My name is Matthew Rettino, a speculative fiction writer from Montreal, Canada. Welcome to my official author website.

In my Archaeologies of Weird Fiction project, I am reviewing all 110 stories contained in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s massive anthology The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories.

If you’re looking through my posts, you’ll also find writing advice, and the occasional piece of amateur historical research. I love historical fantasy, weird fiction, and literary/pulp takes on archaeology. My favourite authors include Guy Gavriel Kay, Michael Ondaatje, Jeff VanderMeer, Usman Malik, and Charles de Lint.

As an academic, I’ve written a Master’s thesis on modern fantasy as a form of peripheral modernism. I’ve presented at MythCon, Brave New World: Revisiting Globalization in Literature and Culture (a graduate conference held at McGill University in 2018), and at the Academic Conference for Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction (ACCSFF).

I’m the proud author of “The Goddess in Him,” an urban fantasy short story about a time-traveling Scythian refugee living in Montreal. Another of my published short stories, “The Pilgrim’s Yoke” appeared in Bards and Sages Quarterly.

My fiction and poetry has previously appeared in Scrivener Creative Review, 600 Second Saga, and the McGill University student lit mags, Steps Magazine and The Veg.

My nonfiction has appeared with Graphite Publications, Cult Montreal, The Bull Calf Review, Scrivener Creative Review, and The Senior Times. 

As a proofreader and editor, I also handle a range of different clients in the genres of both nonfiction and fiction, offering competitive rates.

You can access my portfolio page here.

Did I mention I have a newsletter?