The Dancing Boy by Michael Matson
What inspired The Dancing Boy?
The book grew out of the
scattering of multiple seeds. I wanted to write a mystery in which locations
played a significant part. To me this meant British Columbia, Canada, and
Western Washington, specifically the islands of the San Juans, areas where I’ve
spent a great deal of time and for which I have an enduring fondness.
In addition, I wanted to
base the mystery on a social issue that would resonate with the mystery-reading
public. Human trafficking is a huge world-wide problem, involving the
horrifying exploitation of women, children and males forced into slave-like
situations. I decided to use that as the device to propel the story. But which
segment of the trafficking would I use?
That was decided by the decade-long war in Afghanistan and that country’s
abominable practice of using young males for sex.
One aspect of this practice
dates back to ancient Greece and perhaps even before that. Pre-pubescent boys were trained as dancers to
entertain men and were valued as sexual objects. Although the practice has been reported on and condemned by western countries, it still continues as a
cultural anomaly in Afghanistan.
A final inspiration grew
from a conversation I once had with an old-time Washington resident about the
whiskey smuggling that took place between Canada and the US during the
prohibition years. As I said, multiple
seeds.
Bio:
Bio:
Michael Matson was born in Helena, Montana, and was
immediately issued a 10-gallon Stetson and a pair of snakeskin boots. After formative years spent in New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, California,
Hawaii and Japan, Michael earned a journalism degree from the University of
Washington in Seattle. Following a brief military stint in Oklahoma, where he
first encountered red, sticky mud, heavy rain and tarantulas, he returned to
Seattle and worked as an advertising agency copywriter, creative director and
video producer.
In 2007 he (regretfully) left Seattle for Mexico to
have time to write and has since published The Diamond Tree, a fairytale for
all ages; Bareback Rider, an
inspirational adventure for children; and Takeshi’s Choice, a mystery
novel. His short story “Gato” was
selected for inclusion in Short Story America’s 2014 anthology. His second mystery novel: The Dancing Boy, was released by Dark Oak
Mysteries, a division of Oak Tree Press in April 2014 and is available at Amazon.com
He lives with his wife MarÃa Guadalupe (Tai), in
Morelia, the colonial capital city of Michoacán, where, despite all the bad
publicity given the area by U.S. news media, he has never seen a
narcotraficante. His website is: www.findmichaelmatson.com
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