Matthew Arnold Stern

My WIP is set in 2025 with modern and slightly futuristic technology. It also celebrates technology of the past, especially the Commodore Amiga. #WeeknightWriters #FirstDraftFall

Indie Author Day is coming to Anaheim Public Library on Saturday, November 15. We have a great group of authors and small presses lined up. I will be there, and I'll moderate a panel about generative AI. Mark your calendars, and I hope to see you there! www.anaheim.net/6272/Indie-A...

We Are Made of Scars and Starlight Check out We Are Made of Scars and Starlight - <p>"<strong>A powerful story about the fierce love of friendship, and finding the courage to love and accept yourself</strong>." Elissa Grossell Dickey, ...

Happy Book Birthday to We Are Made of Scars and Starlight by @nicolezelniker! This powerful novella is one of the best things I've read this year. Get your copy wherever you get your books. bookshop.org/a/116415/978...

Tomorrow❤️

@flyleafbooks.bsky.social is still doing signed preorders until the end of the day! Feel free to make me write whatever you want. Or attempt to draw a silly lil doodle. I’m just vibing here.

I can’t wait for y’all to meet Kai.

The life of a showgirl at a crossroads Oh, no! Taylor Swift is happily in love and enjoys having sex with her well endowed fiancé! The horror! The horror! Her latest album The Life of a Showgirl got the predictable pearl-clutching. Gasps were especially loud from those offended by her highly suggestive "Wood," forgetting the music they listened to as kids. (That goes for your rock idols&hellip;

The Life of a Showgirl has gotten flak from the left and right. There are several key points Taylor Swift's critics—and supporters—are missing.

Fight media bias by teaching journalism When I go to Reseda Charter High School this month for the 70th anniversary, I'll interview the school's librarian. (The interview will be in a future issue of my newsletter. You can subscribe here.) One of the things we'll discuss is media literacy and the importance of identifying bias. When I was at Reseda in the 1970s, there were only three commercial television networks and PBS, along with several daily newspapers, and AM news radio stations.

The best way to teach young people media literacy and how to identify bias is to teach them journalism. The skills I learned working on a school paper in the 1970s are just as important today.

I'm still revising. My story has a group of five characters trying to survive a dangerous recreation of a video game. All of them need to be active in every scene and move the story forward. It's slow going, but I like the way the novel is taking shape. #WeeknightWriters

The Amiga Goodreads giveaway is closed. Winners will be announced soon.

Thanks to all of you who signed up for the Amiga Goodreads giveaway. If you're a winner, you'll be notified soon. Please remember to give Amiga a review. Don't forget to check out Amiga and my other books at your favorite bookstore. #booksky

RIP STC A proud papa moment: My daughter told me that she wants to follow in my footsteps and become a technical writer! She discussed the possibility with her manager at work and asked me for advice on how to get started. The first thing I wanted to do was direct her to the premier organization for technical writers, the Society for Technical Communication (STC).

What happens when the premier organization for a profession vanishes? And how do writers build community today? #STC

Book giveaway for Amiga by Matthew Arnold Stern Sep 01-Sep 30, 2025 Enter to win one of 100 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Sep 01-Sep 30, 2025. Dig into files of an old computer with Laura, who is desperate to...

Love vintage computers? Enjoy reading about a strong woman proving herself as a programmer? Then don't miss out on the Amiga Goodreads giveaway! Win one of 100 eBook copies. The giveaway ends September 30. Time is running out. Sign up now! www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Book giveaway for Amiga by Matthew Arnold Stern Sep 01-Sep 30, 2025 Enter to win one of 100 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Sep 01-Sep 30, 2025. Dig into files of an old computer with Laura, who is desperate to...

Only one week to go in the Amiga Goodreads giveaway! Don't miss out on your chance to win one of 100 eBook copies of my acclaimed novel Amiga. Sign up today! #Booksky www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

My motto is “write what you want to know” and share what you’ve learned with your readers.

Hansel shows off some creative writing magazines I worked on in high school. #WeeknightWriters

Wildfires I know about wildfires. They happen in Southern California every year. They are more frequent and are often as destructive as earthquakes. The vegetation on our hillsides and canyons is designed to burn. Chaparral and pine trees do not spread their seeds until the old plants are burned away. The Tongva and Chumash understood this. They did controlled burns to get rid of dead vegetation before they could cause even more destructive wildfires.

I know about wildfires. Our nation is in one.

