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Boise horror author's rise to the top

Posted at 7:20 AM, Nov 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-01 09:20:42-04

Michaelbrent Collings is Boise's answer to Stephen King.

"My dad was the world expert on Stephen King," Collings says.

His dad, a professor at Pepperdine, literally wrote the book on the horror scribe.

"I grew up with screaming and typing in the next room."

That's where he caught the writing bug.

"Being a writer is a pants-optional job, which is fantastic," Collings says.

He had to wear pants as a lawyer, a job he despised, even as it paid the bills for his growing family.  He wrote at night, every night, trying to get published.  His first book got no respect.

"Literally every publisher in North America refused to look at it."

One day, he self published on Kindle and everything changed.

"Six months later, I was amazons top horror sci-fi title and number two in thrillers which are the most competitive genres."

He's also written screenplays and a variety of books in different genres but his horror is a cut above.  He's especially fond of "The Colony" series based in Boise.

"I went down to Boise looking for landmarks and One Capital Center gets knocked down and Wells Fargo collapses."

With his house decorated for the season, Collings says he doesn't need to do much to scare people on Halloween.

"I'm always something horrifying for Halloween, I'm a DAD!"

His kids don't think so, but when they're old enough to read his books, their opinion may change.