Michael Scott (Irish author)

Michael Scott (born 28 September 1959) is an Irish author.

Michael Scott is a seasoned and prolific writer of over 100 books during his 25 plus years of writing thus far. He has written short stories and novels for adults, young adults and children, in many genres including, but not limited to; science fiction, fantasy, folk lore and romance. His first book (inspired by his fascination with Irish mythology), Irish Folk and Fairy Tales v.1, was published in 1983 and became part of a trilogy documenting a large number of Irish Folk tales that had, in some cases, only been told verbally prior to his publication. The Irish Folk and Fairy Tales volumes were the culmination of his extensive travels all over Ireland whilst working as a dealer in rare and antique books documenting the tales he found along the way.

When reviewing The De Danann Tales, the Irish Times described him as "the King of Fantasy in these Isles," and the Irish Children’s Book Trust in their Definitive Guide to Children’s Books recognized him, for his "unparalleled contribution to Children's Literature". The De Danann Tales was scheduled to be a series of five books but only three were ever published. The two titles that were never published were Sealord and Overlord.

Michael Scott is also an experienced scriptwriter for stage and screen, having written for a diverse number of projects including documentaries and drama. He once headed up the drama department in Tyrone Productions, the creators of Riverdance. Whilst working there he scripted high profile events such as the 2003 Special Olympics[1] which were held in Ireland, and the Irish Film and Television Awards. Michael Scott was the Writer in Residence during Dublin's tenure as European City of Culture in 1991[2] he featured in the 2006 edition of Who's Who in Ireland as one of the 1000 "most significant Irish".

Michael Scott has written a number of drama/romance novels under the pseudonym Anna Dillon. He is sometimes confused with author Michael Scott Rohan, Irish architect Michael Scott and more recently, in the U.S.A with the character Michael Scott from the television show The Office.

The first book in his The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel six book series, The Alchemyst, reached #2 on the New York Times Best Seller, Children's list on 26 August 2007[3] and as of 24 March 2008 it had sold in excess of 150,000 copies.[4] The second book in that series, The Magician, reached #4 on the New York Times Best Seller list on 13 July 2008.[3] The series has to date been printed in 20 languages and is available in 37 countries.[5]

Scott's first love is mythology. He says that his background, growing up in Ireland with its rich mythology, led him to be naturally drawn to myths. Irish mythology emerged through history relatively unscathed and uninfluenced as they were not invaded by the Romans or Greeks. History also has a strong impact on his style, as it was his favourite subject in school. However, while he has a special taste for mythology, Scott writes what purely interests him, which has led him to write across many genres and styles. He doesn't restrict himself with genre labelling - he says is only interested in being a writer, not a writer of any specific genre.[6]

"The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series has spawned online games, the first related online game to be launched was The Codex Master[7] The game is to guess a secret code consisting of a sequence of coloured orbs by inputting various sequences and using logic. When a sequence is entered, indicators show when the player has the right colour and also when a colour is in the right or wrong position to enable them to apply logic and guess the correct sequence.

To celebrate the release of The Sorceress an online game was created.[8] It was called The Challenges of the Elder[9] and launched on 21 April 2009. Players are guided through the game, which is a set of four challenges, by video scenes featuring Michael Scott. The first task, the Alchemyst's challenge, required players to assemble a moving jigsaw of the series' logo against a countdown clock. The second task, the Magician's challenge, required players to turn over two books from a series of books and find matching symbols, when a matching pair was found both books burst into flames and disappeared. The task was complete when all the books had been matched. The third task, the Sorceress' challenge was a colour sequencing game where players chose coloured flasks and would have to repeat the sequence that they were shown in. Players then advanced to meet The Elder, who asked them a set of knowledge questions about the books and were given a 'coloured aura ranking' calculated from their scores and time taken to complete the tasks.

When the fourth book, The Necromancer, was realised a new game called Quest for the Codex was made. In this game you get 10 moves a day for however long you choose to play as you search for the pieces of codex, mini-games, video clips etc... http://www.questforthecodex.com/

The film rights to The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series became available in late 2009, and on 19 November 2009 it was announced in Variety Magazine[10] that Lorenzo di Bonaventura had bought the film rights to the series. Michael Scott and Barry Krost will be the executive producers. The script writer has yet to be announced. Imdb now lists The Alchemyst film as "in production"[11]

"Well, I have been promising news of the Flamel movie. Here's the press release. The movie was set up with New Line, but New Line were absorbed by Warner and the rights reverted to me. There has been tremendous interest in the series and eventually, it went to Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who is the man responsible for bringing Harry Potter to Warner when he was there. He genuinely loves this series. The next step now is to attach a writer — I will not write it, I have 3 more books to do!"
—Michael Scott, Posted by him, on his Flamel's Secret Fan Forum. "Link to his full post". http://flamelssecret.9.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=29&st=90.

