Some writers have always seemed destined for a life behind a keyboard.
And then there’s J. Michael Major.
By day, Michael is a dentist in the suburbs of Chicago, where he has owned his practice for more than 35 years. Away from the office, however, his imagination tends to wander into considerably darker territory.
Michael is a member of the Horror Writers Association and Mystery Writers of America, and his fiction moves easily between crime, suspense, horror, satire, and the strange places where those genres overlap.
His family, he admits, has occasionally described his stories as a little weird.
Michael is perfectly okay with that.
From a Short Story to an Award-Winning Novel
Michael’s debut crime novel, One Man’s Castle, began with a question:
Is a man a serial killer if he only kills the burglars who break into his home?
And what if one of those burglars happens to be the man who murdered his wife?
The idea originally began as a short story, but the characters refused to leave Michael alone. Encouraged by fellow writers, he eventually expanded it into a novel.
The result was One Man’s Castle, a suspense thriller about grief, justice, revenge, and the complicated line between victim and criminal.
The novel went on to win the Lovey Readers’ Choice Award for Best First Novel.
It also earned some impressive praise.
Publishers Weekly called Michael a “genuine talent,” while New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger described the book as a “compassionate, complex, thoroughly compelling story of ordinary people trapped in extraordinary circumstances.”
And One Man’s Castle isn’t finished yet.
Genius Book Publishing plans to bring the novel back into print in 2027.
Welcome to the Gallery
Michael’s latest collection with Genius Book Publishing, Specters in the Gallery, gives readers an even broader look at just how far his imagination can travel.
The collection brings together 19 stories spanning horror, crime, satire, suspense, and speculative fiction.
A private investigator follows the trail of a murdered writer.
A struggling artist discovers that ambition can come with an unexpected price.
Ordinary people encounter situations that begin in familiar territory and gradually become something much stranger.
Some stories are unsettling. Some are darkly funny. Some venture into the surreal.
But beneath the horror and twists are very human questions about ambition, justice, regret, faith, revenge, and the choices people make when they are pushed far enough.
Gary K. Wolf, creator of Roger Rabbit, praised Michael’s ability to create compelling scenarios and then send them in directions readers never expect, calling the collection “fast-paced, fiendishly clever, dark, playful, and unsettling.”
That unpredictability is very much part of Michael’s storytelling style.
He has described himself as an outliner—even when writing short stories—but knowing where he is going doesn’t mean he wants the reader to know.
The Man Behind the Macabre
For someone who spends so much time imagining murder and horror, Michael’s life away from fiction is considerably less sinister.
After attending the University of Arizona, he graduated from Northwestern University Dental School, making him, as he puts it, a “double-Wildcat.”
Early in his career, Michael went on a blind date with a pharmacist named Eileen.
That one worked out rather well.
The two are approaching their 35th wedding anniversary and have two grown children, Derek and Colleen.
And although his family has been supportive of Michael’s macabre hobby over the years, they apparently haven’t stopped occasionally wondering exactly where some of these stories come from.
We think that might be a question best left unanswered.
What’s Next for J. Michael Major?
There’s plenty more to come.
Genius Book Publishing will reprint Michael’s award-winning One Man’s Castle in 2027, giving a new generation of readers the chance to discover Walter Buczyno and the question at the center of his story:
When the justice system has failed you, how far is too far?
In the meantime, readers who like their fiction clever, dark, unpredictable, and occasionally just a little weird can step inside Specters in the Gallery.
Just don’t expect everything in the gallery to stay where it belongs.
Discover Specters in the Gallery from J. Michael Major and Genius Book Publishing.
Sounds like a great read - and a pretty good dentist!