Sam Stone is the horror and fantasy pen name for British Thriller novellist and screenwriter Samantha Lee Howe. She is best known for her ''USA Today!'' best selling novel ''The Stranger In Our Bed'' published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

imprint One More Chapter. This novel has recently been made into a film by production company Buffalo Dragon, The film, directed by Giles Alderson and starring

Samantha Bond Samantha Jane Bond (born 27 November 1961) is an English actress, who is best known for playing Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan years, and for her role on ''Downton Abbey'' as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund ...

Emily Berrington Emily Berrington (born 7 December 1985) is an English actress who played Simone Al-Harazi in '' 24: Live Another Day'' (2014) and Niska in the Channel 4 and AMC TV series ''Humans'' (2015–2018). Early life Berrington's parents were social work ...

Ben Lloyd-Hughes Benedict Lloyd-Hughes (born 14 April 1988) is a British actor. He is known for portraying Josh Stock in the British series '' Skins'' (2007) and for his role as Will in the film '' Divergent'' (2014). He plays Tsar Alexander in the 2016 BBC tel ...

Joseph Marcell Joseph Marcell (born 18 August 1948) is a British actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Geoffrey Butler, the butler on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' from September 1990 until the show ended in May 1996. Born in S ...

Nina Wadia Nina Wadia (born 18 December 1968) is a British actress and comedian. She is known for portraying Zainab Masood in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', Aunty Noor in Citizen Khan Mrs Hussein in the BBC comedy ''Still Open All Hours'', and for st ...

, Bart Edwards and

Terri Dwyer Teresa "Terri" Dwyer (born 31 July 1973) is a British television presenter and actress, best known for her role as Ruth Osborne in the British soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. She has also presented the ITV home makeover show 60 Minute Makeover. Career ...

, was released on 1st July 2022 on

Showtime Networks Showtime Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company that oversees the company's pay television, premium cable television television channel, channels, including its flagship service Showtime (TV network), Showtime. It is a subsidiary of me ...

. Samantha has since sold three more books to

One More Chapter and all three were published in 2021 as ''The House of Killers Trilogy'' which consists of ''The House of Killers'' Book 1, ''Kill or Die'' Book 2, and ''Kill A Spy'' Book 3. Samantha is the commissioning editor of

Telos Publishing Telos Publishing Ltd. is a publishing company, originally established by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker, with their first publication being a horror anthology based on the television series '' Urban Gothic'' in 2001. The name comes from ...

imprint Telos Moonrise. In 2022, Samantha edited a charity anthology for

in aid of advocacy charity POhWER. The anthology, ''Criminal Pursuits: Crimes Through Time'', was submitted to the

Crime Writer's Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

for consideration for the CWA Short Story Dagger and five stories from the 14 included were longlisted, three of which made the shortlist resulting in ''Flesh of a Fancy Woman'' written by

Paul Magrs Paul Magrs (pronounced "Mars"; born 12 November 1969) is a writer and lecturer. He was born in Jarrow, England, and now lives in Manchester with his partner, author and lecturer Jeremy Hoad. Early life Magrs was born in Jarrow, Tyne & Wear, on ...

and featured in the anthology, going on to win this prestigious award.

Early life and education

The youngest of seven children, Stone was born Samantha Lee Howe in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, which forms the partial backdrop of her novel ''Killing Kiss'' and is the common location of the ''Vampire Gene'' series. She graduated with a

BA (Hons) Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English and Writing for Performance at

University of Bolton , established = 2004 – gained University Status 1982 – Bolton Institute of Higher Education , type = Public , endowment = £160,000 (2009) , administrative_staff = 700+ , chancellor ...

, a PGCE at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

and her MA in Creative Writing also at Bolton. Her eventual first novel, ''Gabriele Caccini'', was originally written as her dissertation. Stone worked as an English teacher at

St Christopher's Church of England High School, Accrington St Christopher's C of E High is a Church of England High School with academy status located north of Accrington in Lancashire, north-west England. The school was founded in 1958, and in 2005, the school earned Technology College status. The ' ...

until 2007, where she decided to leave her position after it was discovered that she was the author of ''Gabriele Caccini'', which she had written under the pen name of Paigan Stone.