Scott's The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series has thus far garnered him 10 literary award nominations. The Alchemyst was the winner of the 2008 Rhode Island Book Award (Teens) after beating 200 other nominated titles.[12]

The Alchemyst was nominated for:

* Irish Book of the Year 2008[13]
* Kentucky Bluegrass Book Award[14]
* Maine Student Book Award[15]
* Nevada Young Readers Award[16]
* NCSLMA YA Book Award - 2010[17]
* Rhode Island Book Award 2008- (Winner)[18]

The Magician was nominated for:

* 2009 Irish Book of the Year Award — The Dublin Airport Authority Irish Children's Book of the Year — Snr Category.[19]

The Sorceress was nominated for:

* Amazon - Best Books of 2009,Top 10 Children's Books: Middle Readers.[20]
* Cybills (Children and Young Bloggers Literary Awards) - 2009 Nominations, fantasy & science-fiction: Elementary/Middle Years.[21]


Young readers

Illustrated

* The Piper's Ring (illustrated by Ian Deuchar, 1992) ISBN 0460881302; ISBN 978-0460881302
* Fungie and the Magical Kingdom (illustrated by Steve Simpson, 1994) ISBN 9781899565009; ISBN 1899565000

[edit] Young adult books

Fantasy

* Tales from the Land of Erin 1: A Bright Enchantment (1985) ISBN 0722176430; ISBN 978-0722176436
* Tales from the Land of Erin 2: A Golden Dream (1985) ISBN 0722176449; ISBN 978-0722176443
* Tales from the Land of Erin 3: A Silver Wish (1985) ISBN 0722176457; ISBN 978-0722176450
* The De Danann Tales 1: Windlord (1991) ISBN 0863272967; ISBN 978-0863272967
* The De Danann Tales 2: Earthlord (1992) ISBN 0863273432; ISBN 978-0863273438
* The De Danann Tales 3: Firelord (1994) ISBN 0863273858; ISBN 978-0863273858
* The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2007) ISBN 0552557099; ISBN 978-0552557092
* The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2008) ISBN 0552557234; ISBN 978-0552557238
* The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2009) ISBN 0385613121; ISBN 978-0385613125
* The Necromancer: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2010) ISBN 0385735316; ISBN 978-0385735315
* The Warlock: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2011) ISBN 0385735332; ISBN 978-0385735339
* The Enchantress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2012)

Folk Tales

* Song of the Children of Lir (1983) ISBN 0946860009; ISBN 978-0946860005
* Children of Lir (1986) ISBN 0749708883; ISBN 978-0749708887
* The Quest of the Sons (a.k.a. The Seven Treasures, 1988) ISBN 0749700068; ISBN 978-0749700065
* Green and Golden Tales: Irish Hero Tales (collection, 1988) ISBN 0853428689; ISBN 978-0853428688
* Green and Golden Tales: Irish Fairy Tales (collection, 1988) ISBN 0853428662; ISBN 978-0853428664
* Green and Golden Tales: Irish Animal Tales (collection, 1989) ISBN 0853428670; ISBN 978-0853428671
* Saint Patrick (1990)
* Last of the Fianna (1992) ISBN 0862783089; ISBN 978-0862783082
* Magical Irish Folk Tales (collection, 1995) ISBN 1856351106; ISBN 978-1856351102

Teen Adventure

* Judith and The Traveller (as Mike Scott, 1991) ISBN 0863272991; ISBN 978-0863272998
* Judith and Spider (as Mike Scott, 1992) ISBN 0863273475; ISBN 978-0863273476
* Good Enough for Judith (as Mike Scott, 1994) ISBN 0863273963; ISBN 978-0863273964

Illustrated

* The Story of Ireland (illustrated by Hemesh Alles) (collection, 1990) ISBN 0460880926; ISBN 978-0460880923

