Fratbear, author of the Sloan Cosgrove stories and "Dear Matt"

So I’ve started outlining my new series, but it will probably be a while before I actually start writing it. This may sound a little ambitious, but I’m hoping to write a fun story with developed, compelling characters and an actual plot. Basically, I want it to be worth reading even if it weren’t packed with vivid descriptions of hot sex between bearish and chubby fraternity brothers and pledges (though I’m sure that helps!).

I can already tell that the most challenging part of writing this new series will be trying to remember what it was like to be 19-year-old pledge back in the early 1990s and writing from that mindset. Also, I think this will be my first story that’s not told in the first-person. Though there is a protagonist, which I admit is kind of based on myself, this is more of an ensemble story, so I will need to either tell it in the omniscient third-person or from multiple points of view. I haven’t decided, yet.

I can reveal that the series all takes place in a 24-hour period and will probably be about a dozen chapters.

https://new.nifty.org/authors/54121

Just a reminder that I'm posting photos of inspirations for characters in the Sloan Cosgrove stories on my Instagram feed. Today I revealed the identity of the real-life bear porn star who inspired Chapter 37 of "Sloan Cosgrove 2, Confessions of a Middle-Aged Bear."

https://www.instagram.com/thefratbear/

Hard to believe it's already been a month...

https://www.gsfuneral.com/obituaries/matthew-brown

Some readers have told me that they don’t want to finish reading my series “Dear Matt” because they’re afraid it’s going to be too heavy and emotionally devastating, and I totally understand. In case you haven’t figured it out from my recent social media posts, my friend Matt, probably the best friend I’ve ever had, and the subject of “Dear Matt,” died on June 15 after a 15-month battle with ALS.

Matt was the only person in my entire life who I could tell anything to, and vice versa, and we spent much of the last few months texting each other constantly, continuing to tell each other everything. I was just trying to entertain him and keep his spirits up, while I think he just wanted to tell somebody the story of his life while also preparing me for his eventual departure.

If you’ve read “Dear Matt,” then you know that even though he just wanted me as a best friend, Matt also knew that I remained deeply in love with him for 25 years as I watched him grow from an adorable, husky, red-haired, Irish cub into the bald, bearded, 315-pound chubby daddy bear of my dreams.

As you can imagine, I don’t think I’ll be in much of a mood to write frivolous, fun, sexy stories for a while. I had been outlining new chapters of “Sloan Cosgrove,” inspired by one of Matt’s actual sexual adventures, but I’m going to pause my work on those new chapters. It’s just too sensitive a subject right now.

However, I think I have decided what I’m going to write next, when I do get back to writing erotica. I’m going to take something that happened to me when I was a fraternity pledge back in the early 1990s and use it as the basis for a new mini-series with all-new characters, though it’ll take place in the universe of the “Sloan Cosgrove” stories.

And if you ARE just reading my stories for the raunchy sex, I think you might still want to read “Dear Matt” to the end. During the last few weeks of his life, Matt and I really went all out in trying to one-up one another with stories of our sexual hijinks— I’m still trying to get over the fact that Matt was a sexual beast who fucked 10 different guys in 5 days in 2021!— and I’ve tried including a lot of them in this series, especially in “Dear Matt 8.”

https://new.nifty.org/stories/dear-matt-72827

Madonna’s new album “Confessions II” is out, and I think my friend Matt would’ve really dug it. Here’s Matt 20 years ago on April 30, 2006, immediately after we saw Madonna perform in the Sahara Tent at the Coachella Music Festival.

In last week's episode (#698) of the Linoleum Knife podcast, film critics Dave White and Alonso Duralde ended the episode by paying tribute to my friend Matt.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/linoleum-knife/id403079737?i=1000774403639

If you’ve read “Dear Matt 7,” then you know that by summer of 2025, ALS had taken away Matt’s ability to speak. However, a few months ago, I discovered that I had a recording of Matt’s voice from late 2002, which I digitized and emailed to him. It was a rare moment of joy for the both of us in these last few months.

Here’s the recording of Matt reading what he thought was the worst letter to the editor he’d ever seen in the local Omaha newspaper. I’m hoping that Matt’s voice will live forever here.

I’ve published “Dear Matt 8,” and yes, this is the final chapter of the “Dear Matt” series. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to write, and it may be a while before I can start writing stories again. I’ll have a lot more to say about this chapter and about the series as a whole.

https://new.nifty.org/stories/dear-matt-72827

“Dear Matt 7” has been published. Like “Dear Matt 6,” this was a letter that I wrote to Matt for him to actually read, and it ended up strengthening our friendship. After this letter, we literally did not let a day go by without an exchange of texts.

https://new.nifty.org/stories/dear-matt-72827

I’ve published “Dear Matt 6.” As I discussed in yesterday’s post, and as stated in the note to the reader at the start of this installment, this chapter marks a major shift in the tone of this series. More emotional and heartfelt, less erotic. Hope you find it just as compelling to read. This was the first “Dear Matt” letter that Matt actually read.

https://new.nifty.org/stories/dear-matt-72827

I will be publishing three more chapters of “Dear Matt” (chapters 6, 7, and 8) over the next week or so, but I want to warn you in advance that these installments are much more emotionally intense and less erotic than all of the previous installments (though “Dear Matt 8” has some fun sex stuff). Those of you who read to the end of “Dear Matt 5” will probably not be surprised by this shift in tone.

https://new.nifty.org/stories/dear-matt-72827

I've started posting pictures of my friend Matt (of "Dear Matt") on my Instagram feed, so if you're curious, just head over there and request to follow me.

https://www.instagram.com/thefratbear/

So I’ve finally published “Dear Matt 5,” which I wrote in January and is the first new “Dear Matt” letter in more than 17 years. It provides an overview of what happened to my friendship with Matt during that time, and it explains why I felt compelled to write about my friend Matt again now. Writing seems to really be the only way I can process my most intense feelings.

https://new.nifty.org/stories/dear-matt-72827

I've had an Instagram feed as "thefratbear" for a while. I haven't posted much there, but I've decided to start posting pics of some of my story inspirations. I might even post some pics of my friend Matt, so I've set the account to private. Just request to follow me.

Chatting with my friend Matt yesterday, we were exchanging photos of ourselves in 2001, when he was a 26-year-old red-headed cub and when I fell in love with him, and he finally commented, "You’re right, I was very hot then."

Now if I can just get him to accept that he's just as hot, maybe hotter, as a 50-something balding, bearded, white-haired, chubby, 300-pound daddy bear.

https://new.nifty.org/stories/dear-matt-72827

As described in the first chapter of my "story" "Dear Matt": 25 years ago tonight, as I sat in the front seat of my friend Matt's parked car while we drank beer and engaged in deep conversation, I gave Matt a hug and drunkenly asked if I could give him a blowjob. He turned me down, but we've been the best of friends ever since.

https://new.nifty.org/stories/dear-matt-72827/1

Fuck ALS.