Simon Maginn | |
---|---|
Born | 1961 (age 62–63) Wallasey, Merseyside, England |
Pen name | Simon Nolan |
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | British |
Simon Maginn (born 1961 in is a British horror/thriller writer. He is best known for the 1994 novel Sheep , which was released as a film under the title The Dark in 2005. [1] [2]
Maginn was born in Wallasey, Merseyside) in 1961. [3] He cites among his early influences films like Psycho, The Amityville Horror and The Shining , as well as novels like Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast and The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. [4] He studied music at the University of Sussex, specialising in percussion and composition. [5]
Maginn published his first novel, Sheep, in 1994, which won WHSmith Fresh Talent Award. [6] He is also the author of: Virgins and Martyrs (Corgi, 1995), A Sickness of the Soul (Corgi 1995), Methods of Confinement (Black Swan 1996) and the novella Rattus (Pendragon Press 2010). The last of these was published alongside a novella by Gary Fry, in a compilation entitled Feral Companions.
Maginn has also published satirical comedies under the pseudonym Simon Nolan: As Good as it Gets (Quartet Books, 1998), The Vending Machine of Justice (Quartet Books, 2000) and Whitehawk (Revenge Ink, 2010).
In 1993, Maginn was one of six authors chosen by W. H. Smith for a campaign involving a purchase of 20,000 paperback books. [7] At the time, Maginn was a music teacher. [7]
He is politically active on and off social media. [8] In 2018, Maginn was involved in an online clash with J. K. Rowling over tweets criticizing accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party. [9] [10]
Maginn has spent much of his life suffering from DSPS (Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder), a chronic sleep issue, which meant that he was unable to keep a conventional job, "except for short bursts" during his twenties. This problem, he says, has since been resolved. [11]
Maginn, Simon (1994). Sheep. UK: Corgi. ISBN 9780552141222.
Maginn, Simon (1995). Virgins and Martyrs. UK: Corgi. ISBN 9780552142496.
Maginn, Simon (1996). A Sickness of the Soul. UK: Corgi. ISBN 9780552142502.
Maginn, Simon (1996). Methods of Confinement. UK: Black Swan. ISBN 9780552997089.
Maginn, Simon (2010). Feral Companions. UK: Pendragon. ISBN 1906864047.
As Simon Nolan:
Nolan, Simon (1998). As Good as it Gets. UK: Quartet Books. ISBN 0704381087.
Nolan, Simon (2000). The Vending Machine of Justice. UK: Quartet Books. ISBN 0704381060.
Nolan, Simon (2010). Whitehawk. UK: Revenge Ink. ISBN 978-0955807879.
Joanne Rowling, known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has sold over 600 million copies, been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith.
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Lord Voldemort is a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.
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Sheep is a horror novel by British author Simon Maginn, originally published in 1994 and reissued in 1997. It is now out of print. The book provided the basis for the 2005 film The Dark, although the plot changed drastically in the conversion from book to film. It was Maginn's debut novel.
Writer J. K. Rowling cites several writers as influences in her creation of her bestselling Harry Potter series. Writers, journalists and critics have noted that the books also have a number of analogues; a wide range of literature, both classical and modern, which Rowling has not openly cited as influences.
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