Jonathan Maberry (born May 18, 1958) is an American suspense author, anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer.[2] He was named one of the Today's Top Ten Horror Writers.[3]
Maberry's early work featured martial arts as a topic, such as Judo and You (Kendall Hunt 1990), Ultimate Jujutsu (Strider Nolan, 2002) and Ultimate Sparring (Strider Nolan 2003).
In the next phase of his career, he departed from martial arts writing and wrote several books on the folklore and beliefs of the occult and paranormal, including The Vampire Slayers Field Guide to the Undead (Strider Nolan, 2000), written under the pen name of Shane MacDougall; Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Haunt Us, Hunt Us and Hunger for Us (Citadel Press, 2006); The Cryptopedia, co-authored by David F. Kramer (2007); Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (2008); They Bite (also with David F. Kramer, 2009); and Wanted Undead or Alive (with Janice Gable Bashman, 2010). The Cryptopedia won the Bram Stoker Award for best nonfiction work.
Maberry is also a freelance comic book writer, first for Marvel and later for Dark Horse and IDW Publishing. His first story, "Wolverine: Ghosts", was published as a backup story in Wolverine: Anniversary, April 2009. In August 2009 he became the regular writer for Marvel's Black Panther series, starting on the 7th issue,[5] and he wrote Marvel Zombies Return: Wolverine.[6] In 2010, he wrote Doom War[7] and Marvel Universe Vs The Punisher,[8]Marvel Universe Vs Wolverine, Marvel Universe Vs The Avengers; Klaws of the Panther, and Captain America: Hail Hydra. He moved to Dark Horse Comics and produced a single miniseries, Bad Blood, with artist Tyler Crook, which went on to win the Bram Stoker Award for Best Graphic Novel. His work for IDW Publishing includes two collections of V-Wars, a five-issue standalone series Rot & Ruin: Warrior Smart, and his latest series Pandemic.
In 2010 Maberry began writing young adult post-apocalyptic zombie stories. His first prestigious award was for his first young adult novel, Rot & Ruin (2010, Simon & Schuster). It won the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, was named in Booklist's Ten Best Horror Novels for Young Adults, an American Library Association Top Pick, a Bram Stoker and Pennsylvania Keystone to Reading winner; winner of several state Teen Book Awards including the Cricket, Nutmeg and MASL; winner of the Cybils Award, the Eva Perry Mock Printz medal, Dead Letter Best Novel Award, and four Melinda Awards. It became the first of a new series of post-apocalyptic zombie thrillers such as Dust & Decay (winner of a 2011 Bram Stoker Award[10]) Flesh & Bone (winner of a 2012 Bram Stoker Award[11]), Fire & Ash, a collection of short stories, Bits and Pieces, Broken Lands, and Lost Roads, which was released on August 25, 2020.
Maberry then launched a series called The Nightsiders that blends science fiction with horror. Book 1 of that series, The Orphan Army was named as one of the 100 Best Books for Children. A follow-up, Vault of Shadows was published in August 2016.
The series for which Maberry is best known is the Joe Ledger Series, in which a Baltimore police detective is recruited into a Special Ops unit attached to the mysterious Department of Military Sciences, which is run by enigmatic Mr. Church. Each of the books in the series pits Ledger and his team against a different kind of extreme science threat. In the first novel, Patient Zero, the threat is a pathogen that turns people into zombies. In the second book, The Dragon Factory, the villains are geneticists using cutting-edge science to restart the Nazi master race eugenics program. The rest of the series follows with The King of Plagues, Assassin's Code, Extinction Machine, Code Zero, Predator One, Kill Switch, Dogs of War; and Deep Silence. Maberry recently launched Rage, the first in the follow-up Rogue Team International series, also featuring Joe Ledger. A collection of Maberry's Joe Ledger short stories, Joe Ledger: Special Ops, was released by JournalStone. The series' main publisher, Griffin, released Joe Ledger: Unstoppable, an anthology of Ledger stories written by a variety of top suspense and mystery writers including Tim Lebbon, Scott Sigler, Steve Alten, Weston Ochse, Dana Fredsti, Christopher Golden, Joe McKinney, Jeremy Robinson, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Bryan Thomas-Schmidt, and others.
