Matthew Mather (September 28, 1969September 13, 2022) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

writer of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

. His books have been translated into eighteen languages and sold around the world. He was also a

self-publishing Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...

author of his works, as well as being published through HarperCollins and 47North among others. He is best known as the author of ''

Cyberstorm ''MissionForce: CyberStorm'' (commonly referred to as ''CyberStorm'') is a turn-based strategy game developed by Dynamix and published in 1996 by Sierra On-Line. The game is set in the Metaltech universe created by Dynamix, and the player contro ...

'' which has been bought by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

to turn it into a movie.

Background

Prior to becoming a bestselling author he worked at McGill Center for Intelligent Machines. He also worked in

cybersecurity Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

electronic health record An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of patient and population electronically stored health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared throu ...

s, and

weather prediction Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the t ...

. Mather was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, though his family now lives in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. He was raised in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and used to "divide his time between Montreal and

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, North Carolina."

Works

Matthew Mather was the author of a growing collection of work, often in the genre of apocalyptic and science fiction, but also in thriller and mystery/suspense.

Stand-alone novels

* ''Darknet'' (2015) is a

dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

novel that follows Jake O'Connell a New York City stockbroker who is hunted by an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

. The AI system has found a way to interact with the real world using

darknet A dark net or darknet is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol. Two typical darknet types are social ne ...

assassination market An assassination market is a prediction market where any party can place a bet (using anonymous electronic money and pseudonymous remailers) on the date of death of a given individual, and collect a payoff if they "guess" the date accurately. This ...

s, virtual currencies and advanced

chatbots A chatbot or chatterbot is a software application used to conduct an on-line chat conversation via text or text-to-speech, in lieu of providing direct contact with a live human agent. Designed to convincingly simulate the way a human would beha ...

. It is claimed that this book is "based on real-world technologies". * ''Polar Vortex'' (2019)

Atopia

* ''The Atopia Chronicles'' (2012) * ''The Dystopia Chronicles'' (2014) * ''The Utopia Chronicles'' (2017)

Cyberstorm/World War C

* ''

'' (2013) follows Mike Mitchel a resident of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

who is trying to keep his family together is thrust into a new problems of staying alive. A massive snowstorm strikes the East Coast of the United States during an unknown

cyber attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...

from unknown source(s). Mike Mitchel must work to keep his family and friends safe as the winter storm and the cyber storm drag on. * ''Cyberspace'' (2020) * ''Cyberwar'' (2021)

Nomad/The New Earth

* ''Nomad'' (2015) * ''Sanctuary'' (2015) * ''Resistance'' (2016) (Written with Lucas Bale) * ''Destiny'' (2017) (Written with Lucas Bale)

Delta Devlin

* ''The Dreaming Tree'' (2019) * ''Meet Your Maker'' (2020) * ''Out of Time'' (2021)

Aeon

* ''Aeon Rising: The Apocalypse Begins'' (2022) * ''Aeon Burn'' (not published yet, expected September 26, 2023) * ''Aeon Fury'' (not published yet, expected date unknown)

Other works

* ''The Robot Chronicles (The Future Chronicles)'' (2014) is a science fiction anthology by thirteen top science fiction writers, including Matthew Mather. * ''Compendium'' is a free eBook that includes three short stories by Matthew Mather and the first chapters of some of his best-selling novels. It's available through his website by joining his Reader Group.

Reception

"In just four years from publishing his first novel, Matthew Mather's books have sold over a million copies and been translated into eighteen languages and published in 23 countries, with 20th Century Fox developing his second novel, CyberStorm, for film."

Death

Mather's death in a car accident on September 13, 2022 was announced by family and friends in late September 2022.

Bibliography

# ''

'' (2013) # ''The Atopia Chronicles (Atopia Series)'' (January 7, 2014) # ''The Robot Chronicles'' (July 23, 2014) # ''The Dystopia Chronicles (Atopia Series)'' (August 12, 2014) # ''Darknet'' (March 4, 2015) # ''Nomad'' (August 12, 2015) # ''Sanctuary'' (February 20, 2016) # ''Polar Vortex'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mather, Matthew Living people Writers from Montreal Canadian science fiction writers McGill University alumni 1969 births