For most of his life, Joshua Matthias has lived in small towns in rural eastern North Carolina many of which you could miss if you so much as blinked. He was inspired by the vibrant story telling traditions in these areas. The topics ranged from pirate and ghost stories, to local histories of the Civil War and family legends, to living histories and reenactments. It was in this environment where the memories of the past carried on a life of their own that his lifelong passion for storytelling was born. He consumed every history book he could get his hands on related to the Civil War and World War II, which left him interested in how historical narratives were formed.

Through his study of history, Joshua Matthias became fascinated with human behavior and sought to understand why people remember what they do. In college he majored in both history and psychology. When completing his history degree, he focused on exploring the evolution of ideologies of hate and the eugenics movement in the decades before Nazi Germany. He went on to earn an M.A. in Clinical Psychology. He enjoys narratives that explore and accurately represent psychological illnesses, and he uses his clinical knowledge to inform his portrayal of them in stories. He likes narratives that explore the messiness of emotion and how it can further as well as derail plans.

His journey to becoming a narrator started in part because of his older sister. Like many siblings, he was good at listening to suggestions on equipment but not necessarily listening to her advice to just go and try it. He went on a cruise with a lot of audiobook narrators and talked about his interests in areas around and in audiobooks and got challenged -as well as encouraged- by other narrators to try it out. His sister was naturally happy that he was listening to advice. . . If annoyed that he wouldn’t listen to her. But what can he say? Sibling exasperation is his specialty. Since becoming a narrator, he has been coached by Shannon Elizabeth Parks, narrator’s performance lab and is taking additional acting classes. He has narrated science fiction, fantasy, young adult, paranormal and queer romance. He would love to expand into Lit-RPG, horror, romance, mystery, comedy, satire, and cozies. He brings a unique level of emotional vulnerability to his work and nuance to his portrayal of mental illnesses.

As a writer and narrator, he loves to sit in emotional scenes and let them breathe for themselves. Whether it’s a romantic moment, grief, action, or a moment of reflection; living in these moments is his favorite element of storytelling because of what they bring.

In his time outside the booth, Joshua Matthias is an avid consumer of Science Fiction and Fantasy, cozies, Horror, YA, comedy, and anything else that catches his interest. He’ll read pretty much anything because he likes reading and getting absorbed in stories. He is a caregiver to two cancer surviving siblings. He is academically published in psychology and enjoys researching Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, dissociation, trauma and resilience, and early interventions to reduce the frequency of medically induced trauma. He loves writing stories of his own, and exploring the worlds he creates. There are many mysteries he wants to solve, such as the mystery of why his cat always walks over his keyboard when he’s writing. In fact, it’s kind of a miracle that he hasn’t ajhdkjafjhaiphf.