In 2015 Maberry released a rare standalone novel, Ghostwalkers, based on the Deadlands table top role playing game. The book was nominated for a Scribe Award for best original novel based on a licensed property.[12]
His most recent standalone novel was Glimpse, published in March 2018 by St. Martin's Press. Glimpse is a chilling thriller that explores what happens when reality and nightmares converge, and how far one will go to protect the innocent when their own brain is a threat. Another standalone, Ink, will be released by St. Martin's Griffin as a trade paperback in 2020. Although a standalone, Ink has elements of other books, including characters and locations from the Pine Deep Trilogy, and the appearance of Monk Addison and Patty Cakes from Glimpse.
Maberry is also a prolific editor of anthologies in a variety of genre including dark fantasy (Out of Tune and Out of Tune Vol 2), science fiction/horror (The X-Files: Trust No One, The X-Files: The Truth is Out There, and The X-Files: Secret Agendas, all from IDW Publishing); horror (Nights of the Living Dead, with George A. Romero); mystery pastiche (Alternate Sherlocks, with Michael Ventrella), political thrillers with horror (V-wars, V-Wars: Blood and Fire, V-Wars: Night Terrors, and V-Wars: Shockwaves), and an anthology of horror stories for teens (Scary Out There) which features original stories and poetry by R.L. Stine, Ellen Hopkins, Linda Addision, Ilsa J. Bick, and many others.[citation needed]
In 2017 he published Devil's Advocate, one of the first two books in the X-Files Origins series. Maberry wrote the story about a young Dana Scully, while colleague Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures), wrote Agent of Chaos, a young Fox Mulder story.
Also in 2017, Maberry published Indigo, a collaborative work of fiction written with nine other authors including Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden.[13]
Film and television
In May 2010, Maberry's work was the basis of a television pilot written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach named "Department Zero", which was moved into active production by ABC Television.[14]
In April 2018, it was announced that Netflix greenlit a television adaptation of the V-WARS novels and comics.[15] Following the series announcement, it was confirmed that Maberry would be credited as an executive producer and creator for the Netflix series V Wars.[15] Production for the first season began and ended in 2018 for a 10-episode first season.[16][17][18] The series premiered on December 5, 2019.[19][20]
Maberry is also a contributing editor for The Big Thrill,[22] the monthly newsletter of the International Thriller Writers, and a founding partner of The Liars Club, a networking group of professionals in publishing and other aspects of entertainment.
Personal life
Maberry holds an 8th degree black belt in Shinowara-ryu Jujutsu.[1] In 2004 he was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame.[23]
Awards
2003, Writer's Award, International Martial Arts Hall of Fame[1]
V-Wars: The Complete Collection (IDW Publishing, 2019)
Road of the Dead: Highway to Hell, Issues 1-3 (IDW Publishing, 2018–2019)
Road of the Dead: Highway to Hell, Graphic Novel, ISBN978-1-68405-478-7 (IDW Publishing, 2019)
Pandemica, Issues 1-3 (IDW Publishing, 2019)
Pandemica, Graphic Novel Collection (IDW Publishing, June 2020)
Audiobooks
Lullaby, Narrated by Scott Brick, Audible Original, (Audible Studios 2018)
Bewilderness, Part One: Threshold, Narrated by Shayna Small, Audible Original, (Audible Studios December 2020)
Bewilderness, Part Two: What Rough Beast, Narrated by Shayna Small, Audible Original, (Audible Studios January 2021)
Bewilderness, Part Three: Destroyer of Worlds, Narrated by Shayna Small, Audible Original, (Audible Studios February 2021)
Related Research Articles
Nancy A. Collins is an American horror fiction writer best known for her series of vampire novels featuring her character Sonja Blue. Collins has also written for comic books, including the Swamp Thing series, Jason vs. Leatherface, Predator: Hell Come A' Walkin' and her own one-shot issue Dhampire: Stillborn.
Colleen Doran is an American writer-artist and cartoonist. She illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, including the autobiographical graphic novel of Marvel Comics editor and writer Stan Lee entitled Amazing Fantastic Incredible Stan Lee, which became a New York Times bestseller. She adapted and did the art for the short story "Troll Bridge" by Neil Gaiman, which also became a New York Times bestseller. Her books have received Eisner, Harvey, Bram Stoker, Locus, and International Horror Guild Awards.
Jeff Mariotte is an author who lives in Arizona. As well as his own original work, he is best known for writing novels and comic books based on licensed properties.
