Michael McDowell (author)

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This article is about Michael McDowell, the American writer. For other uses, see Michael McDowell (disambiguation).
Michael McDowell
Born June 1, 1950
Enterprise, Alabama, United States
Died December 27, 1999
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation Novelist & Screenwriter
Nationality American
Writing period 1979 - 1999
Genres Horror
Influences

Michael McEachern McDowell (born 1 June 1950 in Enterprise, Alabama, died 27 December 1999, Boston, Massachusetts) was an American novelist and screenwriter. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D in English from Brandeis University in 1978. Stephen King once described him as "the finest writer of paperback originals in America today".[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] His works

The Amulet (1979), Cold Moon Over Babylon (1980), and The Elementals (1981) were paperback original supernatural horror stories set in the South. Gilded Needles (1980), was a non-supernatural, historical horror novel dealing with a Victorian criminal family's exquisite revenge upon the family of a sternly bigoted New York judge. These were followed by his epic Blackwater (1983), a fifty-year family chronicle of a wealthy Southern dynasty with a supernatural ally, originally published in six short volumes, and the surreal Toplin (1985)

McDowell collaborated with his lover Dennis Schuetz in writing four mysteries starring Daniel Valentine and Clarisse Lovelace. Vermillion (1980), Cobalt (1982), Slate (1984), and Canary (1986). These were published under the pseudonym Nathan Aldyne. They are light mysteries set in and around Boston and Provincetown. Daniel is a gay detective and Clarisse is a straight real estate agent and later a lawyer.

In the early 1980s, McDowell released two psychological thrillers under the pseudonym Axel Young. Both books (especially the second) were over-the-top parodies of Sidney Sheldon-type suspense novels. Blood Rubies in 1982 and Wicked Stepmother in 1983.

McDowell also wrote the novelization of the movie Clue in 1985. The movie was based on the board game and featured three different endings.

In the mid-1980s, McDowell wrote a series of light mysteries for Ballentine Books, featuring characters reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles, originally created in Dashiell Hammett and popularized by the influential Thin Man movies. The series included Jack and Susan in 1953 (1985), Jack and Susan in 1913 (1986) and Jack and Susan in 1933 (1987). The books chronicled the adventures of an eternally youthful couple and their ever-changing dog. According to an interview, McDowell had contracted to do one for each decade of the century, but he bowed out of the contract after three.

His screen credits include Beetlejuice (1987), and collaborations on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Thinner (1996). He also wrote horror/fantasy/thriller teleplays for a number of television series.

[edit] The Amulet

The Amulet was meant as a motion-picture screenplay (a collaboration with one of McDowell's friends), in which the freak-accidents were contrived first, then padded with an incidental story to support them. The basic premise in the story is that of an evil, possessive woman who bequeaths a cursed necklace to a female rival neighbor. The gift brings death to anyone that receives or finds it. The baubel makes its rounds throughout the small working-class town, and eventually falls in the clutches of her much-hated ingenue daughter-in-law. Like many McDowell's novels, the setting is usually somewhere in the American south (such as Alabama).

[edit] Katie

"Katie never killed with kindness." was this paperback's tagline. Like The Amulet, a naive young woman crosses paths with a female homicidal maniac (in this case, a young hammer-wielding psychic who dispatches mother's customers requesting palmistry service). The story takes place largely in Boston, and ends in New York City.

[edit] Gilded Needles

An immigrant German family - led by matriarch Lena Shanks - exact revenge upon a Gramercy Park judge and his children. The motley Prussian characters include lesbian wrestlers who don opium-laced Thai fingernails to subdue their victims.

[edit] The Elementals

McDowell's most-Gothic novel, the story concerns two related Southern families joined by marriage and reunited by a funeral. The families spend a terrifying summer vacation on a jetty of land, in the Gulf of Mexico, that is cut-off from the Alabama mainland when the tide rolls in. The third Victorian house on this 'island' has remained empty and is overrun by sand-dunes. The entire resort is haunted by elemental spirits, able to control the elements (sand, water, etc.), and, in essence, reanimate dead relatives.

[edit] Biography

According to his bio in the 1985 edition of Toplin, McDowell lived in Massachusetts. The bio described a typical day: McDowell "writes in the mornings and spends the rest of the day looking out of the window in hope that something interesting will happen" and "collects photographs of corpses".

McDowell died in 1999 from AIDS-related illness. His unfinished novel Candles Burning was "completed" by Tabitha King, wife of Stephen King, and published in 2006.

"I am a commercial writer and I'm proud of that", he said in the book Faces of Fear in 1985. "I am writing things to be put in the bookstore next month. I think it is a mistake to try to write for the ages."

[edit] Bibliography

  • The Amulet (1979)
  • Cold Moon Over Babylon (1980)
  • Gilded Needles (1980)
  • The Elementals (1981)
  • Katie (1982)
  • Blackwater (1983), a series of novels comprising:
    • "The Flood"
    • "The Levee"
    • "The House"
    • "The War"
    • "The Fortune"
    • "Rain"
  • Toplin (1985)
  • Clue (1985) (novelization)
  • Jack and Susan in 1953 (1985)
  • Jack and Susan in 1913 (1986)
  • Jack and Susan in 1933 (1987)
  • Candles Burning (2006) (completed by Tabitha King after McDowell's death)

[edit] Screenwriting Credits

[edit] Under the name Axel Young

  • Blood Rubies (1982)
  • Wicked Stepmother (1983)

[edit] Under the name Nathan Aldyne

  • Vermillion (1980)
  • Cobalt (1982)
  • Slate (1984)
  • Canary (1986)