teaching at various colleges. He was associate professor, 1959–62, and professor of English, 1962–64, Urbana College, Ohio; associate professor, 1964–70, Distinguished Writer-in-Residence, Wichita State University, Kansas, 1970-71. From 1971-77, he was professor of English and since 1978 Distinguished Professor, Ohio University, Athens. Matthews was married for over 60 years to his wife Barbara. With Barbara, he had three children - John Harold III, Barbara Ellen (Barbiel), and Cynthia Ann. His daughter Barbiel Matthews-Saunders did cover and artwork for many of his fiction titles — including all of his later ebooks. Matthews died on November 28, 2013, at his home in Athens, Ohio. Later Publications After teaching creative writing and critical approaches to fiction and drama over a period of four decades at Ohio University, Matthews retired, taught writing classes part-time, and devoted his energies to writing novels and stories. In 2011, he published A Worker's Writebook (a 75,000 word fiction writing guide which he handed out to his students) and Gambler's Nephew (an historically accurate story about how an accidental killing of a slave in 19th century United States affected various families and communities). Claire Blechman, reviewing the book for Ploughshares said, "For a story focused on morality and rife with violence, The Gambler’s Nephew is surprisingly light-hearted. Many contemporary authors try to make you writhe under the weight of heavy philosophical issues, but Matthews would rather you shake your head and give a small smile." In March 2012, an early work, Hanger Stout, Awake!, was republished as an ebook. According to the ebook publisher's information, "Time Magazine described it as a 'gentle first novel told with a fine ear for adolescent patois,' and National Book Award winning poet William Stafford named this book as one of the most neglected works of the 20th century. Southern novelist Eudora Welty said about the book: 'I like it, and warmly admire his sturdy subject and delicately restrained treatment. It seemed to me blessed with honesty, clarity, directness, proportion and a lovely humor. . . .' The novella tells the story of Clyde Stout, a high school graduate in a small Ohio town who discovers he has a new talent: the ability to hang from a metal bar longer than anybody. In Spring 2013, Personville Press published an audio performance of Interview with the Sphinx and an ebook version of the script. The ebook of the script contained a slightly revised version of