Michael Mallory (born 1955) is a writer on the subjects of animation and post-war pop culture, and the author of the books ''X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe'', ''Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror'' ''The Science Fiction Universe and Beyond'', and ''Essential Horror Movies''. As an animation and film historian he has written over 600 articles, frequently for ''Variety'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' and ''

Animation Magazine ''Animation Magazine'' is an American print magazine and website covering the animation industry and education, as well as visual effects. The print magazine is published 10 times a year in the United States. History and profile ''Animation Maga ...

'', and has been featured in documentaries and DVD extras about animation. He co-authored the memoirs of animation legend

Iwao Takamoto Iwao Takamoto (April 29, 1925 – January 8, 2007) was a Japanese-American animator, television producer, and film director. He began his career as a production and character designer for Walt Disney Animation Studios films such as ''Cinderella ...

, which were published in 2009 as ''Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters.'' He has also written the script for the annual

Annie Awards The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in Film, cinema and television. Originally ...

ceremony, the Oscars of the animation industry, since the mid-1990s.

Life

Mallory was born in Port Huron, Michigan, and was raised in Pontiac, Michigan. As a teenager he appeared in summer stock plays with the Kenley Players and went on to receive a degree in Speech, with a theatre/broadcasting emphasis, from Drury College (now

Drury University Drury University, formerly Drury College and originally Springfield College, is a private university in Springfield, Missouri. The university's mission statement describes itself as "church-related". It enrolls about 1,700 undergraduate and gra ...

) in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. After a stint as a radio newscaster in Springfield he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He made numerous appearances on the local stage and played bit roles in films such as ''

Frances Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the F ...

'', '' Staying Alive'' and ''Eleanor: First Lady of the World'' (all 1982) and on television in '' Days of Our Lives'', '' Santa Barbara'' and '' General Hospital'', as well as a handful of commercials and industrial films. More recently he has appeared on ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...

'', ''

Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

'', and ''

Mob City ''Mob City'' is an American neo-noir crime drama television series created by Frank Darabont for TNT. It is based on real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D. and gangsters in 1940s Los Angeles as chronicled in John Buntin's book ''L.A. Noir: The Strug ...

'', in which he played Abe "Greenie" Greenberg, whose murder propels the plot of the series, ''

Angie Tribeca ''Angie Tribeca'' is an American comedy television series created by Steve and Nancy Carell, which aired on TBS. The series, a parody of the police procedural genre, stars Rashida Jones as police detective Angie Tribeca. It also stars Hayes MacAr ...

'', and '' NCIS''. In the late 1980s Mallory made writing his primary pursuit and for a while he served as a writer for

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

and other theme park venues. He scripted the large-format, 3-D attraction film '' Haunts of the Olde Country'', which premiered at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1993 and played there for several years. His 2009 book ''Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror'', a history of Universal horror film series, earned an honorable mention from the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, and ''Marvel: The Expanding Universe Wall Chart'' took the Silver 2009 Book of the Year Award from ForeWord Reviews. He lives with his wife and son in Glendale, California.

Mystery writing

Mallory also writes murder mysteries, often featuring "Amelia Watson", the second (and previously unheralded) wife of

Dr. Watson John H. Watson, known as Dr. Watson, is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887). The last work by Doyle f ...

of Sherlock Holmes fame. Five volumes of Amelia Watson stories have appeared to date: the 2000 collection ''The Adventures of the Second Mrs. Watson'', the 2004 novel ''Murder in the Bath'', a second collection, ''The Exploits of the Second Mrs. Watson'', published in 2008, a novel ''The Stratford Conspiracy'', published in 2012, and a third collection, ''The Other Mrs. Watson,'' published in 2016 in England. A second series featuring Hollywood-based detective Dave Beauchamp began in 2013 with the novel ''Kill the Mother!''. The most recent Dave Beauchamp adventure is ''Dig That Crazy Sphinx!'', published in 2022. Mallory has written more than 150 short stories for adults and children, including a series of mysteries starring an eleven-year-old sleuth named "Scotty," which appeared periodically in the

