Michael J. Atwood
Author
Contact:
(508) 243-2591
mja2atwood@mac.com
Purchase books here: https://shorturl.at/K2flJ
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Latest Works
About the Author
Available on Amazon now!
Michael J. Atwood has been writing and publishing stories for more than 25 years. Beginning with publications in online and print literary journals, including "The Lay Over" in Ekashara and "Ancient Hibernians" in Istanbul Literary Review, he turned his focus away from screenwriting after graduating from the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing program in 2004.
In the early 2000s, Somerville-based Červená Barva Press published his story "Baptism," followed by The Sheebeen, a chapbook released by Aqueous Books, an independent press in Pensacola, Florida. Aqueous Books also published Atwood's debut short story collection, HiStory of Santa Monica: Stories (2010). This Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles-themed collection was followed by four additional collections over the next fifteen years.
His latest, Delirium Passes...Collected Stories 2000–2025, is a retrospective volume featuring selections of his most celebrated stories, as chosen by readers and reviewers.
A graduate of Boston College and the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing program, Atwood has published five collections of short fiction, most recently Moral Delirium, released in August 2025.His debut collection, HiStory of Santa Monica: Stories (2010), found readers throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Along with its 2016 follow-up, HiStory of Santa Monica II: More Stories, the collection explores disillusioned characters searching for meaning amid the glamour, ambition, and contradictions of Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles. His critically praised collection Delirium Fades followed in 2021, with The Moral Infection published in 2023.
A longtime educator, Atwood has served as an ELA teacher, English Department Head, and ELA Coach/Interventionist, teaching AP Language and Literature and other English courses in communities in Massachusetts and California. His journalistic work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Patriot Ledger, The North Attleborough Free Press, and The Sun Chronicle.
Atwood's fiction blends literary realism with elements of mystery, suspense, and noir, exploring flawed characters confronting questions of identity, memory, morality, and redemption. He is currently completing his first novel, Maida, a contemporary literary mystery set in London and scheduled for publication in late 2026.
He lives in his longtime hometown of North Attleborough, Massachusetts, with his wife and three children.
A delicately woven collection of stories that shines a light on the underbelly of humanity, and in the process, illuminates its soul. Atwood’s genius is his ability to take a menagerie of often unseemly characters and make them heroic. Never mind the paths they walk may lead to the gates of hell.
—Anthony S. Cipriano, Creator of The Bates Motel and screenwriter, Twelve and Holding
What these stories make clear is that Atwood's own journey, which fueled this collection, has been emphatically worthwhile. Atwood's evocative stories are filled with characters dislocated by their ambitions.
—Dan McGinn, Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review and author of House of Lust: America's Obsession with Our Homes
Michael J. Atwood’s stories have always delved into the inner lives of real people with the immediacy of a gripping storyteller. Other writers might follow the trends of telling tales of aliens and superheroes. But his characters continue to shed light on the fact that we all might be alien to ourselves and others at times, however tiny heroics are in each of us even with all our human faults in life.
—Eric Wasserman, author of Celluloid Strangers
In his own expositive way, Atwood uncannily captures the duality of the constrictive formality of the East and the breezy mirage of Tinseltown, haunting visions of those outside wishing to be admitted to the inner sancta. Nostalgia is knit into art as one of his bi-coastal heroes wanders through familiar turf revealing destinations seating the famous, while homeless sleep nearby on doorsteps. There is no escape. The Hollywood Sign is the siren of illusion difficult to ignore.
—P.J. Christman, author of The Purple Runner
Fantastic storytelling! Original characters striving to stay afloat in the turbulent waters of West L.A... Atwood writes like a true roots’ rocker!
—George Wendt, actor, and author of Drinking With George: A Barstool’s Professional Guide to Beer.
Like being Bourne under a very bad neon sign, characters in ‘Delirium Fades’ only see flickering chances at redemption. Tales of double-crossed Catholicism and incessant violence populate this taut-as-a-tripwire collection. Despite your better judgment you may find yourself rooting for Omar and Jake aka The Pineapple Kid who lives in a motel. Unforgiving and unforgettable, the delirium tends to linger more than it fades.
