Gambrills Man a Prolific Producer of Thrillers

The , he had just started selling his first novel and had big plans for at least two more.

Matzke, a Gambrills resident who writes under the pseudonym Andrew Stark, has followed through over the last year, cranking out two prequels to his debut novel The 5^th Brother.

The Becoming, Part 1 and The Becoming, Part 2, continue Matkze’s exploration into the worlds of suspense, horror and science fiction.

“It goes to the past, where everything starts,” Matzke said.

The story follows the protagonist, Stanley, who is charged with tracking a Nazi-era scientist in Northern California. What follows is an account involving detectives, aliens and eventually, murder. Matzke said it’s very much inspired by the popular sci-fi show the X-Files.

Matzke has kept his day job working at the Navy Medical Research Center in Silver Spring. He tries to write at least a few hours each day and for whole days on weekends. Recently, he’s been spending a lot of time marketing the books to help get them on shelves, but has enlisted help in that area. The books are available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.

Now, Matzke is working to finish Bloodbath, the fourth novel in the series. Over time, he hopes to branch out and explore other genres, possibly with the same seet of characters.

“If you can imagine a vine, with offshoots of thorns,” he said. “As I write and develop individuals, there are endless possibilities. My main like is thrillers and horrors, but I like romance and drama and westerns. I want to explore my writing techniques in the different genres.”