"...powerfully reminiscent of Lord of the Flies and A Clockwork Orange." -Mario Acevedo, author of Felix Gomez vampire novels
In the small town of Powder Valley in Colorado near the Rocky's, there is a rivalry that brews between Cherry Ridge and Ashton High. Those living in Cherry Ridge have a much different lifestyle than those residing in Powder Valley. So what could possibly bring two competing towns together better than competition?
In the small town of Powder Valley in Colorado near the Rocky's, there is a rivalry that brews between Cherry Ridge and Ashton High. Those living in Cherry Ridge have a much different lifestyle than those residing in Powder Valley. What brings the two competing towns together though is The Powder Match.
Having grown up in Colorado it is no surprise that Matthew John Meagher would choose such a picturesque location to set his first novel.
This former 5th-grade teacher found the motivation to write a book after taking notice of the young men in his classes and their lack of enthusiasm when it came to reading. As a result, he penned a novel that not only resonated with young readers, but was filled with the right mixture of emotion, grit, heart, and of course action.
In this dystopian-like story, Irish Town handles some very real-world issues such as substance abuse, and even the differences in some students' socio-economic backgrounds. His main character reflects a clever, witty, self-assured teenage boy named Jester. Jester also has an uncanny sense of loyalty to his friends and in many ways, his actions, interests, and relationships are similar to those of a lot of young people.
Irish Town was named a Distinguishable Favorite in the NYC Big Book awards in 2020. Aside from writing novels Matthew Meagher also blogs and consults. His blog can be found on his website where he talks about everything from binge-watching Oz on HBO to talking about The Little Things people can do during tough times, spreading a little kindness as they go.
Subscribers and visitors to his site may also want to check out the Writing Tricks section where he shares Do's and Dont's of writing, types of writing, and more. Matthew has even made his book available in audio format on Amazon.
Want to know more about Irish Town? Read this exclusive excerpt below from the author and visit his links at the end of this article to follow him on social media.
Excerpt: 17. Drunk Uncle Powder Match: 39 Days It’s Friday night. Irish loans us the limo for the Hill. Benny turns the engine off and walks away with a few cig sticks. Christi sits next to me smelling of cotton candy. She’s braided her blonde hair in pigtails and tucked them under a white beanie. With a light blue sweater and white collared shirt underneath, her combination of tops and jeans makes me sweat with desire. She’s awesome. I pour myself a drink. “Want one?” I ask. Christi scowls. “Take me home.”
“What?” I respond.
“You heard me. You smell like my drunk uncle.”
She moves to the seat across from me.
“We’re kind of stuck here until Benny comes back,” I say.
Focus, J.. There’s more to this than just Christi.
I pour my drink out the window, and open the limo fridge. Inside is a bottle of sparkling water and the polar bear I had given Rose with a small card from Irish saying, “Good luck, bro.”
He can always get things.
I pour two glasses of water and give her one.
She says, “Sparkling water? My family barely has enough water for cold showers. How did you get this?”
“Irish left it for us.”
She takes sip. “Oh. How do you drink it?”
“Just like normal water, I’ve had it a few times. Irish saves it for special occasions.”
She gulps the glass, but chokes on the carbonation. I can’t help myself from giggling. It’s cute.
“Shut up,” she says, “I didn’t mean to judge you about your drinking?”
“It sounds like you were judging me,” I interrupt.
“All I’m saying is…it would be nice if you weren’t hammered on our first date.”
I’m not hammered.
“Okay,” I say.
We sit in painful silence. She holds her purse in her lap, tapping her fingers along its side.
Say something. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
I look at her. We share a nervous smile together. She clears her throat. Again she coughs. Sweat beads on her nose.
“Nervous?” I ask.
“Kind of,” she says with a shrug.
“Me too. I do the same thing when I’m nervous.”
Her fingers tap across her purse. When she notices that I notice, her fingers hold still.
“You were tapping your fingers on your purse.”
She drops her purse on the seat. “No, I wasn’t.”
“Yes you were. Trust me. Coming from someone who deals with anxiety every day, you were tapping your fingers.”
I reach in the fridge and hand her the polar bear. “Here.” I say, “Brush it’s fur. It helps for some reason.”
“You really get nervous?” she asks.
How much time you got? I’m dying right now.
I can’t help myself from laughing. “Ha, that’s an understatement.”
Christi sips from her glass and says, “You don’t have to be nervous around me.”
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to be nervous around me.”
She moves soft and gentle next to me, raises her hand, and with a cute innocence says, “My name is Christmas Daye. It’s nice to meet you.”
She’s adorable. Mars was right about her brightening the air. That’s right… Five-Points.
“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jes, Jeremiah Connelly. How’s the Five-Points Quarter treating you, Christi?”
She grabs my leg in excitement and spurts out sentences.
“I love Five-Points! I mean… it’s not the nicest of areas, but when it snows, there’s going to be like fifty new places to do snowboard tricks.”
She’s such a badass.
“I don’t know how you do it. Some of those tricks are sick, for sure.”
She responds with a humble, “Thanks. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Did that hurt?”
She points to her own face to indicate my scar.
Dammit. Of course she would say something, you ugly fool.
“It hurt more after,” I say. “I had to eat through a tube for weeks from the broken jaw.”
“That guy, Sonny, really did a number on you.”
“Twitch got it worse. I’d rather not talk about it.”
She looks down and brushes the back of the bear asking, “Okay. I don’t know how you do it.”
“Do what?”
“Compete in front of the whole world. I couldn’t answer like one of those questions, and I consider myself to be pretty smart. Then the whole Snow Brawl thing. Puke.”
She points to her mouth like she’s about to vomit.
“It’s probably the same with you and your tricks. I don’t really think about it that much.”
She moves in closer. “What do you think about then?”
Is this happening. Holy shit. Be smooth. Be smooth.
I grab her hand and say, “Us.”
Follow Matthew John Meagher on Social Media: Twitter:@MatthewMeagher4 Instagram:@matthewjohnmeagherbooks Facebook: Matt.Meagher.12
Website: https://www.matthewjmeagher.com
Author Biography:
Matt is a native of Colorado growing up in Englewood with his sister Meghan and supported by his parents Sher and Mike. His neighborhood was quiet and safe. Matt loved all sports but his favorite was baseball, and he played on a number of winning teams including one that won a national championship.
He attended Cottonwood Elementary one of the top-performing schools in the metro area which emphasized the basic skills of reading and writing. Ms. Shoemaker, his fifth-grade teacher, saw something in Matt and encouraged him to explore his creative side. In his fifth grade yearbook, he was quoted as saying, “You can see me in the future as a baseball player; if not I will be a writer.”
He went on to Smoky Hill High School, and then to the University of Northern Colorado majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with a Language Arts emphasis. He then became a teacher of fifth graders specializing in writing. Megan, one of his former students, said, “Mr. Meagher is the reason I decided to take writing seriously.”
After seven years of teaching Matt decided to pursue his own writing career and entered the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Regis University where he wrote his premier novel Irish Town. “I wanted to write a book that everyone would enjoy with engaging and relatable characters. Mostly, I wanted my readers to have fun.”
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