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Meet Catholic Horror and Cyberpunk Writer Michael Gallagher

Meet Catholic Horror and Cyberpunk Writer Michael Gallagher

Last updated on: August 21, 2026 at 12:03 pm by Mark Wilson

Meet Catholic Horror and Cyberpunk Writer Michael Gallagher 2026-08-21T12:03:45-05:00 Mark Wilson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Horror continues to be one of the more popular types of genres for Catholic fiction authors to write in. In horror a Catholic writer gets to explore and expose the reality of evil in all its true nastiness. Mr. Gallagher is another author who really combines his love for God with his gift of writing. He also writes in the more modern genre of cyberpunk. So here is another author in which you can learn more about the craft of Catholic fiction writing as you…

1. Tell something interesting about yourself.

I overcame a crippling lifelong stutter in my college years, which gave me the idea to try writing a memoir about my experience. It was terrible, but it bit me with the writing bug.

2. What makes a good Catholic writer?

For fiction, the ability to carry themes of the faith’s morality into their worlds without hitting the reader over the head with them (as is age-appropriate. Tolkien? Subtle. Lewis? Less so, but when he does it, it still works. And yes, I’m counting Lewis as an honorary Catholic here.) For non-fiction, a blend of plain stated conviction and humor. When one can convey their convictions to others without pretension or scolding, they start changing hearts.

3. What do you like about being a Catholic/Christian Writer?

Knowing that what I’m using the talents He gave me to put something out into the world glorifies Him. The size of whatever cultural impact it has doesn’t matter after that. You do your best and you leave it to Him. But you made something worthy. There’s no royalty check that can replace that feeling.

4. What is the Main focus of your particular Writing or what do you like to write about?

Entertaining the reader. It’s cliche to say, but it’ll always be true. As for genre, science fiction, cyberpunk specifically, is my first love. I’ve also written a few horror short stories.

5. How does your Catholic Faith influence your writing?

My two favorite genres–horror and cyberpunk–are extremely morally gray settings to write in. Modern horror specifically suffers from a tremendous dearth of “good”, and in my opinion basically just abuses their audience. That’s not fun. Catholicism confronts the reality of evil like no other faith or even denomination does–and certainly not mainstream protestant media, which is often too afraid of creating something obscene, and so winds up overly sanitized. My stories never skimp on violence, swearing, grit or blood. Pulling punches in those genres is the ultimate cop-out. People know there’s evil in the world, show it to them. But my guiding principle is that God wins in the end. No matter how horrible the events leading up to the climax may be, you’ll never feel like you’ll need a shower after reading it.

6. What’s your favorite article/Post/book/story you have written?

Interestingly enough, it’s a short story that never got published called King of the Jerks. It’s about a guy who just goes around being an absolute bastard to everyone; he lies to break up someone’s marriage he doesn’t even know, steals some random woman’s phone, beats up a priest who doesn’t even know him from Adam, then breaks his sobriety to buy drugs to keep it all going–but when you finally find out why he did everything he did, it’s a knife in the gut. You sit back and suddenly it all makes sense. You say to yourself, “Yeah, if it were me, I’d do all of that too.”

7. What is your favorite topic/subject to write about?

In fiction, gritty cyberpunk worlds are my favorite playgrounds. It’s morbidly fun to imagine what depths of immorality the human mind can sink to with the right intersection of moral relativism and sufficient technology. Many works tend to never focus on the religious side of day-to-day life in the neon megacities. My first novel, Body and Blood, was written because I loved the worlds of Neuromancer but thought to myself, “It’s not like the Church or religion just completely disappeared; the Church Militant is needed more than ever,” so those are the stories I write. It’s not quite Incensepunk, though.

8. Favorite scripture verse.

But because you are lukewarm and are neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth. -Revelation 3:16.

It’s terrifying because it’s so easy to become lukewarm without even knowing it. It’s something that’s constantly on my mind as it relates to my spiritual life.

9. What are you currently working on?

I recently released a novella, Cyberpub: Tales of the Crossroads Tavern Regulars, a vignetted anthology centering around the misadventures of several patrons of a seedy frontier world bar over the course of a single night.

10. Name a favorite saint or Catholic or some other figure who inspires you in your life.

Peter. Rough around the edges, impulsive, violently protective, weak at crucial moments–I see so much of myself in his faults, but still Jesus saw a leader in him because his love was so great. I can only hope that He sees half as much in me.

Saint Peter, an early 6th-century Byzantine icon in Saint Catherine’s Monastery, depicting Peter holding the Keys of Heaven and a martyr’s cross

11. Who is your favorite Living Writer?

That’s tough; all my truly favorite writers are dead—Robert E. Howard, Frank McCourt, Mike Resnick—if I had to pick, it’d be fellow Catholic indie writer N.R. LaPoint. The guy’s stuff is just plain fun, and he comes up with some of the most original settings. Chalk is an absolute must-read, as is Gun Magus. Declan Finn is another massively underrecognized name out there. His Saint Tommy NYPD series is just a thrill ride from beginning to end. The guy can write any genre.

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12. If you could have lunch with any deceased writer, who would it be, what would you eat, and what would you talk about?

Robert E. Howard, my favorite author. Texas barbecue, obviously. I’d ask him to give me boxing pointers. I feel like his writing advice would be pearls before swine; I could never do what he did, not even close.

13. Name a favorite movie/tv show or music you find worth sharing with others.

I haven’t really watched TV for the better part of a decade, but I did enjoy the period crime drama Copper. It getting cancelled after only two seasons was a tragedy. For a longer series, I’d check out Justified for great performances from prime Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins and Nick Searcy. Just incredible performances all around. My favorite movie is Grand Torino, a beautiful redemption story that I consider Eastwood’s magnum opus, maybe even more than Tombstone. Maybe.

14. Can you see one of your books being made into a movie or tv series? Who would you want to star or direct?

Body and Blood screams fun, gritty action movie—I have no idea who anyone in Hollywood is these days, but I wouldn’t greenlight it unless either Mel Gibson or Sylvester Stallone were in the director’s chair.

15. Favorite Historical event.

Oh boy, how do I pick? The Miracle of Fatima, probably. The Battle of Montgisard, The Miracle on Ice, the little-known Battle of Plattsburgh during the War of 1812—Incredible ship battles on Lake Champlain that wound up swaying the negotiations for the Treaty of Ghent in America’s favor, the build up to which and the characters involved could easily be a phenomenal historic epic if it were given The Patriot treatment as a movie.

This interview was published on August 21, 2026

The day these other Historical Trivia events happened.

1858 – The first of the Lincoln–Douglas debates is held in Ottawa, Illinois.

1879 – The locals of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland report their having seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The apparition is later named “Our Lady of Knock” and the spot transformed into a Catholic pilgrimage site.

Michael McLaughlin Photography – Supplied from Photographer

1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee.

1998 – Blade opens in theaters.

16. What else do you want people to know about anything.

Just that if you’re like me and are tired of your entertainment not, well, entertaining you, you might want to give my stuff a try. My Amazon author page is here: Amazon.com: Michael Gallagher: books, biography, latest update

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