Michael Libling
Michael Libling | |
|---|---|
| Born | Trenton, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupations |
* radio host * columnist |
| Writing career | |
| Period | 2014–present |
| Genres |
* horror * science fiction * mystery * thriller |
| Notable work | Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels (2019) |
| Website | www |
Michael Libling is a Canadian author and former talk-radio host. He was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award in 2015 for his novella "Hollywood North", which he later expanded into his debut novel, Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels (2019).
Life and career
Libling was born in Trenton, Ontario, the setting of much of his fiction. He was the original host and creator of the long-running Trivia Show on Montreal radio station CJAD, which he co-hosted with announcer Dave Fisher on Sunday mornings; during the same period, he worked as a copywriter for an advertising firm. He left the show in the early 1990s to concentrate on writing fiction. Over his career he also worked as a newspaper columnist and an advertising creative director.
He lives in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, on Montreal's West Island.
Writing
Libling's short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, and reprint anthologies including The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror and Welcome to Dystopia.
His novella "Hollywood North", published in the November/December 2014 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, was a finalist for the 2015 World Fantasy Award in the short fiction category. He subsequently expanded the story into his debut novel, Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels, published by ChiZine Publications in 2019. In an interview with the Canadian literary site Open Book, Libling discussed the novel's themes of truth and guilt and his improvisational approach to plotting.
Set in the author's hometown of Trenton, Ontario, the coming-of-age mystery draws on the town's little-known silent-film history. Publishers Weekly called it an "assured, quietly menacing debut" that is "steeped in bittersweet childhood nostalgia and coming-of-age foibles", and a review in Locus by Paul Di Filippo described it as "an enthralling, nostalgically naturalistic, creepy and mordantly humorous tale". Reviewing it for the Montreal Times, Stuart Nulman compared Libling's treatment of Trenton to Stephen King's fictional Castle Rock, calling it "a gripping tale". The novel was also reviewed in the Montreal Review of Books.
His second novel, The Serial Killer's Son Takes a Wife, an off-kilter horror-thriller narrated by the son of a notorious serial killer, was published by WordFire Press in 2023. The book's release was covered in the Montreal weekly The Suburban, and Libling discussed it in an interview on the horror-themed program Darkness Radio.
Bibliography
Novels
- Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels (ChiZine Publications, 2019) ISBN 978-1771484909
- The Serial Killer's Son Takes a Wife (WordFire Press, 2023) ISBN 978-1680574579
Selected short fiction
- "Hollywood North" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November/December 2014) — World Fantasy Award finalist, 2015
Awards
- 2015 – World Fantasy Award, Short Fiction – finalist, for "Hollywood North"
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Michael Libling Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Hollywood North". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 Nulman, Stuart (1 November 2020). "Hollywood North by Michael Libling". Montreal Times. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- 1 2 "Michael Libling". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- 1 2 Cohen, Mike. "DDO author's second novel is titillatingly horrifying". The Suburban. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- 1 2 "World Fantasy Awards 2015". Science Fiction Awards Database. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- ↑ ""For Me, Voice is Everything": Talking with Michael Libling About Writing, Advice, & His Debut Novel, Hollywood North". Open Book. 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- 1 2 Di Filippo, Paul (October 2019). "Paul Di Filippo Reviews Hollywood North by Michael Libling". Locus. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- ↑ "Hollywood North". Montreal Review of Books. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- ↑ "Michael Libling". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- ↑ Cohen, Mike. "Michael Libling's new book is already garnering attention". The Suburban. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
- ↑ "The Serial Killer's Son Takes A Wife w/ Michael Libling". Darkness Radio. Retrieved 11 June 2026.