Hello readers! A new writer has arrived

My name is Mike Mallow, and I have joined the staff of the Montgomery Messenger and the LifeEnterprise as a part-time reporter.

I am a West Virginia native and a 22-year veteran of the newspaper industry. My career began in 2001 at my hometown newspaper, The Pendleton Times, in Franklin, W.Va. Even though the digital age was well underway, the newspaper was still assembled by pasting the elements to a large sheet with hot wax until 2005.

In 2007, I began working for the Moorefield Examiner in Moorefield, W.Va., and later became the advertising and production manager. During my time in Moorefield, I won more than 200 awards for advertising design, newspaper design, photography and writing. In 2020, I was awarded Advertisement of the Year by the West Virginia Press Association, which is the highest honor for newspaper advertising given in the state each year.

I moved to Minnesota in late 2020 with my wife, Traci, and daughter, Hazel. I spent three years in Benson as the advertising designer for the Swift County Monitor-News until relocating to North Mankato last month.

My hobbies include designing artwork and writing fictional stories. I have four published novels with an independent press. My novel, “In the Country Dark," was voted the Appalachian Book of the Year by the Appodlachia podcast. Kirkus Reviews called it “a strong, scary story filled with questionable characters.”

I am also a writer for “Frontier: Stories from Starfield,” an Anthology podcast in the vein of The Twilight Zone, which is slated to premiere next month.