Timber: The Writer
Timber Masterson is an engaging and imaginative writer, who identifies as a participatory journalist, reporter, and author; also, as a lover of the written and spoken word, and yes, a general nuisance, but is also a decent and authentic gentleman and a spiritual citizen of the world who possesses the gift of gab. His essays and reporting have appeared in The National Post, The Montreal Gazette, Now Magazine, Pie Magazine, OC Metro, and most recently, Kabin. He’s had monthly columns in Flare Magazine and Tribe and has contributed his imaginative and heartfelt essays to online literary journals such as Fresh Yarn Salon, Akashic Books, Purple Prose, and 3:AM Magazine. He published an epic memoir, (who hasn’t?) entitled, TIMFOOLERY: TALES OF A THIRD RATE JUNKIE, which received glowing reviews, mostly from Timber. He was a regular contributor and lively animated guest on CIUT's 89.5 FM talk radio show, HOWL, and these days writes from his headquarters just north of Toronto, Canada, though has served time living and working in Los Angeles and New York City and was lucky to have survived both. He’s working on crafting and pitching new articles, auditioning for various projects, composing, producing, and performing his music, as well as posting videos on Tik Tok entitled House Husband Confessional and Timber’s Daily Rag.
He also has started a brand, TKR Creative, with his lovely lady, Kelly, and their charismatic pooch, Rosie; a banner under which the three of them document and share their inspiring adventures and projects with the universe. They hope to be hired soon by some independent conglomerate stationed in the Caribbean that appreciates their witty banter and endless charm.
My Words Online…
My Words in Magazines…
My Most Recent Story…
I partnered up with writer Kelly Borgatti for my latest article in KABIN Magazine, “An Excursion to Remember,” an introduction to magical Prince Edward County, which has become our favorite destination!
Kabin is a lifestyle publication that connects the reader with everything that’s good in Cottage Country. It tells the stories of the people and businesses that cover the Haliburton Highlands, Kawartha Lakes, and Muskoka regions. This spirited read is designed to help adventurers navigate their best lives.
Just Released + Up Next…
I'm writing another article for the Spring Issue of KABIN on the newly refurbished Canoe Museum in Peterborough, ON; doing a piece for WATERSHED MAGAZINE, an award-winning quarterly celebrating the Prince Edward County region, as well as finishing off the undercover story, “Deep Background: Tales from the Set,” revealing the ins and outs, the ups and downs of a day in the life spent as an extra on a Toronto Film Set—not what you’d imagine!
“The Sinister Shouldice Shuffle: Questioning Your Manhood,” is a participatory journalistic romp about my three-day exploration into the strange world of having a hernia operated on. Something sinister was going on underneath the guise of nurturing and pristine health care, so I attempted to expose the whole scene; though, I must say, after their intense pampering, I did not want to leave.
“Caretaker by Default: Me & Mom” The Sitcom of Life,” is a story about a man, an only child in his mid-50s (guess who?), who has moved back home to look after his hypercritical, micromanaging, magnificently depressed, ailing mother who knows how to press his buttons; a tragic, heartfelt, and over-the-top ridiculous tale.
Timfoolery: Tales of a Third Rate Junkie
The book tells the story of a decade that embraces the ennui of being broke and homeless in Los Angeles, jetting in and out of clinics and treatment centers, shelters, and AA meetings. This Outsider is at odds with shady dealers, doctors with agendas, priests handing out redemption, creepy casting directors, and teachers with lessons too hard to learn. We encounter children at the door wanting only candy, but getting more than they bargained for, enfeebled and enraged landlords, plus complex girlfriends turned escorts and Kafkaesque rabbits that rescue. An addict with life-saving charm, the protagonist pulls scams, crashes social events, and impersonates employees - whatever it takes to impress, ingratiate, and get the next fix. His refuge is the interior world of drug-induced fantasies poised on the precipice of a fall into real memory and the imminent loss and waste, the spectral accompaniment to the addled life of addiction; a phantasmagoria of layered symbolism and imagery in the production of a unique vision somewhere this side of reality.
Part Odyssey, part Fear, and Loathing, this is a modern-day voyage into the heart of darkness and isolation, a Gen-X coming-of-age tale while shaking it rough on the mean streets of whatever city opened itself up and represented a possible but ultimately doomed fresh start. Spurning the usual gloom and doom of the addiction-recovery genre, the book vibrates with manic and surreal energy and an astonishing facility with language, pushing it into the realm of narrative’s most extreme and playful possibilities. This novel may be the first example of a self-crafted magical realism rooted in North American popular culture, one in the tradition of Kubla Khan. These meditations in the tradition of Coleridge unfold in a theater of the absurd, forging a kind of William Burroughs situation-comedy-of-club-kids, driven through the narrator’s world to a place where the reader wonders if it’s truly happening or is a wished-for kaleidoscopic dream state.
James Frey
“Timber Masterson is a great and ridiculous writer. His singular voice always shocks and makes me laugh. I won't be surprised if he becomes a huge writer.”
Michael Levine
“In an age when some of our greatest creative geniuses - Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Williams, amongst others - have succumbed to depression, addiction, and their darker side, it is fascinating to pierce the mind of a talented young man with an impressive skill set with devils of his own. His writings provide insight into the creative mind and the challenges both internal and external that confront it.”
Oran Canfield
“A writer first and a junkie second (or third according to the title - I'm not sure what he does in between!?) As such, he manages to capture the absurdity of addiction from the perspective of an astute observer while simultaneously exposing the frenetic, and often-insane thought process used to justify active addiction. Through Tim's incredible gifts as a writer, we get to see how absurdly funny addiction can be even when there is no fun being had.”
Richard Horgan
Dr. David Greenberg
“Tim usually publishes under the playful moniker of “Timber” Masterson. That moniker was well chosen, since his various musings, observations and confessions have always merited the cry that something major is hurtling forward. In a forest full of writers searching for their original voice, Tim has confidently found his.”
Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall
“Timber Masterson’s stories dance madly along the line between truth and fiction, fun and addiction, trouble and affliction. His voice is unique, insistent, and impossible to ignore. The man is a force to be reckoned with.”
E. Jean Carroll
“HORRIBLY & HIDEOUSLY FUNNY! A delectable, evil book!”
Frank Miles
“A real standout in a crowded field. So, why read Timfoolery?
First, because you want to meet Tim, you really do. He is one of the most fascinating, complex, contradictory, and surprising characters any writer has ever dreamed up. And did I mention funny? He's that, too. Laugh out loud, people turning to look at you on the subway funny.
Second, read Timfoolery because it is more than an addiction memoir; it is honest-to-God literature. Perhaps not since Henry Miller has such a unique and voluble voice written so well about all the subtle shades of insane, brilliant, shameful, resilient, depraved, and full of unquenchable hope the human soul can be.
This is crazed but masterful storytelling with soul and impact. Masterson makes you grin even as he vivisects himself with razor-sharp prose. Spend some time with the man, and you’ll open the door to a larger, stranger world--one that has always been out there at the end of that dark, urban alley, beyond the locked institutional door with the camera over it, and behind the sly smile of that guy on the street corner who you never noticed before now, is the one nodding an almost imperceptible invitation to you as you drive past.”
“I’ve been looking after Mr. Masterson for over 30 years, and while I’m amazed he got this done, I’m not the least surprised at how amazing it is.”