| M. R. Mathias | |
| Birth Date: | 20 July 1969 |
| Birth Name: | Michael Robb Mathias |
| Period: | 2007–present[1] |
M. R. Mathias is an American author whose notable works include The Wardstone Trilogy, the Dragoneer Saga, The Legend of Vanx Malic fantasy adventure series, and the Crimzon & Clover Short Story Series. His most recent work is a four-book epic fantasy series called "Fantastica".
Michael Robb Mathias was born on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. In 1987, he graduated from high school and received a scholarship to study creative writing at East Central University in Oklahoma. He then went on to study creative writing at the University of Oklahoma. After college, he began working in the steel industry, initially for TG Steel and then for DPR Construction. From 2000–2004, he participated in the building of the Alliance Parkway.
Struggling with drug addiction, Mathias spent several years in a Texas prison for drug possession. While incarcerated, Mathias spent his time reading books from the prison library and wrote several full-length novels in longhand. After his release, he stated that "Writing was my salvation. I was on a Maximum Security Unit for a while, over a few fights. I was in a modern dungeon cell 23 hours a day, everyday. Every word on every page of The Wardstone Trilogy was a moment of freedom I created for myself."[2] [3]
After prison, he moved to Houma, Louisiana, to take care of his grandmother who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. At this time he entered his novels into a word processor and he began writing The Dragoneer Saga. After his grandmother's death, his mother retired from her professorship and learned she had cancer. He moved back to Oklahoma in 2011 to assist her with her treatments. In 2014, she was listed as terminal and entered hospice care during the summer of 2016. He was with her until her death on January 16, 2017. He went on to assemble several charity anthologies.
In 2010, The Royal Dragoneers, book one of The Dragoneer Saga, was nominated for the Locus Poll Award.[4] Also in 2010, the first books of The Dragoneer Saga and The Wardstone Trilogy were mentioned by Publishers Weekly.[5] Blood and Royalty, the sixth book of The Dragoneer Saga, was released on December 21, 2014.[6]
In late 2017, Mathias released the four-book Fantastica series, which he had written in longhand in the 1990s, forgotten, and then found in a box in his mother's closet.
In 2018, Mathias began releasing books from his newest series, Dragon Racers.