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| Michael Malone | |
Michael Malone, the novelist, TV writer and Edgar and Emmy winner, died on Friday, August 19, of pancreatic cancer. He was 79 or 80--his date of birth was unclear.
Many of his novels and short stories were set in South, particularly in North Carolina, where he was born and grew up. "Red Clay" won the 1997 Edgar for best short story. Malone was working on the fourth book in his Justin & Cuddy series when he died.
Besides being involved in theater and teaching at several universities, Malone wrote for several soap operas, most notably as head writer for One Life to Live from 1991 to 1996. (He won a Writers Guild award and an Emmy in 1994, and was nominated for Emmys in other years.) One of his novels, The Killing Club, was "written" by a character on the show, then published under her and Malone's name.
Most of his books were published by Sourcebooks Landmark. Sourcebooks publisher and CEO Dominique Raccah said in part, "He is the New York Times bestselling novelist of First Lady and Four Corners of the Sky, among many other beautiful books. He was an extraordinary Southern novelist, award winning mystery writer and celebrated television writer. Personally, of course, he was the first established novelist to believe in Sourcebooks and to allow us to publish him, changing our future forever. He was a warm, kind and generous (and very funny) human being, and well loved in our community. There's so much that one could write about his very big life. We will all miss him."
As his obituary noted, "At the end of First Lady, Malone wrote about the difference between rock stars and saints: stars 'draw all the light to them, but throw it off too, like real stars.... It's different with saints. If stars are the light, then saints are the people the light shines through, and illuminates what they love so that we all can see its beauty.' Although many people thought he was a saint when he helped them to see their own dreams, Malone didn't think so. Instead he hoped to become an angel, as in the plot of some of his favorite movies. He is doubtless an angel now, and like his namesake, one with a truly magnificent wingspan."
There will be a public viewing tomorrow, Tuesday, August 23, 12-4 p.m., at Swan Funeral Home, 80 E. Main St., Clinton, Conn. There will be another public viewing on Sunday, August 28, 4-6 p.m., at Walker's Funeral Home on Churton St., Hillsborough, N.C. A funeral service will be held on Monday, August 29, at 11 a.m., at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, St. Mary's Rd., Hillsborough, N.C.