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Matthew Vollmer is the author of two short-story collections as well as three collections of essays. He was the editor of A Book of Uncommon Prayer, which collects invocations from over 60 acclaimed and emerging authors, and served as co-editor of Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, "Found" Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts. His work has appeared in venues such as Paris Review, Glimmer Train, Ploughshares, Tin House, Oxford American, The Sun, The Pushcart Prize anthology, and Best American Essays. He teaches in the English Department at Virginia Tech and lives in Blacksburg, VA.
"This engaging what’s-in-the-woods puzzle elegantly probes the
questions that characterize deep relationships and deeper
mysteries." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review"All of Us
Together in the End is an unforgettable record of 'a purposeful
journey' that became 'a collision with
the ineffable.'" —Rebecca Foster, Foreword Reviews,
Starred Review“If I had witnessed what Matthew Vollmer has seen, I
think I would, like him, resist the mystery; that is, I, too, would
think it was too good to be true, too good to be believed. The
world owes us nothing yet gives us everything, the lights seem to
proclaim, and yet. Vollmer restores the mortal body to its shine,
existence to its sublime and brilliant mystery. All of Us Together
in the End will make you reckon with your ghosts, and will teach
you exactly what matters in the end. I am a more aware witness now
of the brightness of this world, and I have to thank Vollmer’s
spiritual memoir for allowing me to see it and, consequently,
believe it.” —Jenny Boully, author of Betwixt & Between and The
Body
“All of Us Together in the End is Vollmer’s best work to date. The
book showcases his keen awareness for the very present (pandemic,
institutional racism, Zoom, TikTok,) and also his ability to gather
the weird, mystical, and poignant threads of his life to tell the
engrossing story of how loss can lead to transformation and how his
family history comes to inform his path as a seeker. Vollmer can do
funny and tender and mystical all at once in fluid prose that gets
me thinking deeply about the tradition of American storytelling.
Like Mark Twain, he collects narrative ephemera: the kooky, the
folkloric, the lingua franca of the nation to narrate an elegiac
story of a man evolving through grief by the gleam of a mysterious
but vital light.” —Carmen Giménez, author of Be
Recorder“Matthew Vollmer thinks too much. I’m glad, for I’m
probably not thinking enough most days. All of Us Together in the
End is an honest missive addressed to hope, regret, childhood,
faith, truth, parenting, and the paranormal. And Love, with all its
mysteries. It’s an insightful, beautiful memoir that I’ll remember
forever.” —George Singleton, author of You Want More: Selected
Stories
“All Of Us Together in the End is a special book—part
investigation, part memoir, part love letter to the mountains of
western North Carolina. It engages my mind as well as my heart.
Most of all, Matthew Vollmer's book makes me think about
family—what we're born to, what we make—and the kinship we find in
each other and in the places that call us home.” —Joni Tevis,
author of The World Is On Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of
Apocalypse“Vollmer delicately portrays his ‘unmoored’ state of mind
and its evolving connection to radical changes to his family and
the world.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Throughout this journey, Vollmer invites readers into his world
via detailed renderings of the places he’s called home. He recalls
his childhood house with exquisite detail and recounts searching
for the lights outside his father’s window so powerfully that
readers can place themselves in the scene. And as he searches,
Vollmer evokes a painfully universal experience: the process of
moving forward with a life that doesn’t make sense after a loved
one’s death.” —BookPage
"A post-pandemic voyage for the spiritually
adventuresome." —Library JournalAdditional praise for Matthew
Vollmer
“…irresistible…Expertly structured and utterly convincing, these
stories represent the arrival of a strong new voice.” —Joseph
Salvatore, The New York Times“Becoming conscious of the process by
which we are produced may be the only available step to enabling
our status as players rather than simply played, though it is no
exit from the game itself. And that, to me, is what makes Matthew
Vollmer’s fiction compelling at a much deeper level than the play
of wit, sensibility, and intelligence in his craft.” —The Brooklyn
Rail"Vollmer's writing is my new favorite example of what it must
be like to see a life flash before your eyes." —Fiction Advocate
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