Michaelbrent Collings is an American horror novelist. He wrote the screenplays for two horror films: Barricade (2012) and Darkroom (2013). He has self-published many novels, with two of his novels being finalists for the Bram Stoker Award in 2016, and two being finalists for the Whitney Awards in 2014 and 2017.

Writing

Collings grew up writing from an early age. His father, Michael R. Collings, taught creative writing professionally and taught Michaelbrent how to write creatively.^[1] He attended Pepperdine University, where his father taught.^[2] After being rejected by traditional publishers, Collings self-published Run on Amazon in 2010, where it became a bestselling e-book in multiple genres, despite Collings not marketing the book. His subsequent novels were not as successful, but Collings persisted and was able to support his family after publishing over twenty books.^[1][3] He started writing western romance novels under the pen name Angelica Hart in 2017.^[1][4] Collings used a pen name because friends and colleagues advised him that romance from a well-known horror writer who is a man would not be well-received. Collings later openly revealed that he was the author behind Angelica Hart.^[4]

Collings submitted multiple screenplays to the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, where four of his screenplays made it to the quarterfinals and semifinals.^[3] He had the most screenplays advance to the quarter and semifinals of any writer in the history of the competition.^[5] His success in the competition led to his screenplay for Barricade being produced into Barricade (2012).^[6] Working with the producers, he changed the original ending to be less dark.^[7] He also wrote the screenplay for Darkroom (2013).^[8]

He gave a workshop on writing horror and comedy at the 2018 St. George Literary Arts Festival.^[9] He spoke at the Winter 2019 Rexberg TEDx conference.^[10] He was a special guest at Idaho's Fandemonium in Nampa, Idaho in 2012.^[11]

In an interview with Joanna Penn, Collings discussed how he suffers from major depressive disorder. He noted that not all writers are able to write something every day, but encouraged writers with depression to engage with stories during their depressive episodes to help them think about their writing, which is a process.^[12]

Reception

Critical response to Collings' work has been generally positive, with his genre work receiving "Top 10 of the Year,"^[13] 5-star^[14] and "A" ratings^[15] from various genre review magazines and websites. He has been featured in The Big Thrill,^[16] and his interview with The Creative Penn was named as one of “The 29 Best Self-Publishing Podcast Episodes of All Time.”^[17]

Ralph Peterson at the San Francisco Book Review gave Twisted four out of five stars, noting that "even the resolution does not lessen the creepiness."^[18] Publishers Weekly has also given excellent reviews of Collings' work, saying of Darkling Smiles, "These tense, unusual stories are as scary as they are satisfying"^[19] and of Stranger Still, "Collings delivers a gripping, visceral horror novel in this standalone sequel."^[20]

The Longest Con was a finalist for a Whitney Award in 2017,^[21] and was named as one of "9 Incredible Paranormal Mysteries & Thrillers" by Wiki.evid.com^[22]

The Deep was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Awards in the novel category in 2016; The Ridealong was also a finalist in the Young Adult Novel category the same year; the latter was the first time any indie novel was a finalist in that category. The books were published in 2015.^[23] His This Darkness Light was a finalist for a Whitney Award in the speculative fiction category in 2014.^[24]

Scavenger Hunt was a finalist for the Dragon Award in the Best Horror Novel category in 2020.^[25]

Personal life

Collings is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[26] He served a mission in Paraguay from 1993 to 1995.^[2] Collings was a construction contract dispute litigator before becoming a writer.^[3] One of Michaelbrent's children died, which inspired some of his fiction.^[27][2] He and his wife had four children in 2015.^[2]

Bibliography

Series information comes from the website "Book Series in Order."^[28]

References