Martin Howard
About Author
Martin Howard writes absurdly funny books for children and he's here to tell us about his latest book, Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull in . . . The Beast from Beneath - his favourite book so far!
Since starting out as a writer in 2005 Martin has written about 100 books for adults and children, fiction and non-fiction, and has been compared with Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and the Monty Pythons.
He lives in France with his wife, three children and a dog called Licky. You can find him on Twitter @MJHowardWrites
Interview
September 2025
Gloriously gothic and fantastically funny: Martin Howard introduces his new Mallory Vayle adventure
In the Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull adventures, a talking skull and young necromancer-in-training join forces accidentally and set about resolving hauntings, tackling centuries-old curses and, in this latest adventure, discovering what really is in the basement of creepy Carrion Castle . . .
Author Martin Howard spoke to ReadingZone about creating his characters, spooky settings and fitting in, and introduces his new book, Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull in...The Beast Beneath!
Read a Chapter: Mallory Vayle and the Curse of Maggoty Skull (book 1)
Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull in... The Beast Beneath (book 2)
Review: "The magnificently macabre duo of Mallory and Maggoty are back in book two of this freakishly thrilling, gloriously grotesque, comedy horror story."
Q&A with Martin Howard
"Mallory and Maggoty are a celebration of the eccentric and different and I really, really hope they encourage readers to march
to the beat of their own drums, blowing their own trumpets and waving their own flags with pride."
1. Thank you for joining us on ReadingZone! Can you tell us a little more about yourself and how you got started writing for children? What would you say to your child self about becoming an author?
No, thank YOU! I am thrilled to be the ReadingZone Author of the Month. A very unexpected treat! How did I become a children's writer? It's a long story that started way back when I was a child. My mum was a teacher who taught me and my sister to read before we started school and I've been obsessed by books and stories ever since. I was one of those kids who read under the covers with a torch long past bedtime. My parents always encouraged me to read but writing was something I found on my own and I got my first review when I was seven ("Martin has a chatty style" - which is STILL true!).
When I got older I found a job in book publishing (of course) and someone asked me to ghost-write a children's book. I've been hooked on writing for children ever since and always try to pass on the fun and wonder that reading gave me when I was that age.
What would I say to my child self about being an author? Hmm, that's tricky - there's a LOT to say - but mainly, I think, write books that YOU wish you could read.
2. What happens in your Mallory Vale adventures - Mallory Vale and the Curse of Maggoty Skull (book 1) and Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull in the Beast from Beneath (book 2)?
We begin The Curse of Maggoty Skull at a funeral for Mallory's parents. Mallory has always been able to see ghosts but doesn't know her family has a long history of spooky. After the funeral she is taken by a long lost aunt to live in a strange old castle. There, she finds Maggoty locked in a box down in a forgotten dungeon below the castle. He introduces her to the shocking truth: Mallory is a necromancer! A dark, death wizard. Mallory isn't very happy about this and especially not happy that being a necromancer seems to mean she and Maggoty are constantly getting caught up in hair-raising, nail-biting supernatural shenanigans with ghosts and shadows and Nightmares. Slowly though, she is learning to accept herself and her weird powers.
3. What inspired you to write these gothic-style adventures, and especially your creation of a talking skull with a fixation on wigs? Is the series rooted in your own childhood love of horror or gothic books and films? Any favourites?
There's no one book or genre I could point to and say it inspired these stories but they are a mix of everything I loved to read and watch as a child (and as an adult too): spooky, gothic and magical and with a big helping of silly and funny as well as unexpected characters. The list of writers, film-makers and comedians who inspire me would fill a book but stretches from Jane Austen to Monty Python. I guess with Mallory and Maggoty I thought I'd throw everything in together and see what happened.
Favourite books? That depends on my mood and the time of day. There are so many amazing stories out there, though I would always tell young readers to make a beeline to Terry Pratchett as soon as possible. Favourite horror movies? Anything in black and white with an obviously cardboard set, ridiculous story and terrible over-acting.
4. How did your main characters, Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull, develop? How did you decide what their main characteristics would be, or did those emerge as you wrote about them? Do you feel particularly close to either one of them?
Oddly, Maggoty Skull arrived fully formed in my head while I was sitting in the garden on a summer day about ten years ago. I wasn't even thinking about books and there he was in my imagination, yammering on and on about wigs. At the time I was writing something else but one of the tricks you learn as I writer is that if you come up with an idea or character that refuses to go away you should follow it up. Maggoty definitely wouldn't go away, and demanded I made him a star! So, eventually I started writing.
I didn't realise I was doing it while developing the first book but Maggoty and Mallory are very much like the two sides of my own personality - one is loud and outrageous and doesn't give a hoot what anyone thinks; the other is sensible, bookish and quiet (but still a little bit sassy). For that reason I feel equally close to both of them, and for that reason I think they work well as a pair.
