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Michaelbrent Collings

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Michaelbrent Collings
Pen nameAngelica Hart
LanguageEnglish
GenresHorror, science fiction, romance
Years active2010–present
RelativesMichael R. Collings
Website
writteninsomnia.com

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, three being finalists for the Whitney Awards in 2014 (Mystery/Suspense), 2017 (Young Adult Speculative), and 2024 (Middle Grade), and two being finalists for the Dragon Award, both for Best Horror, in 2020 and 2021.

Writing

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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

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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

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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

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

The Stranger books

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  • Strangers (2014)
  • Stranger Still (2020)
  • Stranger Danger (2020)

Billy books

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  • Messenger of Powers (2010)
  • Seeker of Powers (2012)
  • Destroyer of Powers (2014)

Colony books

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  • Genesis (2013)
  • Renegades (2013)
  • Descent (2013)
  • Velocity (2014)
  • Shift (2014)
  • Buried (2015)
  • Reckoning (2015)

Fairy Tales books

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  • How Flowers Came to Be (2010)
  • Leon (2010)
  • The True Story of the Easter Bunny (2013)

Order of Sword Chronicles

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  • Child of the Empire (2015)
  • Child of Sorrows (2016)
  • Child of Ash (2019)

Baxter Homestead Romances (as Angelica Hart)

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  • Not All Cowboys Are Cruel (2017)
  • Found in Flight (2017)
  • The Mountain Man's Love (2017)
  • The Lawman's Love (2017)
  • For Love of the Brave (2019)

Standalone novels

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  • Run (2010)
  • Rising Fears (2010)
  • Mr. Gray (2011)
  • The Loon (2011)
  • Celestia (2011)
  • Stolen (2011)
  • The Stranger Inside (2011)
  • Perdition (2011)
  • The Haunted (2012)
  • Apparition (2012)
  • Hooked: A True Faerie Tale (2012)
  • Blood Relations: A Good Mormon Girl Mystery (2013)
  • Darkbound (2013)
  • Strangers (2013)
  • Killing Time (2013)
  • Crime Seen (2014)
  • The Darkness Light (2014)
  • Twisted (2014)
  • The Ridealong (2015)
  • The Deep (2015)
  • The House That Death Built (2016)
  • The Longest Con (2016)
  • The Darklights (2017)
  • Peter and Wendy: A Tale of the Lost (2018)
  • Predators (2018)
  • Terminal (2019)
  • Darkling Smiles (2019)
  • Scavenger Hunt (2019)
  • Stranger Still (2020)
  • The Forest (2020)
  • Synchronicity (2021)
  • Malignant (2021)

Short story collections

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  • Darkling Smiles (2019)
  • Future Tense: Tales of Apocalyptic Vision (2022)

Collaborations and collections

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  • Space Eldritch II (2013)
  • The Black Fang Betrayal (2014)
  • This is the End 3 (2014)

Short stories/novellas

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  • Kindled (2014)

Non-fiction

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  • California Construction Law and Public Contracting in California: A Primer in How Not to Get Screwed (2010)
  • The Art of Teaching Martial Arts (2011)
  • Mormons and Horror: Light Within Dark (2017)[29][unreliable source?]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Allen, Jewel (13 February 2019). "Q & A with Michaelbrent Collings Part 1". Jewel Allen. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "Michael Brent Collings Ep 172 The Cultural Hall". The Cultural Hall Podcast. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Interviewing Authors – Michaelbrent Collings: Novels, Screenplays, and a Cool Robot Arm – 47:59". radiopublic.com.
  4. ^ a b Allen, Jewel (13 February 2019). "Q & A with Michaelbrent Collings Part 2". Jewel Allen.
  5. ^ "From Poe to Present". Boise Weekly. No. 30. 14 January 2013. p. 12. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Eric McCormack Set to Star in WWE's 'Barricade'". The Hollywood Reporter.
  7. ^ Gencarelli, Mike (17 November 2012). "Michaelbrent Collings talks about writing WWE's "Barricade"". MediaMikes.
  8. ^ "Darkroom". IMDb.
  9. ^ "St. George Literary Arts Festival: Writers can attend workshops, book signings". The Spectrum & Daily News. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  10. ^ "Event Schedule". TEDxRexburg.
  11. ^ "Three-day Fandemonium to invade Nampa". Idaho Press. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  12. ^ Penn, Joanna (25 June 2018). "Writing With Depression". The Creative Penn. The Creative Penn Limited. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  13. ^ G, Lilyn (2017-12-12). "The Best Indie Sci-Fi & Horror We Read In 2017". Sci-Fi & Scary. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  14. ^ "{Review} TERMINAL, by Michaelbrent Collings". Horror After Dark. 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  15. ^ www.horrordrive-in.com http://www.horrordrive-in.com/serendipity/index.php?/categories/11-Reviews. Retrieved 2019-07-23. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ Clock, George EbeyGeorge Ebey is the author of Broken; Suspense, Dimensions: Tales of; Bag, The Red; Justice, Widowfield He is a graduate of Kent State University with a bachelor's degree in Criminal; wife, a minor in writing He lives with his; Gail; www.georgeebey.com, in Northeast Ohio Visit George at (31 October 2018). "Predators by Michaelbrent Collings". THE BIG THRILL. Retrieved 2019-07-23. {{cite web}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
  17. ^ Ernst, Rose (2019-06-20). "The 29 Best Self-Publishing Podcast Episodes of All Time". Medium. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  18. ^ Peterson, Ralph. "Twisted". San Francisco Book Review. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  19. ^ "Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: Darkling Smiles: Tales of Brightness Darkled by Michaelbrent Collings. Written Insomnia, $9.99 trade paper (425p) ISBN 978-1-08-115988-7". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  20. ^ "Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: Stranger Still by Michaelbrent Collings. Written Insomnia, $10.99 trade paper (408p) ASIN B085KJ74BM". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  21. ^ Rappleye, Christine (18 February 2017). "45 novels announced as Whitney Award finalists". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  22. ^ "9 Incredible Paranormal Mysteries & Thrillers". wiki.ezvid.com. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  23. ^ "The Bram Stoker Awards". StokerCon™ 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  24. ^ "2014 Whitney Finalists". The Whitney Awards. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  25. ^ locusmag (2020-08-11). "2020 Dragon Awards Ballot". Locus Online. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  26. ^ "One of the Scariest Writers in the World is Self-Published, and a Good Mormon Boy". Horror Society. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  27. ^ Tullis, Ben (31 October 2014). "Mormon father, son say horror genre isn't incompatible with their faith". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  28. ^ "Michaelbrent Collings". Book Series in Order. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  29. ^ Mormons and Horror: Light Within Dark
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