Michael Marshall was born in England in 1965. He spent his early childhood in the United States, South Africa and Australia, returning to England with his family in 1973. He attended Chigwell School in Essex and then went to King’s College, Cambridge, where he read Philosophy and Social and Political Science. He also became involved in the Cambridge Footlights, serving as a committee member and writing and performing many shows including the 1987 UK and 1988 US Tours. He subsequently wrote and performed two award-winning series of BBC Radio 4’s ‘And Now, In Colour’.
Smith worked for a number of years as a graphic designer and writer of corporate videos, while starting to write short fiction. These stories have been published in anthologies and magazines in the US, UK and Europe. He is a five-time winner of the British Fantasy Award, and a four-time World Fantasy Award nominee. Many stories have recently been collected in ‘More Tomorrow and Other Stories’, winner of the international horror Guild Award. A previous collection, ‘What You Make It’, was published in the UK by HarperCollins. Eight of these stories are currently under option for film or television.
His first novel, ‘Only Forward’, won the August Derleth and Philip K. Dick awards. His second – ‘Spares’ was optioned for film by DreamWorks and translated into seventeen languages. His third, ‘One of Us’, was optioned by Warner Brothers. All of these earlier works were published under his full name, Michael Marshall Smith. His fourth novel, The Straw Men, was a move into mainstream thriller territory. To mark the different style of writing, it was published under the name Michael Marshall. It was an international bestseller, as were two follow-ups, the ‘The Lonely Dead’ (titled ‘The Upright Man’ in the US) and ‘Blood of Angels. His latest thrillers, ‘The Intruders’ and ‘Bad Things’ garnered rave reviews.
Michael has also worked extensively as a screenwriter, writing for clients in LA and London. He lives in North London, with his wife Paula, a son and two cats.