Matthew Arnold Stern post: Making a difference and Dames at Sea It’s easy to feel powerless with everything going on today. “I’m just one person,” we cry. “What can I possibly do?” So, let me tell you about our high school pr…

By reminding myself we’re not powerless and any of us can make a difference. It’s a lesson I learned from performing in a high school play. #WeeknightWriters www.matthewarnoldstern.com/current-affa...

Matthew Arnold Stern page: Newsletter The Matthew Arnold Stern newsletter is published monthly. It consists of news, featured books and posts, upcoming events, and interviews with other authors. You can manage your subscription informa…

In the next issue of my newsletter, I'll give updates on the Amiga Goodreads giveaway, work in progress, and celebrate my alma mater on its 70th anniversary. So you don't miss out, subscribe to my newsletter. It's free. Look for my newsletter 9/19. www.matthewarnoldstern.com/newsletter.h...

They say you shouldn't attribute to evil what is merely incompetence. But this administration is absolutely evil.

Matthew Arnold Stern post: Win a copy of Amiga in the Goodreads giveaway! If you haven’t read Amiga yet, here’s your chance to win an copy for free! Sign up for the Goodreads giveaway from now through September 30 to win one of 100 eBook copies of Amiga. Whil…

Have you signed up for the Amiga Goodreads giveaway? Win one of 100 ebook copies of "a great novel of technically oriented women and their grit." Time is running out. Sign up today! #booksky www.matthewarnoldstern.com/amiga/win-a-...

High school and the search for community British TikToker Mand included our "weird obsession with high school" among the things that irk her about Americans. As someone who frequently writes about high school in my blog posts and books, I got this one. The reason goes a lot deeper than what's portrayed in the media about mean girl cheerleaders and brutish jocks who stuff nerds in trashcans.

Why are Americans so obsessed with high school? It's because it's the last real community most of us have. And as other communities crumble around us, high school has become more important.

To my local high school: Why are you honoring someone who hated three-fourths of your student body?

Matthew Arnold Stern post: What happened to 9/11? Tomorrow is the 22nd anniversary of 9/11. This means an entire generation has grown up and finished college, and they only know about 9/11 from a history book. I’ll commemorate 9/11 by donati…

We must face some hard truths about 9/11. Osama bin Laden may have succeeded in his goal to bring down America. What’s worse is that we did it to ourselves. #September11 www.matthewarnoldstern.com/current-affa...

Why does it smell like the Reichstag is burning?

Here, not even MAGA bows to the flag. Sure, we pledge allegiance to it, sing the National Anthem to it at every sporting event, wear it on every article of clothing, fly it from the back of our lifted pickup trucks, and have a "president" make out it with it like it's a 14yo girl, but never bow.

Starting another work week like everything is normal while a gang of rich psychopaths is hurtling the world towards disaster.

License to be cruel Let’s look at three recent incidents. A woman at a Phillies-Marlins game demanded a boy and his father give her a home run ball she claimed should be hers. A CEO grabbed an autographed cap from a kid at the US Open. He initially said about the incident, “Yes, I took it. Yes, I did it quickly. But as I’ve always said, life is first come, first served.”

The woman who took a home run ball. The CEO who grabbed a cap. The man who shouted racial slurs at a streamer. Are these isolated incidents or something more?

My current #wip isn't a Reseda novel, but I still had to fit the San Fernando Valley in it.

Matthew Arnold Stern post: Trust the experts In every disaster movie, you’ll find the same group of characters. As soon as the disaster hits, there’s a preacher who proclaims, “There’s no need to fear! God will save us…

"Don't trust the experts," says the worst of the Kennedys to hold a public office. Obviously, neither he nor his brainworm ever saw a disaster movie, as I wrote about during our recent public health crisis. www.matthewarnoldstern.com/current-affa...

4 Books.
4Things in Common.
They’re all available to win in #Goodreads! Search the titles to enter now #giveaways #booksky
@maswriter.bsky.social @cliffgarstang.bsky.social @lindarosen.bsky.social

Matthew Arnold Stern post: Featured book: The Remainders What’s The Remainders about? A homeless son and troubled father must reconnect in Southern California. Dylan Glass, an 18-year-old high school dropout, was kicked out of his mother and stepda…

Today's the fourth anniversary of the publication of my novel, The Remainders. The story of a homeless son and his troubled father is more relevant than ever. #booksky www.matthewarnoldstern.com/the-remainde...

Be true to your school? When someone I follow on social media professed her love for the USC Trojans, I came to a realization. I don't like college sports. I did when I went to her school's arch-rival, UCLA. I took the RTD bus down to the LA Memorial Coliseum where the Bruins played at the time. We did all the arch-rivalry things, like publish a parody version of the&hellip;

I don't like college sports. Here's why and which school I actually root for.