By Geena Monahan—For the North Star Reporter
Readers browsing the shelves at An Unlikely Story this month may notice a familiar hometown name.
North Attleborough native Michael Atwood has released his fifth short story collection, “Moral Delirium,” continuing his 15-year writing career marked by mystery, suspense and ordinary lives turned upside down.
The collection blends general fiction with elements of suspense and intrigue. In one story, a professor finds himself in trouble at a state university; in another, a Boston screenwriter heads west and becomes entangled in an unexpected CIA plot.
“I love when a character runs into something bizarre,” said Atwood. “It seems normal at first, and then something happens that creates conflict.”
A longtime fan of classic detective fiction, Atwood cites writers such as Dashiell Hammett and Boston’s Robert B. Parker as influences. He also draws inspiration from Bret Easton Ellis and the dystopian twists of the television series “Black Mirror.”
“I like the idea of the regular person who becomes the investigator,” he said. “The narrator learns things as the story unfolds.”
While his first two books, “HiStory of Santa Monica: Stories” (2010) and “HiStory of Santa Monica II: More Stories” (2016), were rooted in his time spent in California during graduate school, “Moral Delirium” expands geographically. The stories shift from New England to London to the West Coast, reflecting both his experiences and interests.
Atwood earned his undergraduate degree from Boston College and later completed a masters in professional writing, with a focus on screenwriting, at the University of Southern California. That cinematic training still shapes his style, he said.
“I get a lot of comments that my work could be a short film, or that it feels like a movie,” said Atwood. “I’m very cinematic.”
A former musician, Atwood often listens to songs while walking or exercising, letting lyrics and narratives spark ideas. He outlines extensively in notebooks and compares his writing habits to marathon training — intense stretches of focus followed by time to recharge.
“When I work, I work,” he said. “Then I enjoy my time off to think about what I’m going to do next.”
Hometown inspiration
Atwood’s interest in mystery traces back to his childhood in North Attleborough. He moved to the town in 1977 and grew up on Colburn Street, where he said imagination filled the quieter moments of small-town life.
“This town is full of so many original characters,” he said.
His father was a natural storyteller, spinning vivid tales from his own upbringing. As a teenager delivering newspapers, Atwood said his encounters revealed the more complicated side of human behavior — including being called to testify as a witness in a local murder trial involving his elderly neighbor. The experience left a lasting impression and helped steer him toward stories centered on investigation, motive and consequence.
“It was all very interesting to me,” he said. “It influenced where I wanted to go with my writing.”
Though his fiction often ventures far from Massachusetts, Atwood has remained rooted locally. He lives in North Attleborough with his wife and three children and serves as head of the English Department at Taunton High School. Before that, he spent nearly three decades teaching AP Language and Literature and other English courses at New Bedford High School and elsewhere.
His advice to aspiring writers is simple: put pen to paper.
“Just get it down,” Atwood said. “Don’t worry about correcting it at first. The best ideas don’t get written down if you don’t draft them.”
Having “Moral Delirium” available at An Unlikely Story marks his third time working with the Plainville bookstore. Independent bookstores, he said, are the heartbeat of their communities, even as they become harder to find and sustain.
“If someone is investing their time and money into keeping a bookstore open, I want to support that,” said Atwood. “It’s a service to the community.”
Looking ahead, Atwood recently completed a draft of his first novel, “Maida,” set in London — a city he has visited more than a dozen times since 1998 and describes as the “quintessential European city.” He is currently revising the manuscript and hopes to publish it through a traditional small press rather than self-publishing, as he has done previously.
“It does get expensive putting books out on my own, but I’m going to keep doing it,” he said. “I’m 54 years old, and I want the world to read my stuff now, so that motivates me to do it this way.”
Atwood is also considering a “greatest hits” collection in 2026, featuring selected stories from across his five books.