah Highway
Charleston SC 29407
About the Author
Matt Dean began writing in the seventh grade, when his best friend bragged about writing a novel, and he wanted to be able to do the same. (Brag, that is. The writing was somewhat incidental at first.) His earliest efforts consisted of endless lists of characters that somehow never got into action on the page, novels that were barely longer than short stories, and plays that recycled entire plots from Neil Simon. In short, though The River in Winter is not his first novel, it is the first that will ever see the light of day.
Matt attended Heidelberg College—now Heidelberg University—in Tiffin, Ohio, where he majored in music and economics. He has had the honor and privilege of studying the craft of writing in workshops led by David Leavitt, Timothy Schaffert, and Carol Bly.
In addition to writing fiction, Matt routinely populates his blog— entitled “Letters from the Country” in honor of a book of essays by his mentor, Carol Bly—with diatribes and observations concerning food, pop culture, technology, politics, and book design. Ardently but intermittently, he composes both classical and popular music.
Matt lives in South Carolina with his partner, Todd, and their three dogs, Charlotte, Candice, and Tallulah. He works at home, telecommuting full-time for a software company. He is a programmer of a sort; his actual job duties often amount to the digital equivalent of holding an ancient engine together with chewing gum and duct tape.
Todd and Matt are corporate members of the Unitarian Church in Charleston. Matt serves on the board of the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry.
Praise for Matt Dean and The River in Winter
Robert Jaquay (myQmunity Arts Blog):
As I read this intriguing and very well written novel, I began to like it more and more. Matt Dean has a wonderfully fluid style. I also found that it was hard to put down, and I cared about what was going to happen next. This is a good thing.
All in all, The River in Winter is a very satisfying read, and one that I feel will stay with you long after you turn the final page. Let’s put it another way, after The River in Winter, I am really looking forward to what comes next from Matt Dean.
Amos Lassen (Eureka Pride):
Too bad Jonah isn’t around for me because I fell in love with him. Dean gives us such a real character that you feel he is sitting right beside you as you read his story....
Let Matt Dean take you away with The River in Winter. Not only will you have a beautiful read but you will probably discover something about yourself.
Carol Bly (Shelter Half;
I feel happy that the emotional and spirit range of the book are big, not little: that is, although you can write amusing witty prose very well, what you are about is in fact Jonah’s increasing insistence on getting a philosophy about and then doing a meaningful life....
[Y]our dialogue ear is as good as it gets, and your frequent metaphors in prose description are usually wonderful. You are good at driving the exposition to inward truths or feelings as well as outward. You do such a good job on the sex, too....
Wend Elsen (Anaïs Nin’s Blog)
Your writing is so very funny, bittersweet, poignant, piquant!
[Jonah] is an endearing character, self-deprecatingly funny—he brings out the reader’s protective instinct....He is likeable because he’s honest—we see right into his trips and misses and second-guessings...his contradictions and desperate yearnings...and we root for him all the more.
Linda Scott (Amazon.com user)
This novel resonates because it taps into our most passionate and vulnerable human aspects. Like Jonah, we try so desperately to find love. We are seekers, looking to find meaning, an identification that works, so that we too, can feel accepted. And yet the only way in, is to go through the murky depths....and so the story unfolds. It’s quite a ride. Full of wit and poignancy. I loved every minute of this book!
Downloads
- For a PDF press kit, click here.
- For a web-ready JPEG of the cover art, click here.
- For a print-ready JPEG of the cover art, click here.
- For a web-ready JPEG of the author photo, click here.
- For a print-ready JPEG of the author photo, click here.
- For an alternative web-ready author photo, click here.
- For an alternative print-ready author photo, click here.