Early career

Stone's

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''Gabriele Caccini''published under her original pen name, Paigan Stonewas recognized by ''Foreword Reviews'', an American literary magazine specializing in reviewing books from independent publishers, at its INDIES Book of the Year Awards with its INDIE Silver Award in Horror for 2007. She was shortlisted for the

August Derleth Award The August Derleth Award is one of the British Fantasy Awards bestowed annually by the British Fantasy Society. The award is named after the American writer and editor August Derleth. It was inaugurated in 1972 for the best novel of the year, was n ...

for Best Novel in the British Fantasy Awards for her second novel, ''Futile Flame''. This book was also a 2009 finalist in the ''ForeWord'' Book of the Year Awards, while the third book in the series, ''Demon Dance'', was a finalist for the 2010 ''Foreword'' awards and won the August Derleth Award for Best Novel in the

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of S ...

s 2011. This made Stone the first female writer to win the August Derleth Award since

Tanith Lee Tanith Lee (19 September 1947 – 24 May 2015) was a British science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Society Derleth Awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime ...

did so in 1980. However, after the awards were announced, there was controversy over the voting and so Stone publicly returned the Award, not wishing to be associated with something which might have been awarded erroneously. The BFS then declared that the voting was valid, but then in a later statement announced that the Best Novel would be declared a 'No Award' for that year, assuming (without asking) that Stone's return of the award meant that she did not want it. She also won the Best Short Story Award in the British Fantasy Awards in the same year. In August 2012 Telos Publishing issued a press release announcing the forthcoming audio of Stone's horror collection, ''Zombies In New York''. Telos also published her Steampunk/horror novella ''Zombies at Tiffany's''. ''Gabriele Caccini'' was re-edited and re-released as ''Killing Kiss'' under the pen name Sam Stone in September 2008 by

The House of Murky Depths ''Murky Depths'' bylined as "The Quarterly Anthology of Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction" was a British horror and science fiction magazine which began publishing in 2007. The magazine editor-in-chief was Terry Martin and the editor was Ann ...

. Writer Tanith Lee gave a quote for the back of the book which said : "A deceptively readable date with darkness – watch your step! This book is lit for the much more discerning chick (and cock) who likes to walk in the shadows. Relax with it, but be prepared for sudden jewels and little masterpieces – and the rug to be pulled from under your feet." Stone went on to write a further four titles in the ''Vampire Gene'' series: ''Futile Flame'', ''Demon Dance'', ''Hateful Heart'' and ''Silent Sand''. She then moved to

for reprints of the series and the first print of the final novel, ''Jaded Jewel''. In 2011 a short story collection, ''Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings'', was published by Telos Publishing. The collection was later picked up in October 2012 by

AudioGo AudioGO (formerly BBC Audiobooks) was a publisher of audiobooks and a range of spoken word and large-print titles. It was majority owned by AudioGO Ltd, and minority owned by BBC Worldwide. It was formed in 2010, when AudioGO purchased a majori ...

. In 2013 it was announced that Stone was involved as a screenwriter for a ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' spin-off film; ''White Witch of Devil's End'' was released on 13 November 2017 on DVD as part of "The Daemons of Devil's End" boxset by

Reeltime Pictures Reeltime Pictures Ltd is a British film, television and video production company and a distributor of the films of other companies, founded in 1984 by Keith Barnfather. As well as producing corporate and business television, it has made a number ...

. The book went to print in January 2018.

Awards and nominations

*''Gabriele Caccini'': 2007 ForeWord Magazine Book of Year Awards Silver Award Winner for Best Horror Novel *''Futile Flame'': 2010 British Fantasy Award finalist *''Futile Flame'': 2009 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards Finalist *''Demon Dance'': 2010 ForeWord Magazine Book of Year Awards Finalist *''Demon Dance'': 2011 British Fantasy Society Awards 2011 Winner – subsequently returned due to the initial controversy, but 'No Award' stated by the BFS despite the awards being cleared of any issues. *''Fool's Gold'': Short fiction: 2011 British Fantasy Society Awards 2011 Winner

Writing credits

Novels, novellas and collections

;Samantha Lee Howe Novels *''Kill A Spy'' Book #3 House of Killers

' One More Chapter Imprint - *''Kill Or Die'' Book #2 House of Killers

' One More Chapter Imprint - *''The House of Killers'' Book #1 House of Killers

' One More Chapter Imprint - *''The Stranger In Our Bed''

' One More Chapter Imprint - ;Sam Stone Novels *''Jinx Bound''

- *''Posing For Picasso''

Wordfire Press Kevin James Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is an American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for '' Star Wars'', '' StarCraft'', ''Titan A.E.'' and ''The X-Files'', and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the ''Dune'' pr ...

