Michael Scott (Irish author)

Career

Michael Scott is an author of over 100 books which he wrote in over 30 years. He has written short stories and novels for adults, young adults, and children, in many genres including, but not limited to: science fiction, fantasy, horror, folklore, and romance.

His first book (inspired by his fascination with Irish mythology), Irish Folk and Fairy Tales, volume 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 collection. The Irish Folk and Fairy Tales volumes were the culmination of Scott's 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 Scott's 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.

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 which were held in Ireland, and the Irish Film and Television Awards. Michael Scott was the Writer in Residence during Dublin's tenure as the European City of Culture in 1991 he featured in the 2006 edition of Who's Who in Ireland as one of the 1000 "most significant Irish".

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 United States 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 and as of 24 March 2008 it had sold in excess of 150,000 copies. The second book in that series, The Magician, reached #4 on the New York Times Best Seller list on 13 July 2008. The series has to date been printed in 20 languages and is available in 37 countries. He wrote the entire series out of fascination with history and inspiration from other places.

On 5 February 2013 Michael Scott was announced as the author of The Nameless City a short story commissioned by the BBC to celebrate the 50th Anniversary year of the hit TV series Doctor Who. The story features the second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton and his companion Jamie McCrimmon. It was released on 23 February 2013 as an ebook initially, and featured a special celebratory printed anthology which was released alongside the final e-story on 23 November 2013 by Puffin Books

Styles and genres

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.

Online games

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series has spawned online games, the first related online game to be launched was The Codex Master 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. It was called The Challenges of the Elder 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.

Film adaptation

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 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"

"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!"

Award nominations

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.

The Alchemyst was nominated for:

The Magician was nominated for:

The Sorceress was nominated for: