McDowell, Michael, 1950-1999

Michael McEachern McDowell was the author of a number of horror novels, including The Amulet (1979), Cold Moon Over Babylon (1980), and The Elementals (1981), as well as six serialized novels known as the Blackwater series (1983). He also has screenwriting credits for Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and wrote for the TV series Tales from the Darkside . McDowell was born June 1, 1950 in Enterprise, Alabama, to an accountant and a social worker, and attended public schools in southern Alabama until 1968. He earned highest honors at Harvard University, graduating in 1972, and in 1978 was awarded his doctorate degree in English and American Literature from Brandeis University.

McDowell began writing in college, and after graduating worked to support himself as a teacher, a theater critic, and a secretary at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before royalties began paying his way. His first novel, The Amulet, won McDowell particular praise for his ability to balance mundane normality with supernatural activity. McDowell was adept at writing within many genres, and collaborated with Dennis Schuetz under the joint pseudonym “Nathan Aldyne” to write four gay detective novels between 1980 and 1986 ( Vermillion, Cobalt, Slate, and Canary ). McDowell preferred to work in such fiction genres as horror and detective stories, and also wrote under the pseudonyms Axel Young, Mike McCray, and Preston Macadam, the latter two related to men's novels about rogue mercenaries written in collaboration with John Preston.

McDowell moved to Medford, Massachusetts in November 1973. After becoming engaged with the film industry in Hollywood, McDowell began shuttling back and forth between Boston and Los Angeles in 1985. By 1986 he had rented a flat in West Hollywood, and co-founded Pecos Productions. McDowell found success in film and TV writing, penning scripts for Tales from the Darkside and Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories . In 1988 he co-wrote the screenplay for Beetlejuice with Warren Skaaren, which was based on an original story by McDowell and Larry Wilson about a dead couple returning home. He went on to write screenplays for Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993 and Stephen King’s Thinner in 1996.

By 1994 McDowell had returned to Boston full-time to stay with his partner, Laurence Senelick, and taught screenwriting at Boston University and Tufts University. McDowell continued to write commissioned screenplay treatments. Shortly after McDowell’s return to Boston, he was diagnosed with AIDS. He died in Boston on December 27, 1999, at the age of 49, from AIDS-related illness. Tabitha King, wife of author Stephen King, completed an unfinished McDowell novel, Candles Burning, which was published in 2006.

For McDowell, whose dissertation at Brandeis was titled “American Attitudes Towards Death, 1825-1865,” the Death Collection was a conscious accumulation. It was primarily acquired from antique stores and antiquarian dealers throughout the 1970s.

From the guide to the Michael McDowell Death Collection, 1616-2005, (Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections)

Michael McDowell was born June I, 1950 in Enterprise, Alabama and attended public schools in southern Alabama until 1968. He graduated with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in English from Harvard in 1972. In 1978 he was awarded his doctorate degree in English and American Literature from Brandeis.

His seventh novel written and first to be sold, The Amulet, was published in 1979 and would be followed by over thirty additional novels written under his own name or the pseudonyms Nathan Aldyne, Axel Young (both with Dennis Schuetz), Mike McCray and Preston Macadam (both with John Preston). McDowell preferred to work in such fiction genres as horror, male adventure, detective, thrillers and "general." He admitted that the pseudonyms and collaborations permitted him an opportunity to embrace the challenge of writing in genres that he might not have tried on his own. Among his favorite projects were a gothic work called The Elementals (1981) and the occult-horror novel Black Water, published in six parts by Avon beginning in 1983.

By 1985 he was writing screenplays for television, notable among them were episodes of"Tales from the Darkside," "Amazing Stories," and "The Alfred Hitchcock Show." He wrote the movie script for Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice" (1988) and after its success, rented an apartment in Hollywood, obtained business partners and began writing for the major studios. Several projects were produced including "The Nightmare Before Christmas"(1993) and "Thinner" (1996). "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" premiered in 1990. By the mid 1990's McDowell returned to Boston to stay with his partner, Laurence Senelick. Around this same time, McDowell was diagnosed with AIDS. In his last years he openly wrote about his battle with the disease. He died December 27, 1999 from AIDS-related illness. Tabitha King, wife of author Stephen King,"completed" an unfinished McDowell novel, Candles Burning, which was published in 2006.

From the guide to the Michael M. McDowell Collection, 1966-2001, (Bowling Green State University - Browne Popular Culture Library)