Jack Sharkey

John Michael Sharkey, who wrote as Jack Sharkey, was born in Chicago on May 6, 1931, and died on September 28, 1992. He became known as an American author and playwright with an unusually broad range, publishing more than eighty plays, often under pen names, while also writing science fiction and fantasy.

Sources on his career agree that he started writing young, earned a BA in creative writing, taught school in the early 1950s, and then served in the U.S. Army at Sandia Base in New Mexico, where he wrote, produced, and directed shows. Later, he worked in magazine writing and editing, including writing articles for Playboy and editing a company magazine for Allstate.

Science fiction readers know him for stories beginning in the late 1950s and for novels such as The Secret Martians. Theater audiences know him for a large body of comic stage work and for the many scripts that kept his name active in performance catalogs long after his death. He is remembered as a versatile, hardworking writer who was comfortable entertaining both readers and live audiences.