Michael Robert Collings (born October 29, 1947)[1][2] is an American writer, poet, literary critic, and bibliographer, and a former professor of creative writing and literature at Pepperdine University.[2][3] He was Poet in Residence at Pepperdine's Seaver College from 1997 to 2000.[4]

Collings has had multiple collections of his poetry published on subjects such as Latter Day Saint theology, Joseph Smith, Christmas, science fiction, and horror.[4] He is known for his literary critiques and bibliographies of the works of Orson Scott Card and Stephen King,[2][3][4] though he has also published critiques and bibliographies of the works of Peter Straub, Dean Koontz, C. S. Lewis, Brian W. Aldiss, and Piers Anthony.[2][4] His In the Image of God: Theme, Characterization and Landscape in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card was the first book-length academic look at Card's works.[4][5]

Biography

Michael Robert Collings was born in Rupert, Idaho.[6] He graduated from Bakersfield College in 1967 with an Associate's degree, then graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English from Whittier College two years later. After graduating with a Master's degree in English from the University of California, Riverside in 1973, Collings received his Ph.D. in English literature from UCR in 1977, specializing in Milton and The Renaissance.[7]

Before he began teaching creative writing and literature at Pepperdine University,[2] Collings taught at UCR, San Bernardino Valley Community College, and UCLA. He taught at Pepperdine from 1979[7] until 2010, when he retired. He now lives in Idaho with his wife, Judi. His son, Michaelbrent Collings, is a fantasy and horror writer.

Collings was introduced to Stephen King's work by a student, David A. Engebretson, in 1983, and published his first book on him, The Many Facets of Stephen King, in 1985; reading King led to his also studying and publishing on Koontz and Robert McCammon.[8]

The World Horror Convention awarded him their Grand Master Award in 2016.[9]

Selected bibliography

Articles and papers

  • "C. S. Lewis and the Music of Creation" (July–August 1979), Lamp-Post of the Southern California C.S. Lewis Society
  • "The Mechanisms of Fantasy" (January 1980), Lamp-Post of the Southern California C.S. Lewis Society
  • "To Be Still a Man: Abstraction and Concretion in C. S. Lewis" (January 1982), Lamp-Post of the Southern California C.S. Lewis Society
  • "Beyond Deep Heaven: Generic Structure and Christian Message in C. S. Lewis's Ransom Novels", (December 1986), Lamp-Post of the Southern California C.S. Lewis Society
  • "Brothers of the Head: Brian W. Aldiss's Psychological Landscape" (1988), Spectrum of the Fantastic: Selected Papers from the Fifth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Greenwood Press
  • "Brian W. Aldiss" (1989), Reader's Guide to Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers, American Library Association
  • "To See the World the Poet's Way" In the Image of God: Theme, Characterization, and Landscape in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card. New York: Greenwood Press, (1990), Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed.Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 279. Detroit: Gale, 2010

Sources:[4]

Non-fiction books

  • The Many Facets of Stephen King (1985), Starmont House, ISBN 0-930261-14-3
  • The Shorter Works of Stephen King (1985), with David A. Engebretson, Starmont House, ISBN 0-930261-02-X
  • Stephen King as Richard Bachman (1985), Starmont House, ISBN 0-930261-00-3
  • The Annotated Guide to Stephen King: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography of the Works of America's Premier Horror Writer (1986), Starmont House, ISBN 0-930261-80-1
  • The Films of Stephen King (1986), Starmont House, ISBN 0-930261-10-0
  • Card Catalogue: The Science Fiction and Fantasy of Orson Scott Card (1987), Hypatia Press, ISBN 0-940841-01-0
  • The Stephen King Phenomenon (1987), Starmont House, ISBN 0-930261-12-7
  • In the Image of God: Theme, Characterization and Landscape in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card (1990), Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-26404-X
  • Scaring Us to Death: The Impact of Stephen King on Popular Culture (1997), Borgo Press, ISBN 0-930261-37-2
  • The Work of Orson Scott Card: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide (1997), with Boden Clarke
  • Hauntings: The Official Peter Straub Bibliography (2000), Overlook Connection Press, ISBN 1-892950-15-4
  • Storyteller: The Official Guide to the Works of Orson Scott Card (2001), Overlook Connection Press, ISBN 1-892950-26-X
  • Horror Plum'd: An International Stephen King Bibliography and Guide 1960-2000 (2003), Overlook Connection Press, ISBN 1-892950-45-6
  • Stephen King Is Richard Bachman, (March 2008), Overlook Connection Press, ISBN 1-892950-74-X

Sources:[2][4][5]

Novels

  • The House Beyond the Hill (2007, Wildside Press, ISBN 1-4344-0066-2)
  • Singer of Lies (2009, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-5710-3)
  • The Slab (2011, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-1207-2)
  • Static! (2011, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-3530-9)
  • Shadow Valley (2011, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-3521-7)
  • Writing Darkness (2012, CreateSpace, ISBN 978-1-4793-8404-4)

Wordsmith series

  1. The Veil of Heaven (2009, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-0280-6)
  2. The Thousand Eyes of Flame (2009, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-0281-3)
  3. Three Tales of Omne (2010, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-1177-8, published in an omnibus with The Elder of Days by Robert Reginald)

Epic poem

  • The Nephiad: An Epic Poem in XII Books (1996, Zarahemla Motets, ISBN 1-886405-52-2)

Poetry and fiction collections

  • Naked to the Sun (1986, Starmont House, ISBN 0-930261-76-3)
  • Dark Transformations: Deadly Visions of Change (1990, Starmont House, ISBN 1-55742-196-X)
  • All Calm, All Bright: Christmas Offerings (2007, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-0172-4)
  • In the Void: Poems of Science Fiction, Myth and Fantasy, & Horror (2009, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-5761-5)
  • Wer Means Man and Other Tales of Wonder and Terror (2010, Borgo Press/Wildside Press, ISBN 978-1-4344-1187-7)
  • Dear Emily and Other Poems (2016, CreateSpace, ISBN 978-1541095892)
  • In the Haunting Darkness (2022, Hemelein Publications, ISBN 978-1-64278-060-4)

Sources:[4][6][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ U.S. Public Records Index Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Wands, D C (2008-02-16). "Michael R Collings". FantasticFiction. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  3. ^ a b Beahm, George W. (1998). Stephen King from A to Z: an encyclopedia of his life and work. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 0-8362-6914-4.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Michael R. Collings". Brigham Young University. 2003. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  5. ^ a b Langford, Jonathan (1997-10-21). "AML-List Review: In the Image of God: Theme, Characterization, and Landscape in the Fiction of Orson Scott Card". Association for Mormon Letters. Archived from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  6. ^ a b "Michael R. Collings - Summary Bibliography". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Michael R. Collings Bio Information". Pepperdine University. Archived from the original on January 5, 2009. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  8. ^ Lindbergh, Ben (September 4, 2018). "The King Chroniclers and the Reimagining of an Icon of American Letters". The Ringer. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  9. ^ "World Horror Grandmaster 2016". Science Fiction Awards Database. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  10. ^ "The House Beyond the Hill by Michael R Collings". FantasticFiction. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._Collings
No tags for this post.