Justice for Joseph - A benefit show for acclaimed author Joseph Mattson

Author and key LA literary figure Joseph Mattson and his family--(his fiancee and 8-week-old infant son)--are in serious jeopardy and need emergency aid. Mattson is the author of the acclaimed novel Empty the Sun, the story collection Eat Hell, and is editor of The Speed Chronicles, as well as a regular contributor to Slake and The Rattling Wall and much more. Last year, Joseph's mother was the victim of homicide, killed by her husband in a brutal act of domestic assault so severe that perfect outlines of the killer's fists were imprinted in bruise all over her body; she died of brain death resulting from a brain bleed, the fatal wound caused by traumatic head impact. The man is currently in prison, serving out a sentence of 2-9 years for manslaughter and will likely be released in December, 2013, after only the mandatory 2 years--due to the poor economy. In the wake of his mother's death, Mattson was named personal representative of her affairs, including her estate, which is comprised predominantly of property and investments inherited by Joseph's mother from her parents/Joseph's grandparents. Earlier this year, her killer/husband filed litigation to try to take possession of his victim's estate. While "slayer rules" exist to prohibit such unconscionable acts by revoking a killer's rights of inheritance so that he cannot benefit from the person he killed, it has been recently discovered that Mattson's probate lawyers failed across the board not only to apply these "slayer rules" but also failed to protect Mattson's rights as a registered crime victim, rights to object to and appeal the killer's petitions, and allowing the killer carte blanch access to Mattson's personal information--directly compromising and endangering Mattson's, his fiancee's, and their newborn son's safety and security--including violating Mattson's freedom to write--and so much more, resulting in total immediate financial loss for Mattson due to over $50,000 in legal fees and protections, with another mountain of debt coming in order to secure new representation and to launch counter litigation to protect him and his family from the felon that took his mother's life. Mattson is in dire need of money for legal aid, family welfare and infant healthcare, household security, and basic living expenses while unable to work in order to attend to this dire crisis situation. We need to raise an immediate $25,000 for urgent legal aid and security, and another $25,000 in the long-run (in the next few months) to cover everything else mentioned above. Full details are available by inquiry.
TESTIMONIALS

“Joseph Mattson writes like a guitar player with nineteen fingers—everywhere at once, stinging, dark, and beautiful.” —JERRY STAHL, author of PERMANENT MIDNIGHT and PAIN KILLERS

“Joseph is a keystone species in our fragile literary ecosystem. His presence in LA letters helps us all thrive.” —Joe Donnelly, publisher and co-editor, Slake:Los Angeles
“Joseph Mattson is an echo from my childhood. When he snarls his mouth and spits out poems from somewhere deep behind his ribcage, he reminds me of so many boys I once knew. Only, he loves his lady and has a kid and writes poems, so he’s like a guy I once knew and loved and stole beer from 7-11 with, and got angry at the world with, and did graffiti with… but he’s better because he grew up good. He grew up with a way to articulate his anger. That’s exactly his contribution to the literary world. Gets the blood pumping.” —Melissa Chadburn, writer.


“Joe Mattson is a writer. Writing for the most part is a lonely business. For Mattson, writers aren’t his competition, they are his family. Doesn’t matter what level his fellow writer has made it to. Mattson is there with conversation, advice, charm, mischief. Whatever fits the bill.”
—Hank Cherry,filmmaker, photographer, and writer who lives in Los Angeles.



“A rarity he is…To have one of your best friends be your hero in the same stroke, when the second he crashed through my jaded walls, my quality of life immediately skyrocketed. Beyond a kindred spirit…my sense of adventure, creative spirit and bullshit detector was all of a sudden re-baptized in a fire native to Joseph that is contagious just in knowing the man. Reassuring enough to know there is someone here my own age that is a true iconoclast, living, breathing and oozing writing from every cold sweat pore and all the wild inherent humility with his present predicament make his fire glow all the brighter. Never before have I witnessed something so corrupt and unfortunate to somebody more unabashedly righteous in every way you can be, but I am confident justice has the tendency to be a tad tardy…” — Gabriel Hart, frontman of Jail Weddings, guitarist of Dante Vs. Zombies, author of The Intrusion.


“Joseph Mattson’s writing intoxicates with its astonishing sound, its ripe poetry, such beauty compressed into every line. With it he seduces you into a world as strange and rich and full of dangerous wonders as a Dali painting. He’s an essential talent and a generous presence on the LA literary scene.” —Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander, Paint it Black