Matthew John Costello (born 1948) is an American writer specializing in the genres of horror, gothic, and science fiction. His articles have appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. He has scripted Trilobyte's bestselling CD-ROM interactive dramas The 7th Guest and its sequel The 11th Hour, as well as many other video games.

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Career

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Along with F. Paul Wilson, Costello created and scripted FTL Newsfeed, which ran daily on the Sci-Fi Channel from 1992–1996. His television credits also include shows on The Disney Channel, PBS, the BBC, and many others. In 2005 his novel Beneath Still Waters was adapted into a film by director Brian Yuzna.

Costello also wrote Island of the Skull (Pocket Books), an original prequel to Peter Jackson's film, King Kong.

Along with his adult genres, Costello has created works for children. His works include the book series The Kids of Einstein Elementary, published by Scholastic, and Magic Everywhere (Random House), as well as games including Aladdin’s Mathquest (Disney), A Cartoon History of the Universe (Putnam), and two math games based on the hit PBS Kids show Cyberchase. He is the designer of role-playing and board games, including Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Batman, Lone Wolf & Cub, and many others.

Recently, Costello worked on Rage, a post-apocalyptic action-adventure game for id Software, and wrote its novelization, as well as a new game for Eidos with Neil Richards and Swedish developer Avalanche Studios.

Novels

Videogames (script)

• The 7th Guest [1](1993), Virgin Interactive Entertainment (Europe) Ltd.
• The 11th Hour (1995), Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc.
• Clue Chronicles: Fatal Illusion (1999), Atari Interactive, Inc.
• Starsky & Hutch (2003), Empire Interactive
• The Italian Job (2003), Eidos Interactive, Inc.
• Cyberchase: Castleblanca Quest (2003), Brighter Minds Media, Inc., Learning Company, The
• Doom 3 (2004), Activision Publishing, Inc.
• Shellshock: Nam '67 (2004), Eidos Interactive
• Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (2005), Activision Publishing, Inc.
• Just Cause (2006), Eidos GmbH
• Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Disney Interactive Studios
• Just Cause 2 (2010), Eidos GmbH
• Rage (2011), Bethesda Softworks
• Planet of The Apes: The Last Frontier (2017), Imaginati Studios

Awards

• Bram Stoker Best Novel nominee (1993): Homecoming
• Prometheus Award Best Novel nominee (1999): Masque

References

External links

• Official website
• Matthew J. Costello at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Matthew Costello at IMDb
• Matthew J. Costello at Library of Congress Authorities, with 31 catalog records
• Matthew J. Costello at Demian's Gamebook Web Page
• Shane Christopher (pseudonym) at LC Authorities, 1 record, and at WorldCat