Matt Melis, 28, is a Pittsburgh native who completed the Masters in Writing Program at DePaul University in 2008. He did his undergraduate work at Purdue University, where he studied chemical engineering and professional writing. He is currently pursuing a Masters in Education at DePaul.

Melis is an accomplished creative writer, having won the prestigious 74th Annual Purdue University Literary Award for Best Short Story. His fiction has been recognized by and made available in several publications. He is currently working on a debut short story collection, "Country Darkness," and his first novel, "Apple Pie and Allah."

When not working for Consequence of Sound, Melis is a fiction writer, a college hoops junkie (Go Pitt! and Boiler Up!), a significant other, and the founder of an online, baseball-themed charity called PirateAde, which has raised thousands of dollars for breast cancer research in its first four years.