

Created by Matt Zoller Seitz
Directed by Judith Carter
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
Haruki Murakami
Photo by Ahmed Zayan on Unsplash
What do we do when faced with the obligation of caregiving for a loved one with whom we’ve had a strained relationship for decades? Walk away? Author Josh Hickman didn’t, and his emotionally harrowing memoir of over three years spent caregiving illuminates and explores his lonely but ultimately rewarding personal story.
An honest and poignant account of the power of perseverance and reconciliation, Forgetting recounts the struggle of a son to come to terms with his deeply troubled relationship with his mother as she succumbs to dementia.
REVIEWS
“A thoughtful, moving, at times brutally honest account of the complicated emotions and experiences of caregivers. Anyone who’s ever been responsible for another person’s life will find something in it that speaks to them.”—Matt Zoller Seitz, bestselling author of The Wes Anderson Collection series, The Sopranos Sessions, and The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon
Forgetting is a heart-wrenching and honest account of a son's commitment to solo caregiving for his mother as she succumbs to dementia. Caregiving for elderly chronically ill family members has become a common experience. Often overlooked are the echoes of the complexity of family dynamics that can come to bear. Specifically in Josh’s journey, it means coming to terms with the effects of alcoholism and a deeply troubled relationship. Forgetting reminds us of the unexpected battles in life that are still worth fighting.”—Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of Ask Dr. Drew and Health Uncensored
“A tour de force exploration of the mother–son relationship, of filial duty, patience, and love under the most trying of circumstances. With Alzheimer’s becoming the nation’s largest health burden, Forgettingmay serve as an inspiration and consolation for millions of adult children now facing a similar trial.”—John Leake, co-author (with Peter A. McCullough, MD) of Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Josh Hickman was born in Washington D.C. and raised in various parts of Texas. He studied painting and sculpture at the Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, TX, later studying writing and film at the University of Texas at Austin. A national award-winning journalist, his previous comic novels and short story collections include Through Tick & Tinn: The True Story of the Greatest Unknown Comedy Team Ever Known, Five Slices of Fear: A Connoisseur’s Hoagie of Horror, Ambergris, The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex & Cheese, I Am Luney: The Untold Story of the World’s Naughtiest Man, and Songs in the Key of H: Tales of Irony and Insinuation. His latest book, Forgetting: The Trials and Triumphs of Caregiving for a Difficult Parent with Dementia, releases October 1, 2025.
He has also produced three albums of spoken-word/music “word-jazz” albums, A Handful of Love, Something for the Ladies, and This House Is Haunted. After living and working in Hollywood for fourteen years, he returned to Dallas in 2019. His writing has appeared in anthologies such as the Central Texas Writer’s Society and Beyond 2024 and publications such as Hindsight literary magazine and Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People newspapers. Also a noted artist, his paintings have been shown in various group and solo exhibitions in Texas and California. He lives with his dog Sammy in Dallas, Texas.
MZS.Press is the online arts bookstore founded by author, critic, and filmmaker Matt Zoller Seitz and Directed by Judith Carter. It offers new, used, signed, collectible, and rare books on film, TV, music, photography, and the visual arts. The store was launched in 2019 on a different platform and has expanded to incorporate arts books published by MZSPress's private imprint: titles currently include Seitz's The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon and Dreams of Deadwood, about the HBO Western, and Walter Chaw's A Walter Hill Film.
Our deepest wish is to promote, encourage, and distribute work by small presses, academic presses, and individuals. Extraordinary work tends to get swallowed up on giant platforms like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The titles featured here are personally selected by a group of curators and advisors, including Seitz and an array of critics, artists, journalists, educators, publishers, and arts mavens who are known for their ability to suss out what Seitz's jazz musician dad liked to call "the good sh*t."
In Honor of the greatest auteur of our time, Judith is using one of her favorite quotes by him.
"Every day, once a day, give yourself a present"
David Lynch (January 20, 1946-January 15, 2025)
Matt Zoller Seitz
Critic, Author, Filmmaker, MZS Press Creator
Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large and film critic of RogerEbert.com; Features Writer for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, Contributing Writer for D Magazine and Texas Highways as well as finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. His writing on film and TV has appeared in Sight and Sound, The New York Times, Salon.com, The New Republic and Rolling Stone. Seitz is the founder and original editor of the influential film blog The House Next Door, now a part of Slant Magazine.
Seitz has written, narrated, edited or produced over a hundred hours’ worth of video essays about cinema history and style for The Museum of the Moving Image, Salon.com and Vulture, among other outlets such as Texas Highways and AARP. His five-part 2009 video essay Wes Anderson: The Substance of Style was spun off into the hardcover book The Wes Anderson Collection. This book and its follow-up, The Wes Anderson Collection: Grand Budapest Hotel were New York Times bestsellers.
Other Seitz books include the New York Times bestsellers The Sopranos Sessions and Mad Men Carousel; TV (The Book), The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon, The Wes Anderson Collection: The French Dispatch and the new The Wes Anderson Collection: Asteroid City. He is also an interviewer, moderator, and film programmer who has curated and hosted film and TV presentations for the Museum of the Moving Image, IFC Center, San Francisco's Roxie Cinema, and other venues. In October 2024 he brought the legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone back to Dallas for a historic return to the city and the Texas Theatre, considered the biggest film event of Dallas in 2024 by Dallas Observer!
Judith Carter was in the Upscale and Luxury Hospitality Industry for most of her life. In 2004 she had a beautiful baby boy with Special Needs and put the pause on her career until 2017 to dedicate herself to him and then others, assisting and volunteering as a legal advocate ensuring the best medical care, evaluations and educations for Special Needs children and their families.
Matt and Judith were family friends for over 20 years. She was there with her family in support when his wife Jen passed away suddenly in 2006. Then just 6 weeks later while Matt was in Dallas; he and his Father, Dave, and Step-Mother, Genie, were there as support, when Judith was alone and her son received the first of many diagnoses that changed the trajectory of their lives. So it made sense in the turbulent year of 2020, Matt asked Judith to take over running the online store that has become MZS.press. The rest as they say is, "Their"-story.