Michael Mallory (born 1955) is a writer on the subjects of

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

and post-war

pop culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...

, 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'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 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 ''Animation Magazine'' was f ...

'', 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, character designer, television producer, and film director. He began his career as a production and character designer for Walt Disney Animation Studios films ...

, 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 American cinema and television. Origi ...

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

Life

Mallory was born in

Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Po ...

, and was raised in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, Pontiac is part of the Metro Detroit, Detroit metropolitan area, and is vari ...

. 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) in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the List of cities in Missouri, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County, Missouri, Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

. 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 an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis (given name), Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "F ...

'', '' Staying Alive'' and ''Eleanor: First Lady of the World'' (all 1982) and on television in ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

'', '' Santa Barbara'' and ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

'', as well as a handful of commercials and industrial films. More recently he has appeared on ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

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

Angie Tribeca ''Angie Tribeca'' is an American television sitcom created by Steve and Nancy Carell, which aired on TBS. A parody of the police procedural genre, it stars Rashida Jones as the titular character, with Hayes MacArthur, Jere Burns, Deon Cole ...

'', and ''

NCIS NCIS or N.C.I.S. may refer to: Law enforcement * National Criminal Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom * Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a United States law enforcement and intelli ...

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

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. 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, ...

and other theme park venues. He scripted the large-format, 3-D attraction film '' Haunts of the Olde Country'', which premiered at

Busch Gardens Busch Gardens is the name of two amusement parks in the United States, owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts. The original park is in Tampa, Florida, and the second park is in Williamsburg, Virginia. There were also previously Busch G ...

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 in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

Mystery writing

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

Dr. Watson Dr. John H. Watson is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887). "The Adventure of Shosc ...

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

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 190 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 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 Sisters in Crime (SinC) is a writing organization focused on increasing equity and inclusion for women crime writers within the publishing industry. The group has 4,500 members in 60+ regional chapters worldwide, offering networking, advice and su ...

, and also co-edited (with Harley Jane Kozak 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 "What the Cat Dragged In" was included in ''The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best American Mystery Stories, 2023,'' edited by Amor Towles and

Otto Penzler Otto Penzler (born July 8, 1942) is an 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 Bronx at ag ...

. He has been nominated for a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

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'' 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 ...

. A second horror thriller, '' The Book of Diagom'' was published under the pseudonym Gordon Turcott, but Mallory retained his original byline for '' The Ambulance''.

Journalism

Mallory has written more than 650 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

* ''Freeze a Jolly Good Fellow!'' * ''The Ambulance'' * ''Dig That Crazy Sphinx!'' * ''Ebenezer Scrooge and the Battle for Christmas'' * ''The Book of Diagom'' (as Gordon Turcott) * ''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 Celebrated Clients of Sherlock Holems'' * ''The Other Mrs. Watson'' * ''The Exploits of the Second Mrs. Watson'' * ''The Adventures of the Second Mrs. Watson''

Nonfiction

* '' Hanna-Barbera Cartoons'' * ''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