Blog Spotlight: British Writer Michael Marshall Smith

Creativity with a Side Order of Candy Corn

Bestselling British author Michael Marshall Smith is a critically-acclaimed novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Among the many honors in his career so far, he has won the British Fantasy Award five times, has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award four times, and has received the International Horror Guild Award, the August Derleth Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award. In addition, his second novel Spares was optioned for film by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks company and his third novel One Of Us was optioned for film by Warner Brothers. At the moment, Michael is busy finishing a new book in North London, but generously took some time out of his schedule to chat with me about memories, marmite, and more...

SUZANNE: Welcome, Michael. Let's begin at the beginning. I know you moved around a lot as a child before settling back in your home country of England. After spending time in the United States, South Africa, and Australia, I'm wondering if you have any particularly vivid memories of living in those three countries that linger with you even now?

MICHAEL: I have strong memories of all of them. Those of South Africa and Australia are few but intense, as I've only visited both countries once since we lived there, and so childhood impressions remain largely unchanged. They're snapshots of places, people, and moments, unremarkable to anyone except me.

The United States is different because I've spent a lot of time there since, and so there's more of a continuum. It's definitely the U.S. that has the deepest roots in my soul. I spent my childhood believing I was English, and would one day be going home. But when we came back to live here, I started to realise how much of me was bedded somewhere else. Whenever I walk out of an airport in the U.S. and smell the air, a bit of me feels it's coming home.

SUZANNE: Did you start writing stories as a child traveling around, or did that come later? And what were your other main interests growing up (books, theater, TV, comics, etc.)?