Deep Focus: Matt Randles

Matt Randles and I go waaay back…about 32 years to be exact. We were both studying music at Central Washington University when we met. Back then, we didn’t hang out much. He was too…Christian. I was an elitist who enjoyed staring contests with the abyss 😉

Fast forward about 9 years, and Matt is attending a funeral at Thorp Community Church. A guy walks to the podium and asks everyone to join him in prayer. After the prayer, Matt turns to the person next to him to find out who led the prayer because he thinks he might recognize him. It turns out, Matt is right. That guy is me 😉 During the previous 9 years, I met the Lord, went to Bible school, and started attending church in Thorp, Washington. Matt and I stayed in touch after that.

A few years ago, Matt and I discovered something we had in common besides loving Jesus: writing. We started getting together to support each other as writers. About once a month we meet to discuss the writing process, what we’re working on, future goals, theology, and what’s happening in our lives.

In that spirit of mutual support, I decided to feature Matt in this week’s post. It’s a minor departure from A Wandering Minstrel’s focus on poetry because Matt is more of a prose guy. But if you’re not breaking the rules now and then, you’re probably not making art 😉

Matt has self-published two volumes of short stories entitled Deep Focus and has had a short-story published in a science fiction anthology. I am re-reading Deep Focus, Vol. 2 and find myself drawn in by intriguing ideas: What if you rode an elevator that opened in the future? What if everything you thought automatically posted to social media? Matt’s stories also contain philosophical subtexts I enjoy: How do we balance complete honesty with graciousness? How does human freedom exist within and interact with a divine plan for our lives? Besides the more cerebral elements, there’s enough blood-pumping action to make these volumes real page-turners (or page-swipers since they’re e-books 😆).

Anyway, I hope that you’ll check out Matt’s short-stories. I am also looking forward to posting someday that Matt’s first novel is available. He is in the big middle of a fantasy series that started as one book, then three, and now is up to five or six books. These are the times I LOVE being a poet. Everything is waaaay shorter, LOL.