At All Due Respect this month, Matthew creates a spinning, confusing and yet crystal clear voyage inside the mind of madness in his story “Broken Play”. A man consumed by regret and crack, lost in memories and drugs stumbles through a normal activity that becomes a quest and trial.
Outside his mind, the story is simple. Crack addict with a baby and knife. Inside, it’s confusing, terrifying and epic. His whole life plays through his addled mind. Lost high school glory. Broken dreams. A life the result of choices not made, but accepted.
The conflict is simple. Cop wants the crazy man to put down the knife. And the baby. In the head, it’s all broken plays and broken lives. Matthew’s prose is perfect and you feel the anxiety, the anger, the sadness. All of it flowing out from the words.
It’s a masterful piece, and worth your time. The story is set in Desire, like so many of Matthew’s stories. I have viewed Matthew’s writing as being tied to New Orleans. His stories filled with the city as much as the characters.
Over at Heath Lowrance’s blog, Matthew conveys his feelings on the place that is closer to the heart of his writing. Desire. While he has written stories in other areas of NO, Desire is the place for the characters that his readers love or hate the most.
Check out this post. There are revelations there about his personal feelings toward this slice of America. It’s an excellent insight into the mind of a writer I am always on the lookout for. It will also make you hunger for a collection of tales from Desire, and more information on someone named Ava.
Always look forward to reading anything Mr. Funk writes. His movie reviews at Let’s Exploit Everybody put mine to shame!