Meaning in Books by Matt Cost

I believe in writing and reading books that there must be more meat to the pages than just a diversion from our everyday lives. This is not to say that this is how every writer and reader should think. Books are a personal experience and should be treated as such. What tickles your fancy is what matters.

More meat to the pages can mean many things. In my viewpoint, I want to make a profound social statement or create a fascinating educational component that broadens my horizons. If I’m going to spend a year getting a book researched, written, edited, marketed, and promoted, then the thing is going to have to hold my interest.

In my own books, social commentary tinges many of my plots, characters, and settings. These have ranged from the fight for social and political equality in 1870s New Orleans, over to Cuba for the revolution led by Fidel Castro in the 1950s, and tothe radically charged events of the Covid epidemic.

 

My educational components (for me as well as you) include acquiring knowledge about topics as diverse as nuclear power plants, the Civil War, cults, powerful lobbyist groups, genome editing, and unidentified aerial phenomena, just to name a few.

This April, I have the first in a new series, this time more of a thriller, that delves into what I hope is a profound social statement. The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed is a modern-day Robin Hood story where Max and his band of people fight for justice for those who have been wronged by the ultra-rich.

Max Creed is not taking aim at any one individual but is making a broader statement that the United States justice system has failed us regarding individuals and corporations worth billions of dollars. There are multiple levels of what justice means in this country. The poor have one set, people of color another, the billionaires are a law-free zone, and countless other niches in between all of these.

Don’t tell anybody, as I have not yet made it public knowledge, but I recently signed a new contract with Level Best Books for another three-book series. The first one is tentatively titled 1955: A Jazz Jones Mystery. It is set in the year of the title and takes on Civil Rights in Raleigh, North Carolina. This mixes educational components with strong social statements.

When a young Black man is hung, and his friend disappears, the NACCP sends a representative to investigate. January Queen hires private investigator, Jazz Jones, to uncover the latent racism which has reared its ugly head in the wake of the recent Brown vs Board of Education ruling. This backlash against change, progress, inclusion, and equality is something that is important to understand then, as it affects now.

At some point in my evolution of understanding history, I realized that history could be fun. As a 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher, I always tried to find that balance between educational and entertaining. Nobody wants to chew their way through countless dates and events that have no flesh to them.

I hope that readers will find these two new series of mine to be informative, worth contemplation, and entertaining.

What say you, readers of this blog. How do you like your books served?

About the author

Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.

Cost has published six books in the Mainely Mystery series, starting with Mainely Power. He has also published five books in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, starting with Wolfe Trap. And finally, there are two books in the Brooklyn 8 Ballo series, starting with Velma Gone Awry. For historical novels, Cost has published At Every Hazard and its sequel, Love in a Time of Hate, as well as I am Cuba.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. They have been replaced in the home with four dogs. Cost now spends his days at the computer, writing.