. He was the creator and co-editor (with

Lisa Seidman Lisa Seidman (born April 27, 1957, in Massapequa, New York) is an American television writer who has primarily written for soap operas. She is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College. Seidman has written episodes for several prime time televisi ...

and Rochelle Krich) of the mystery anthology '' Murder on Sunset Boulevard'', which was published through the auspices of the Los Angeles chapter of the national organization, Sisters in Crime, and also co-edited (with

Harley Jane Kozak Harley Jane Kozak (born January 28, 1957) is an American actress and author. She made her film debut in the slasher film ''The House on Sorority Row'' (1982), and had a recurring role as Mary Duvall on the soap opera '' Santa Barbara'' between 1 ...

and Nathan Walpow) its follow-up, '' LAndmarked for Murder''. He was among the first recipients of a Derringer Award, winning in 1998 for Best Flash (short-short) Mystery Story, and his story "The Beast of Guangming Peak" was listed as a "Distinguished Mystery Story of 2004" in the book "The Best American Mystery Stories, 2005," edited by Joyce Carol Oates and

Otto Penzler Otto Penzler (born July 8, 1942) is a German-born American editor of mystery fiction, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. Biography Born in Germany to a German-American mother and a German father, Penzler moved to The ...

. He has been listed in subsequent "Best American Mystery Stories" volumes, in 2014 and 2018. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize three times, for both fiction and nonfiction.

Horror writing

Mallory has written horror stories for both young readers and adults. His novella ''Night Shocker'' was published in 1997 by Baronet Books as part of their "FrightTime" series, a string of books along the lines of the then-popular ''

Goosebumps ''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror fiction novels by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The protagonists in these stories are tweens or young teens who find themselves in scary circumstances usually ...

'' series. He contributed more short horror tales for kids for the "Chiller" page of the website MysteryNet.com. In 2012, he came out with his first horror novel for adults, '' The Mural'', which is published by

Borgo Press The Borgo Press was a small publishing company founded by Robert Reginald in 1975 funded by the royalties gained from his first major reference work, ''Stella Nova: the contemporary science fiction authors'' (1970). That same year Reginald met M ...

Journalism

Mallory has written more than 600 magazine, newspaper, and online articles about film, animation, and pop culture, for publications such as ''The Los Angeles Times'', ''Variety'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', ''Animation Magazine'', ''Mystery Scene'', and scores of others.

Selected bibliography

Novels

* ''Dig That Crazy Sphinx!'' * ''Ebenezer Scrooge and the Battle for Christmas'' * ''Bada-Bing, Bada-Tomb!'' * ''Death Walks Skid Row'' * ''Dead and In Person!'' * ''Eats to Die For!'' * ''Kill the Mother!'' * ''The Mural'' * ''The Stratford Conspiracy'' * ''Murder in the Bath''

Collections

* ''The Other Mrs. Watson'' * ''The Exploits of the Second Mrs. Watson'' * ''The Adventures of the Second Mrs. Watson''

Nonfiction

* ''

Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

'' * ''Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe'' * ''X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe'' * ''Marvel: The Expanding Universe Wall Chart'' * ''Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror'' * ''Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters'' (co-writer) * ''The Science Fiction Universe and Beyond'' * ''Essential Horror Movies'' * ''The Art of Krampus'' * ''The Vampire Diaries: Unlocking the Secrets of Mystic Falls'' * ''Marvel's Black Widow''

As editor

* ''LAndmarked for Murder'' (anthology) * ''Murder on Sunset Boulevard'' (anthology)

Short stories

*"The Sacred White Elephant of Mandalay" (2010, published in ''Sherlock Holmes: The American Years'')

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallory, Michael Living people Novelists from Michigan American non-fiction writers American mystery writers Historians of animation People from Port Huron, Michigan 1955 births Writers from Glendale, California Drury University alumni American male novelists American male non-fiction writers