—Susan Compo, author of Warren Oates: A Wild Life (Screen Classics), Earthbound: David Bowie and The Man Who Fell To Earth, and Pretty Things
Praise for Michael J. Atwood’s books
About the Author
Michael J. Atwood is a graduate of the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing program and Boston College. He has published four books since 2010.
Atwood's first short story collection, HiStory of Santa Monica: Stories was published by Aqueous Books in Tallahassee, Florida. The collection was a "minor-league" success selling many copies. In 2016, Atwood published HiStory of Santa Monica II: More Stories. Both collections shared the thread of disillusioned characters, struggling to survive in Hollywood. In 2021, he shifted in the mystery, suspense, and detective genres when he published Delirium Fades, his best-selling book to date. His latest collection, The Moral Infection, was published in 2023. Although fiction has been his focus, Atwood started his first blog in 2024, delving into a number of issues including true crime.
Atwood's full-time passion is as as English Language Arts Department Head at Taunton High School in Massachusetts. He also works for ETS / The College Board as reader / rater for the AP Language & Literature and Composition exam. He has written for several publications including The Boston Globe, Patriot Ledger, North Attleborough Free Press, and Attleboro Sun Chronicle. He is the host of “Atwood on AP”, a podcast available on all platforms.
A delicately woven collection of stories that shines a light on the underbelly of humanity, and in the process, illuminates its soul. Atwood’s genius is his ability to take a menagerie of often unseemly characters and make them heroic. Never mind the paths they walk may lead to the gates of hell.
—Anthony S. Cipriano, Creator of The Bates Motel and screenwriter, Twelve and Holding
What these stories make clear is that Atwood's own journey, which fueled this collection, has been emphatically worthwhile. Atwood's evocative stories are filled with characters dislocated by their ambitions.
—Dan McGinn, Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review and author of House of Lust: America's Obsession with Our Homes
Michael J. Atwood’s stories have always delved into the inner lives of real people with the immediacy of a gripping storyteller. Other writers might follow the trends of telling tales of aliens and superheroes. But his characters continue to shed light on the fact that we all might be alien to ourselves and others at times, however tiny heroics are in each of us even with all our human faults in life.
—Eric Wasserman, author of Celluloid Strangers
In his own expositive way, Atwood uncannily captures the duality of the constrictive formality of the East and the breezy mirage of Tinseltown, haunting visions of those outside wishing to be admitted to the inner sancta. Nostalgia is knit into art as one of his bi-coastal heroes wanders through familiar turf revealing destinations seating the famous, while homeless sleep nearby on doorsteps. There is no escape. The Hollywood Sign is the siren of illusion difficult to ignore.
—P.J. Christman, author of The Purple Runner
Fantastic storytelling! Original characters striving to stay afloat in the turbulent waters of West L.A... Atwood writes like a true roots’ rocker!
—George Wendt, actor, and author of Drinking With George: A Barstool’s Professional Guide to Beer.
Like being Bourne under a very bad neon sign, characters in ‘Delirium Fades’ only see flickering chances at redemption. Tales of double-crossed Catholicism and incessant violence populate this taut-as-a-tripwire collection. Despite your better judgment you may find yourself rooting for Omar and Jake aka The Pineapple Kid who lives in a motel. Unforgiving and unforgettable, the delirium tends to linger more than it fades.
—Susan Compo, author of Warren Oates: A Wild Life (Screen Classics), Earthbound: David Bowie and The Man Who Fell To Earth, and Pretty Things
Available on Amazon now!
Praise for HiStory of Santa Monica I&II and Delirium Fades
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Michael J. Atwood
About the Author
Michael J. Atwood is a graduate of the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing program and Boston College. He has published books since 2010.
Atwood's first short story collection, HiStory of Santa Monica: Stories was published by Aqueous Books in Tallahassee, Florida. The collection was a "minor-league" success selling many copies. In 2016, Atwood published HiStory of Santa Monica II: More Stories. Both collections shared the thread of disillusioned characters, struggling to survive in Hollywood. In 2021, he shifted in the mystery, suspense, and detective genres when he published Delirium Fades, his best-selling book to date.
Atwood's full-time passion is as an AP Language & Literature and Composition teacher at New Bedford High School. He has written for several publications including The Boston Globe, Patriot Ledger, North Attleborough Free Press, and Attleboro Sun Chronicle. He is currently working on his first novel, as well as two podcasts to be released in 2023.