MySpace a place for friends

Ace of Spades, my memoir of growing up in segregated 1980's Baltimore as the white looking son of a black nationalist father and a Jewish mother, came out 2.07.07. If you're European, make that 07.02.07.

From the jacket copy:

Haunting every misadventure, from cross-burnings to drug-deals gone awry, is Matthews’ inability to forget the mother he never knew. Dazzling in its rendering of the alternately ridiculous and heartbreaking life it describes, Ace of Spades marks the debut of an irresistible and fiercely original literary voice.

Some very kind people have had this to say about Ace of Spades:

"Ace of Spades by David Matthews is a memoir with lightning strikes of awareness and brilliant analyses of race in this country both as it was and is. The book is not possible to put down, a raging fire runs through it yet it is filled with pained humorous moments as this child of 'mixed' parentage makes his quivering yet always valiant way through his early years as child and young man."—Paula Fox, author of Borrowed Finery and The Coldest Winter

"As honest as autobiography ever gets. The memoir has a long, heralded history in Baltimore, the coming-of-age tale in particular. Henry Mencken and Russell Baker pulled intimate classics from the same rowhouses and streets as David Matthews, but did so with a distinct advantage, knowing as they for the most part did, who they were and whereabouts they were going. Born a prisoner to our national pathology of race, Matthews has won his freedom and written a classic all his own, a story of a life lived in a later, different, but altogether American city."—David Simon, creator of HBO's The Wire, and author of Homicide and The Corner.

Very humbling, but at the end of the day, I do think we squeezed a good and funny and true book out a life that wasn't a lot of fun to live. I'll keep this site updated with shit I think you should know. Stay alive.

Each and every one of you humans, one by fascinating one.

Check out the reviews I've received for Ace Of Spades: (click on the newspaper name to read the full review)

"A memoir with meaning, Ace of Spades is a story of self-deprecation and, ultimately, self-empowerment."—USA Today

"In this stylish, astute, often frustrating memoir, Matthews examines the zigzags in his path between black and white identities before finally settling somewhere in between."—The New York Times

"His likable persona -- angry young wimp -- and his willingness to reveal his own most shameful moments, allows him to deliver caustic goods. The writing flows between showing and telling, between precise details of the urban landscape and grand pronouncements on the races. And the language is a playful, poetic mix of highbrow and lowbrow that creates a Spanglish-esque blend of black-and-white vernacular."—San Francisco Chronicle

"In Ace of Spades, Matthews creates a portrait of people caught up in a specific time and place that anyone else who lived in will immediately identify with; he's also a scathing social critic who uses his sharpest barbs on himself. His message is that when it comes to our family backgrounds, we have to accept the bad if we want to claim the good."—ToxicUniverse.com

"Matthews reports back from both sides of the fence, and it's a casual, nuanced story. Race as Matthews experiences it is more learned than innate, something with which he had to contend when moving to Baltimore. And yes, Matthews is more than acutely aware of its social baggage."—Baltimore City Paper

"The journey of Ace of Spades is one every high school student ought to read, as it is a discussion of race that's candid, complicated and, most of all, necessary."—Savannah Morning News

"The memoir speaks of an America at a crossroads --- destined to find a new, less polarized identity for itself. This crossroads is exactly what Matthews faces and overcomes."—Bookreporter.com