Sparkling with intelligence and humor, BACK OF THE THROAT is the tale of an apparently friendly visit by two government officials, which soon devolves into a full-blown, no-holds-barred probe. Khaled, an Arab-American writer and the focus of their inquiry, finds himself, to his astonishment, suddenly accused of possible ties to terrorists. As the interrogation proceeds, the officials reveal their evidence, but is it evidence? Or have innocent events been distorted through the lens of paranoid suspicion? As the situation turns increasingly surreal, and the menace to Khaled increasingly real, the question of what it means to be an American takes on a very personal and charged significance. An enthralling and ultimately chilling black comedy, BACK OF THE THROAT confronts bureaucratic euphemisms like “person of interest” and “extraordinary rendition” with the frightening reality they seek to obscure.

THE HOPPER COLLECTION follows the story of a married woman, Marjorie, obsessed by an encounter with the New England artist Edward Hopper. "Based on the evidence of HOPPER ... Mat Smart is a talent worth keeping an eye on for some time to come. HOPPER is an impressive debut. It's - yes - smart, as well as fresh, funny and full of unexpected turns and curiously evocative moments. Still more impressive is the skill with which Smart has created an individual voice for each character. Daniel may complain of 'the endless hell that is having a wife that doesn't love you but still wants to talk' - with a wonderfully meaningful emphasis on that final word. But even more than his cleverly evolving situations and wry observations, it's the way these characters talk that marks THE HOPPER COLLECTION as the work of a very promising artist." -Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle