After working in the film/video industry for well over a decade, Matt Kurtz wrote, directed, and edited the 16mm feature film Falling Hard, a drama about a twenty-something guy in a loving relationship who suddenly questions his life after unexpectedly falling for his best friend’s new girlfriend. The film, praised by The Fort Worth Film Festival as “...an engaging romantic drama…” and “…an impressive first feature…”, received both DVD and VOD distribution through Vanguard Cinema in 2005. In addition to Falling Hard, he’s written numerous (unproduced) feature-length screenplays in the comedy, drama, and horror genres.

Years later, after being fed up with all the bullshit that came with filmmaking, he said, “The hell with movies! I wanna write a book!”

“Start small, hone your craft, and then jump into something larger” was a philosophy he’s always followed since his filmmaking days and later applied it to prose. He wrote nearly one hundred short stories, all in the horror genre (something he’s loved since childhood). Over half of those tales found a home in various anthologies from publishers such as Blood Bound Books, Comet Press, Apokrupha, Necrotic Tissue Magazine, and Strangehouse Books… as well as a bunch of publishers that probably shouldn’t have been publishing in the first place.

When it came time to write a novel, he sat his ass in a chair and put fingers to keyboard, then took a deep breath and… got intimidated and returned to writing even more short stories.

When he was ready to take the plunge a second time, he cranked out two novels. The first, A Warm Place to Hide, sits on a shelf (to be edited soon) but the second, Kinfolk, was published by Grindhouse Press in 2018. The novel, about two criminal brothers locked in a high-octane battle with a clan of bloodthirsty cannibals, was praised by numerous book bloggers, reviewers, and websites including GingerNuts Of Horror which said, "From the very first moment until the last blood-soaked scene you will be left breathless."

The Rotting Within, his occult horror follow-up, was published by Grindhouse Press in December 2020. The book made numerous "best of" and "most recommended" lists for 2021, including The Lineup's "7 Terrifying Horror Novellas" which described it as "Filled with heart-pounding jump-scares, nerve-shredding dread, and an ending that will shock and disturb you... a rare horror story that will have you holding your breath until the very end."

Matt also has a trilogy of short story collections entitled, Monkey’s Box of Horrors - Tales of Terror: Vol. 1, Monkey’s Bucket of Horrors - Tales of Terror: Vol. 2, and Monkey’s Butcher Block of Horrors - Tales of Terror: Volume 3.

His most recent work Shock Waves, a novella about creatures that invade an amusement park after the power goes out, was released in April 2023.

His work has been translated into Russian for Darker Magazine, "Russia's Biggest Horror Webzine since 2011".

He's also been a special guest on Vital Social Issues 'N Stuff with Kris and John Wayne, where they discussed the pros and (many) cons of the 80s slasher film, MADMAN. 

Feel free to reach out to him on Twitter at @MattKurtzWrites or visit MattKurtzWrites.com