Backstory

Sam grew up in the perilous Wiltshire countryside of England, then scribbled his way to a First Class Honours degree in English Literature from Queen Mary, University of London. His dissertation specialised in Victorian Gothic monstrosity, kicking off an interest that would later inspire his first book, Escape Castle Dracula (Big Picture Press, 2024).

He then worked his way up from an internship to being an in-house writer and editor for publishers including Eris Press, Marginalia, Templar Books, and Big Picture Press, also assisting Hot Key and Piccadilly Press, covering all corners on adult and children’s publishing from European politics to picture books, YA fiction to puppets, and cartoon adaptations to high art theory.

During this time, his short story Quiet was published by Shrapnel Magazine in text and audio formats, and he wrote eight tie-ins for the Gigantosaurus publishing range with CyberGroup Studios. Of these, he only had to wrestle one prototype out of the jaws of his West Highland terrier. She liked chewing dinosaurs.

In 2021, he voyaged north to undertake a Masters degree, MSc Intermediality at the University of Edinburgh. He graduated with a Distinction. His dissertation analysed cross-media adaptation from comics to film to videogames, using DC’s ‘Batman’ as a case-study for constructing modern franchise mythologies.

He’s just wrapped work on his latest book, Where the Dead Live (Templar Books, September 2025). A non-fiction globe-trotting walk among the tombstones, Where the Dead Live explores the thriving community of the dead, from festivals to archaeological digs, through tombs and catacombs, to realms of myth and ghostly goings-on.

Editorially, Sam works across fiction and non-fiction from unpublished writers and acclaimed authors, tabletop games companies, small and large publishing houses, and other commercial clients. He’d love to hear about your project.

Photograph by Clíodhna Conboye.

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