Adult books

Horror

* October Moon (1992) ISBN 0862783003; ISBN 978-0862783006
* Wolf Moon (1995) ISBN 0862784204; ISBN 978-0862784201
* House of the Dead (1993) ISBN 0862783399; ISBN 978-0862783396
* Vampyre (1995) ISBN 185371545X; ISBN 978-1853715457
* Vampyres of Hollywood (with Adrienne Barbeau, 2008) ISBN 0312367228; ISBN 978-0312367220
* 19 Railway Street (with Morgan Llywelyn, 1996) ISBN 1853716421; ISBN 978-1853716423
* Banshee (1990) ISBN 0749301112; ISBN 978-0749301118
* Image (1991[22]) ISBN 978-0747408840 ISBN 074740884X
* Reflection (1993) ISBN 978-0751500479; ISBN 075150047X
* Imp (1993) ISBN 0749301112; ISBN 978-0749301118
* The Hallows (Creed) (1995) ISBN 0451183797; ISBN 978-0451183798

Fantasy

* A Celtic Odyssey (a.k.a. The Voyage of Maildun, 1985) ISBN 0722176422; ISBN 978-0722176429
* Tales of the Bard 1: Magician's Law (1987) ISBN 0722177755; ISBN 978-0722177754
* Tales of the Bard 2: Demon's Law (1988) ISBN 0722177763; ISBN 978-0722177761
* Tales of the Bard 3: Death's Law (1989) ISBN 0722177771; ISBN 978-0722177778
* The Culai Heritage (collection of the Tales of the Bard novels, 2001) ISBN 1892065177; ISBN 978-1892065179
* The Arcana 1: Silverhand (with Morgan Llywelyn, 1996) ISBN 0671877143; ISBN 978-0671877149
* The Arcana 2: Silverlight (with Morgan Llywelyn, 1996) ISBN 0671877909; ISBN 978-0671877903
* Etruscans (with Morgan Llywelyn, 2000) ISBN 0312866275; ISBN 978-0312866273

Folk Tales

* Irish Folk & Fairy Tales 1 (collection, 1983)
* Irish Folk & Fairy Tales 2 (collection, 1983) ISBN 0722176406; ISBN 978-0722176405
* Irish Folk & Fairy Tales 3 (collection, 1984) ISBN 0722176414; ISBN 978-0722176412
* Magical Irish Folk Tales (collection, 1985) ISBN 1856351106; ISBN 978-1856351102
* Irish Folk & Fairy Tales Omnibus (collection, 1989) ISBN 0751508861; ISBN 978-0751508864
* The Navigator (with Gloria Gaghan, a.k.a. The Voyage of St. Brendan, 1988) ISBN 041317350X; ISBN 978-0413173508
* River Gods (collection, 1991) ISBN 0946887217; ISBN 978-0946887217
* Irish Myths and Legends (collection, 1992) ISBN 0751512427; ISBN 978-0751512427
* Irish Ghosts & Hauntings (collection, 1994) ISBN 0751501549; ISBN 978-0751501544

Adventure

* The Quiz Master (2004) ISBN 1904301509; ISBN 978-1904301509

Science fiction

* The Merchant Prince (with Armin Shimerman, 2000) ISBN 0671036130; ISBN 978-0671036133

Non-fiction

* The Book of Celtic Wisdom (1999) ISBN 0340765631; ISBN 978-0340765630
* Celtic Wisdom for Business (2001) ISBN 0717131742; ISBN 978-0717131747
* Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? (2001) ISBN 075226141X; ISBN 978-0752261416
* Ireland (Photopocket) (2004) ISBN 3832790012; ISBN 978-3832790011

Illustrated

* Ireland — a Graphic History (graphic novel, with Morgan Llywelyn, illustrated by Eoin Coveney, 1995) ISBN 1852306270; ISBN 978-1852306274

As Anna Dillon

* Seasons (1988) ISBN 184223126X; ISBN 978-1842231265
* Another Time, Another Season (a.k.a. Another Season, 1989) ISBN 0747401837; ISBN 978-0747401834
* Season's End (1991) ISBN 0747406588; ISBN 978-0747406587
* Lottery (1993)
* Lies (1998) ISBN 1873748051; ISBN 978-1873748053
* The Affair (2004) ISBN 1842232045, ISBN 978-1842232040
* Consequences (2005) ISBN 1842232312; ISBN 978-1842232316

As editor

* Hall's Ireland (1984)
* An Irish Herbal (1986)

Contributions to other books

* The BFI Companion to Horror
* Ireland
* Making Contract
* Lifelines 3
* The Lion and the Unicorn
* Maths 100 Odyssey 1
* Maths 100 Odyssey 2
* Maths 100 Odyssey 3
* Irish Buildings
* Irish Pubs
* Irish Castles
* Ireland
* Ulster Medicine
* Trinity College Portfolio