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).[1][2]
Life and career
Libling was born in Trenton, Ontario, the setting of much of his fiction.[1] 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.[3] He left the show in the early 1990s to concentrate on writing fiction.[3] Over his career he also worked as a newspaper columnist and an advertising creative director.[4]
He lives in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, on Montreal's West Island.[5]
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.[4][1]
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.[1][6] He subsequently expanded the story into his debut novel, Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels, published by ChiZine Publications in 2019.[2] 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.[7]
Set in the author's hometown of Trenton, Ontario, the coming-of-age mystery draws on the town's little-known silent-film history.[8] Publishers Weekly called it an "assured, quietly menacing debut" that is "steeped in bittersweet childhood nostalgia and coming-of-age foibles",[2] and a review in Locus by Paul Di Filippo described it as "an enthralling, nostalgically naturalistic, creepy and mordantly humorous tale".[8] 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".[3] The novel was also reviewed in the Montreal Review of Books.[9]
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.[10][5] The book's release was covered in the Montreal weekly The Suburban,[11] and Libling discussed it in an interview on the horror-themed program Darkness Radio.[12]
Bibliography
Novels
Selected short fiction
- "Hollywood North" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November/December 2014) — World Fantasy Award finalist, 2015
Awards
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.