Brian Keene is an American author and podcaster, primarily known for his work in horror, dark fantasy, crime fiction, and comic books. He has won the 2014 World Horror Grandmaster Award and two Bram Stoker Awards. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who, Thor, Hellboy, Alien, Masters of the Universe, and The X-Files.
Scott Edelman is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer and editor.
Joe Richard Lansdale is an American writer and martial arts instructor. A prose writer in a variety of genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense, he has also written comic books and screenplays. Several of his novels have been adapted for film and television. He is the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and eleven Bram Stoker Awards.
Stephen Graham Jones is a Blackfoot Native American author of experimental fiction, horror fiction, crime fiction, and science fiction. His most widely known works include the horror novels The Only Good Indians, My Heart is a Chainsaw, and Night of the Mannequins.
Cemetery Dance Publications is an American specialty press publisher of horror and dark suspense. Cemetery Dance was founded by Richard Chizmar, a horror author, while he was in college. It is associated with Cemetery Dance magazine, which was founded in 1988. They began to publish books in 1992. They later expanded to encompass a magazine and website featuring news, interviews, and reviews related to horror literature.
Gary Reed was an American comic book writer, and the publisher of Caliber Comics, an independent comic book company that released 1,300 titles in the 1990s and published early work by many popular creators. Reed wrote over 200 comics and graphic novels, sometimes under assumed names. He was also Vice President of McFarlane Toys when the company launched in 1993. His comics writing credits include Saint Germaine,Baker Street and Deadworld. In addition to comics, Reed wrote a role-playing game for Palladium and wrote some of the storyline scenarios for Final Fight: Streetwise for Capcom.
Joseph Hillström King, better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American writer. His work includes the novels Heart-Shaped Box (2007), Horns (2010), NOS4A2 (2013), and The Fireman (2016); the short story collections 20th Century Ghosts (2005) and Strange Weather (2017); and the comic book series Locke & Key (2008–2013). He has won awards including Bram Stoker Awards, British Fantasy Awards, and an Eisner Award.
Thomas Piccirilli was an American novelist and short story writer.
Lisa Morton is an American horror author and screenwriter.
Sam Weller is an American journalist and author, best known as writer Ray Bradbury's authorized biographer.
Rain Graves is an author of horror, fantasy, science fiction and poetry. She is also a noted Wine Poet, commissioned and featured by winemakers and wineries, and the Creator and Hostess of the Haunted Mansion Writer's Retreat.
The Pine Deep Trilogy is a series of supernatural horror novels by Jonathan Maberry. The series is set in Pine Deep, a fictional rural Pennsylvania town that becomes plagued by an evil force thought previously killed thirty years ago. In the books the town is considered to be "the most haunted town in America" and has a booming supernatural tourism industry based around the town's history and Halloween. The trilogy is composed of Ghost Road Blues, Dead Man's Song, and Bad Moon Rising.
John Everson is an American author of contemporary horror, dark fantasy, science fiction and fantasy fiction. He is the author of thirteen novels and four short fiction collections, as well as three mini-collections, all focusing on horror and the supernatural. His novel Covenant, was originally released in a limited edition hardcover by Delirium Books in 2004 and won the Bram Stoker Award for a First Novel the following year from the Horror Writers Association. His sixth novel, NightWhere, was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award in 2012.
Weston Ochse is an American author and educator. He has won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for his short fiction. His novel SEAL Team 666 is currently being shopped by Seven Bucks Productions. Dwayne Johnson has attached himself to the film to executive produce as well as act in a leading role.
Patient Zero is a 2009 novel by American writer Jonathan Maberry and the first book in the Joe Ledger series. It was first published on March 3, 2009 through St. Martin's Griffin and follows a detective that must help prevent the world from being terrorized by a bioweapon that turns humans into zombies.
Christopher Ryall is best known as the former President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer of IDW Publishing, and as a writer in the comic book industry. In February 2011, his Eisner Award-nominated series, Zombies vs. Robots, co-created with artist Ashley Wood, was optioned by Sony Pictures for Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes with Mike Flanagan as director.
Centipede Press is an American independent book and periodical publisher focusing on horror, weird tales, crime narratives, science fiction, gothic novels, fantasy art, and studies of literature, music and film. Its earliest imprints were Cocytus Press and Millipede Press.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
