Jonathan Maberry

Jonathan Maberry was born in Kensington, Philadelphia, attended Frankford High School, and then went on to Temple University. Growing up in a rough neighborhood, he began learning martial arts at the age of 6.

Author

Maberry's early work featured martial arts as a topic, such as Judo and You (Kendall Hunt 1990), Ultimate Jujutsu (Strider Nolan, 2002) and Ultimate Sparring (Strider Nolan 2003).

In the next phase of his career, he departed from martial arts writing and wrote several books on the folklore and beliefs of the occult and paranormal, including The Vampire Slayers Field Guide to the Undead (Strider Nolan, 2000), written under the pen name of Shane MacDougall; Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Haunt Us, Hunt Us and Hunger for Us (Citadel Press, 2006); The Cryptopedia, co-authored by David F. Kramer (2007); Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (2008); They Bite (also with David F. Kramer, 2009); and Wanted Undead or Alive (with Janice Gable Bashman, 2010). The Cryptopedia won the Bram Stoker Award for best nonfiction work.

Mayberry (right) at the 2012 New York Comic Con

His first novel, Ghost Road Blues, won the 2007 Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. That book was the first of the Pine Deep Trilogy and was followed by Dead Man's Song (2007) and Bad Moon Rising (2008), all from Pinnacle Books.

Maberry is also a freelance comic book writer, first for Marvel and later for Dark Horse and IDW Publishing. His first story, "Wolverine: Ghosts", was published as a backup story in Wolverine: Anniversary, April 2009. In August 2009 he became the regular writer for Marvel's Black Panther series, starting on the 7th issue, and he wrote Marvel Zombies Return: Wolverine. In 2010, he wrote Doom War and Marvel Universe Vs The Punisher, Marvel Universe Vs Wolverine, Marvel Universe Vs The Avengers; Klaws of the Panther, and Captain America: Hail Hydra. He moved to Dark Horse Comics and produced a single miniseries, Bad Blood,with artist Tyler Crook, which went on to win the Bram Stoker Award for Best Graphic Novel. His work for IDW Publishing includes two collections of V-Wars, and a five-issue standalone series Rot & Ruin: Warrior Smart.

His bestselling work was the novelization of the 2010 film The Wolfman which starred Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving. In March 2010, the novel reached #35 on the mass-market paperback section of The New York Times Best Seller List. It was nominated for and won the Scribe Award for Best Film Adaptation, issued by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.

In 2010 Maberry began writing young adult post-apocalyptic zombie stories. His first prestigious award was for his first young adult novel, Rot & Ruin (2010, Simon & Schuster). It won the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, was named in Booklist’s Ten Best Horror Novels for Young Adults, an American Library Association Top Pick, a Bram Stoker and Pennsylvania Keystone to Reading winner; winner of several state Teen Book Awards including the Cricket, Nutmeg and MASL; winner of the Cybils Award, the Eva Perry Mock Printz medal, Dead Letter Best Novel Award, and four Melinda Awards. It became the first of a new series of post-apocalyptic zombie thrillers such as Dust & Decay (winner of a 2011 Bram Stoker Award) Flesh & Bone (winner of a 2012 Bram Stoker Award), Fire & Ash, and a collection of short stories, Bits and Pieces.

Maberry then launched a series called The Nightsiders that blends science fiction with horror. Book 1 of that series, The Orphan Army was named as one the 100 Best Books for Children. A follow-up, Vault of Shadows was published in August 2016.

The series for which Maberry is best known is the Joe Ledger Series, in which a Baltimore police detective is recruited into a Special Ops unit attached to the mysterious Department of Military Sciences, which is run by enigmatic Mr. Church. Each other of the series pits Ledger and his team against a different kind of extreme science threat. In the first novel, Patient Zero, the threat is a pathogen that turns people into zombies. In the second book, The Dragon Factory, the villains are geneticists using cutting-edge science to restart the Nazi master race eugenics program. The rest of the series follows with The King of Plagues, Assassin’s Code, Extinction Machien, Code Zero, Predator One, and Kill Switch; with Dogs of War scheduled for 2017. A collection of Maberry’s Joe Ledger short stories, Joe Ledger: Special Ops was released by JournalStone. The series’ main publisher, Griffin, will release an anthology of Ledger stories written by a variety of top suspense and mystery writers including Tim Lebbon, Scott Sigler, Steve Alten, Weston Ochse, Dana Fredsti, Christopher Golden, Joe McKinney, Jeremy Robinson, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and others.

In 2015 Maberry released a rare standalone novel, Ghostwalkers, based on the Deadlands table top role playing game. The book was nominated for a Scribe Award for best original novel based on a licensed property.

Maberry is also a prolific editor of anthologies in a variety of genre including dark fantasy (Out of Tune and Out of Tune Vol 2), science fiction/horror (The X-Files: Trust No One, The X-Files: The Truth is Out There, and The X-Files: Secret Agendas, all from IDW Publishinbg); horror (Nights of the Living Dead, with George A. Romero); mystery pastiche (Alternate Sherlocks, with Michael Ventrella), political thrillers with horror (V-wars, V-Wars: Blood and Fire, V-Wars: Night Terrors, and V-Wars: Shockwaves), and an anthology of horror stories for teens (Scary Out There) which features original stories and poetry by R.L. Stine, Ellen Hopkins, Linda Addision, Ilsa J. Bick, and many others.

In 2017 he will publish Devil’s Advocate, one of the first two books in the X-Files Origins series. Maberry will write the story about a young Dana Scully, while colleague Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures), will write Agent of Chaos, a young Fox Mulder story.

Also in 2017, Maberry will publish Indigo, a collaborative work of fiction written with nine other authors including Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden.

Film and television

In May 2010, Maberry's work was the basis of a television pilot written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach named 'Department Zero' which was moved into active production by ABC Television.

Other work

Maberry is a speaker for the National Writers Union, a writing mentor for the Horror Writers Association and the Mystery Writers of America, a member of the International Thriller Writers and president of the NJ-PA Chapter of the Horror Writers Association.

Maberry is also a contributing editor for The Big Thrill, the monthly newsletter of the International Thriller Writers, and a founding partner of The Liars Club, a networking group of professionals in publishing and other aspects of entertainment.

Maberry holds an 8th degree black belt in Shinowara-ryu Jujutsu. In 2004 he was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

• 2003, Writer's Award, International Martial Arts Hall of Fame
• 2004, Martial Arts Hall of Fame (USA)
• 2006, winner: Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, for Ghost Road Blues
• 2006, nominated: Bram Stoker Award for Novel, for Ghost Road Blues
• 2007, winner: Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction for The Cryptopedia
• 2008, nominated: Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction for Zombie CSU
• 2009, nominated: Bram Stoker Award for Novel, for Patient Zero
• 2010, winner: Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, for Rot & Ruin
• 2010, nominated: Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction, for Wanted Undead or Alive
• 2011, winner (tie): Bram Stoker Award for Young Adult Novel, for Dust and Decay
• 2011, nominated: Bram Stoker Award for Best Graphic Novel, for Marvel Universe vs. Wolverine
• 2012, winner: Bram Stoker Award for Best Young Adult Novel, for Flesh & Bone
• 2014, winner: Bram Stoker Award for Best Graphic Novel, for Bad Blood