My assistant offered a comment. “I am not surprised that the universe is a slapped-together piece of brummagen. After all, I see before me two of its alleged pinnacles of creation who, having discovered the truth of all existence, can form no better response than to drink themselves into pools of sodden sentimentality.”
It had more to say but I pointed out that I had not authorized it to come out of standby status. Surprisingly, it began to dispute my instruction, but my fingers found the stud that reduced its power supply to a minimum and pressed it.
In the welcome silence I raised my cup and said to Froust, “To happy endings.”
“Doubtful,” he said.
“Well, then,” I said, “to the best endings we can manage.”
About the Author
The name I answer to is Matt Hughes. I write fantasy and suspense fiction. To keep the two genres separate, I now use my full name, Matthew Hughes, for fantasy, and the shorter form for the crime stuff. I also write media tie-ins as Hugh Matthews.
I’ve won the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award, and have been shortlisted for the Aurora, Nebula, Philip K. Dick, and Derringer Awards.
I was born in 1949 in Liverpool, England, but my family moved to Canada when I was five. I’ve made my living as a writer all of my adult life, first as a journalist, then as a staff speechwriter to the Canadian Ministers of Justice and Environment, and -- from 1979 until a few years back-- as a freelance corporate and political speechwriter in British Columbia. I am a former director of the Federation of British Columbia Writers and I used to belong to Mensa Canada, but these days I’m conserving my energies to write fiction.
I’m a university drop-out from a working poor background. Before getting into newspapers, I worked in a factory that made school desks, drove a grocery delivery truck, was night janitor in a GM dealership, and did a short stint as an orderly in a private mental hospital. As a teenager, I served a year as a volunteer with the Company of Young Canadians (something like VISTA in the US). I’ve been married to a very patient woman since the late 1960s, and I have three grown sons.
In late 2007, I took up a secondary occupation -- that of an unpaid housesitter -- so that I can afford to keep on writing fiction yet still eat every day. These days, I’m in Italy but any snail-mail address of mine must be considered temporary; but you can send me an e-mail by clicking on my name in the footer of this page. I’m always interested to hear from people who’ve read my work.
You can find me at:
http://www.matthewhughes.org
* * *
Also by Matthew Hughes
Fools Errant
Downshift (as Matt Hughes)
Fool Me Twice
Gullible’s Travels (omnibus edition of Fools Errant and Fool Me Twice)
Black Brillion
The Gist Hunter and Other Stories
Majestrum, A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn
Wolverine: Lifeblood (as Hugh Matthews)
The Spiral Labyrinth, A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn
The Commons
Template
Hespira, A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn
The Other
To Hell and Back: The Damned Busters
Song of the Serpent (as Hugh Matthews)
To Hell and Back: Costume Not Included
Old Growth (as Matt Hughes)
To Hell and Back: Hell To Pay
9 Tales of Henghis Hapthorn Page 24