5. Maggoty Skull is very funny. What makes you laugh the most when writing him?
Thank you! I call the ridiculous stuff he comes out with Maggotyisms, and they constantly make me laugh. More than any character I've ever written, he seems to have a life of his own and some of the things he says are a surprise even to me. Very often I'll be writing and Maggoty will blurt out something I didn't know was coming that makes me cackle.
6. Is the creepy castle setting in this story, Carrion Castle, based on somewhere you know? What's the spookiest place you've ever been and have you drawn on it in creating Mallory's home? How do you make Carrion Castle a character in its own right?
Especially in horror stories, settings have always played an important role in the story. I really wanted Carrion Castle to be more than just background so I tried to develop it in the same way I would a main character - lots of description and finding ways it could contribute to the story. It will become even more of a character in its own right as the series goes on.
My mum is a history buff so me and my sister were constantly being dragged round old castles and ruins and I guess Carrion Castle is a blend of all of them. There is, however, a chapel in the Czech Republic called the Sedlec Ossuary which is decorated with human bones. Unfortunately, I haven't visited it (yet) but that was definitely an inspiration for Hellysh Spatzl using bones for interior design.
I also love graveyards (Highgate Cemetery in London is my favourite) but I think the spookiest place I've ever visited is the house I live in now. Even though I write about ghosts, I don't really believe in them, but when we bought it the previous owner had just died and after we moved in some very, very odd things happened: doors opening by themselves followed by strange footsteps moving around. That sort of thing. Once, when I was all alone in the house, I found a family photograph that had been in a frame in our bedroom down the toilet. That was weird. Whatever was going on, it has stopped now so maybe the spirit has moved on.
7. What is it like to see your characters brought to life in the illustrations by Pete Williamson? Which character is closest to how you imagined them?
I was over the moon when the publisher told me Pete would be illustrating Mallory and Maggoty - his style is perfect, and he is just as twisted and spooky as I am. Sadly, I live in France and he lives in the UK but if we were closer neighbours I like to think we would hang out all the time, and I'd always be picking his warped brain for ideas. His work in The Beast From Beneath is amazing and I could not be happier with the way he breathes life and humour into the characters. Which is closest to how I imagined them? Mallory, definitely. Pete got her spot on from the very first sketches.
8. Although there is lots of humour in the stories, Mallory and Maggoty also have much to say about difference and being a good friend. What would you like your readers to take from their adventures?
Ah, I'm so glad you spotted that. It tends to get overlooked because there's so much funny, barmy stuff going on. But yes, Mallory is on a journey of self-acceptance and Maggoty is more of an inspiration to her than he knows. There's always been a lot of pressure to be "normal" (whatever that is) and to fit in, and I know from experience how difficult it can be to feel like you don't. Mallory and Maggoty are a celebration of the eccentric and different and I really, really hope they encourage readers to march to the beat of their own drums, blowing their own trumpets and waving their own flags with pride.
The two of them are also a study of friendship. For me, friendship is about love and laughter and truth and feeling so comfortable with someone that you can sass each other all day long just to see who can be the funniest and most outrageous, safe in the knowledge that if you ever need it they will be at your side through anything.
9. Can you tell us what's up next for Mallory, Maggoty and Carrion Castle?
Hmm. I don't want to give too much away because there's a twist coming and I want readers to have the shock-gasp moment. Let's just say more shenanigans are on the way, and some Maggotyisms that have had me in stitches. Carrion Castle will have a bigger role to play, too.
10. What kinds of activities do you enjoy in your free time - chasing ghosts and visiting spooky castles, or something more everyday?
More everyday, I'm afraid. I do still love to explore spooky old places but you can't spend every night wafting around graveyards under a full moon wearing skull rings and black clothes and with eyeliner running down your face. I have lots of other interests: I read a LOT, walk, hang out with my family, cook, listen to music and play guitar (badly). Because I'm basically a geeky nerd I play Dungeons & Dragons with friends online and sometimes video games, too. I don't watch a lot of TV, unless it's something really good, but I love a good movie - especially one that makes me laugh or a horror that has me hiding behind the sofa.
A Creative Challenge from Martin Howard:
How about designing a wig for Maggoty? Or what about writing a jaunty grave-robbing song? Something to keep the spirits up while you dig. The song could describe what sort of night it is and what sort of gruesome things you will find in the coffin!
Author Events
I usually do a round of school visits once a year arranged by my publisher, Nosy Crow. It's always fun, but because I live in France it's not logistically viable to keep flying back and forth.
Mallory Vayle and the Curse of Maggoty Skull (Nosy Crow): Martin Howard introduces the first book in the series, and reads from a short section.
Review: "Gruesome, gothic and so, so good."
Read a Chapter from Mallory Vayle and the Curse of Maggoty Skull
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Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull in... The Beast from Beneath
Mallory Vayle and the Curse of Maggoty Skull
