Michael Cox is the author of “The Meaning of
Night”. Michael Cox was born in 1948 in Northamptonshire, where he still
lives. After attending Cambridge University, Michael worked as a songwriter and
recording artist. This career had its origins in Cambridge however, since
Michael wrote the music for an arty black and white student film. The film had
no soundtrack whatsoever, which meant that Michael and his band played the
music live at film showings. Record Producer Jerry Dane was in the audience,
and he asked whether Michael wanted to sign a recording deal. Michael went on
to make several records under the pseudonyms of “Matthew Ellis” and
“Obie Clayton” (which was the name of the band), since there was already
another recording star called Michael Cox, and besides, Michael wasn’t into
having a big rock ego. This degree of anonymity probably helped propel
unfounded rumours that the real identity of Matthew Ellis and Obie Clayton was
Procul Harum’s Matthew
Fisher. At one point, Obie Clayton became Helen Shapiro’s cabaret
band. After leaving the music business, Michael worked for the Thorsons
Publishing Group, before joining the Oxford University Press in 1989. For over
30 years, Michael had been mulling over the idea for a Victorian murder mystery
novel. However, it was only when his sight was threatened by a rare form of
cancer (haemangiopericytoma, diagnosed in 1992), that Michael Cox began writing
in earnest. Prior to the second and more successful treatment to save his
sight, Michael was prescribed the corticosteroid dexamethasone, which made
surgery easier by releasing the pressure on his optic nerve. Yet dexamethasone
had an interesting side effect, in that it released a huge amount of creative
energy, which Michael Cox poured into his writing (although his wife was
alarmed that he so hyperactive that it affected his sleep). The fact that
Michael Cox was threatened with losing sight has undoubtedly worked its way
into “The Meaning of Night”. Yet Michael Cox has always had an abiding interest
in Victorian fiction, and for many years, he was employed as Senior
Commissioning Editor for the Oxford University Press. It was in this capacity
that he became the editor of many anthologies, such as “The Oxford Book of
English Ghost Stories”, “The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories”,
“Victorian Detective Stories: An Oxford Anthology”, and “The Oxford Book of
Twentieth Century Ghost Stories”. He has also edited “A Dictionary of Writers
and Their Works”, and he is in the process of compiling “The Oxford Chronology
of English Literature”. Michael Cox is also the author of the biography “M. R.
James: An Informal Portrait”. British publishing firm John Murray (the
publishers of one of Michael Cox’s favourite authors, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle),
won the bid to publish “The Meaning of Night” as they were evacuating their HQ
due to a fire alarm, such was their desire to win the rights. The publishers
have also taken the unusual step of sending out proof copies of the novel to
over 600 “ordinary book buyers” (i.e. library users and reading group members).
If “The Meaning of Night” ever becomes a movie, then who better to write the soundtrack
than the author himself?
Seeing
the Light of Day – an article in “The Telegraph” which relates how Michael
Cox’s cancer impelled him to write
Author
‘overwhelmed’ as first book wins him £500k – a report in “The Daily Mail”
about the huge interest in “The Meaning of Night” from publishers, and possibly
the largest ever advance for a British author
Who does Obie Clayton
think he is? – a fabulous article by Claes Johansen about Michael Cox’s
previous career as a musician, featuring what looks to be some cover art from
this time. And then there’s More on Obie Clayton, an
article that looks to have been written by Gordon Cox, Michael’s father, who
bought Michael his first guitar at the age of 14, while Repent Mat Fisher, the
incorrect article concerning Obie Clayton’s identity, has some good images of
Obie Clayton’s album covers
Authortrek reader Stewart
Roberts writes “Having just read reviews for the book, The Meaning of Night I
realised that Michael Cox, aka Obie Clayton/Mathew Ellis is the Mick Cox I went
to school with in Wellingborough Grammar School in the 60's.
Mick formed a band called the
Fireflies which had a good local following and I was one of the guys who helped
carry their kit around so I could take advantage of the groupies who never got
as far as Mick (who was very good looking). Mick kinda 'owned' the group and
had more money than the other band members who were often offered his cast-off
clothes - but usually refused out of pride. He then went off to University, as
I did a year or two later, and I lost all track of his subsequent career.
Good luck Michael - you've had
a roller coaster ride but the best may be yet to come!”
Meet the Author –
watch Michael Cox talk about “The Meaning of Night” in this video
Londonist
– their interview with Michael Cox
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