- *''Jaded Jewel''

- *''Jinx Magic''

- *''Kat of Green Tentacles''

- *''Jinx Town''

– *''The Darkness Within – Final Cut''

- *''Kat on a Hot Tin Airship'',

– *''Gabriele Caccini'' – *''Killing Kiss'', Book 1 in the Vampire Gene Series – The House of Murky Depths – *''Futile Flame'', Book 2 in the Vampire Gene Series – The House of Murky Depths – *''Demon Dance'', Book 3 in the Vampire Gene Series – The House of Murky Depths – *''Hateful Heart'', A Vampire Gene Novel – The House of Murky Depths – *''Silent Sand'', A Vampire Gene Novel – The House of Murky Depths – ;Novellas *''Ten Little Demons*''

Nov 2018 *''Kat and the Pendulum*''

*''What's Dead PussyKat'',

*''The Darkness Within'',

Oct 2013 Hardback Large Print *''Zombies at Tiffany's'',

Sep 2012 ;Collections *''Legends of Cthulhu and Other Nightmares'' -

Oct 2019 *''The Complete Lightfoot'' - Limited Hardback of All Kat Lightfoot Tales -

Jan 2019 *''Cthulhu and Other Monsters'' - Collection of Lovecraftian and other tales -

*''Zombies in New York & Other Bloody Jottings'' – Collection of stories and poetry –

Audio

*''Freya'' The Confessions of Dorian Gray Season 4 - Big Finish November 2015 *''Zombies at Tiffany's'' – Spokenworld Audio October 2013 *''The Darkness Within'' –

– October 2013. *''Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings'' –

October 2012.

Screenwriting

;Samantha Lee Howe *''The Stranger in Our Bed'' - Buffalo Dragon - Release in USA on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

1st July 2022 ;Sam Stone *''The White Witch of Devil's End'' –

– Release in Nov 2017 as DVD 6 part Drama.

Short stories

;Samantha Lee Howe *''Trophy Wife'' - Short Fiction Contirbution "Black in the Night"

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

Oct 2022 *''Slash'' - Short Fiction Contribution "Criminal Pursuits: Crimes Through Time",

Oct 2021 *''The Dead Don't Die Twice'', - Short Fiction Contribution "Straight Outta Dodge City",

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

Feb 2020 ;Sam Stone *''The Bastet Society'', - Short Fiction Contribution "Tails of Terror", Golden Goblin Dec 2018 *''Prologue'', ''The Inheritance'', ''Epilogue'' - Short Fiction Contributions "The Daemons of Devil's End",

Nov 2017 *''Sacrifice'' - Short Fiction Contribution "Through a Mythos Darkly" -

PS Publishing PS Publishing is an independent book publisher based in Hornsea, UK. Background PS Publishing was founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther.Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

Oct 2017 *''Breaking Point'' - Short Fiction Contribution "Return of the Old Ones" -

Dark Regions Press ''Dark Regions Press'' is an independent specialty publisher of horror, dark fiction, fantasy and science fiction, specializing in horror and dark fiction in business since 1985 founded by Joe Morey. They have gained recognition around the world fo ...

Mar 17 *''The Gold of Roatan'' - Short Fiction Contribution "Dread Shadows in Paradise" - Golden Goblin 2016 *''Tell Me No Lies'' - Short Story Contribution "Heroes of Red Hook" - Golden Goblin 2016 *''The Puppet Master'' - Short Story Contribution "Edge of Sundown" -

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...

Dec 2016 *''Fallout'' - Short Story Contribution "Atomic Age Cthulhu" -

May 2015 *''The Curse of Guangxu'' - Short Story Contribution "The Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad" -

Constable and Robinson Constable & Robinson Ltd. is an imprint of Little, Brown which publishes fiction and non-fiction books and ebooks. Founded in Edinburgh in 1795 by Archibald Constable as Constable & Co., and by Nick Robinson as Robinson Publishing Ltd in 1983, ...

April 2015 *''A Is for Acluaphobia: The Promise'' - Short Fiction Contribution "Phobophobias" Western Legends Dec 2014 *''The Vessel'' – Short Story Contribution "The Dark Rites of Cthulhu" – April Moon Books March 2014 *''Sonar City'' – Short Story Contribution "Eldritch Chrome" –

December 2013 *''The Jealous Sea'' – Short Story Contribution "Terror Tales of the Seaside" Gray Friar Press – Oct 2013 *''The Last Resort'' - Short Fiction Contribution "Fear the Reaper" Crystal Lake Publishing Oct 2013 *''Imogen'' – Short Story Contribution "Best British Fantasy" –

Salt Publishing Salt Publishing is an independent publisher whose origins date back to 1990 when poet John Kinsella launched ''Salt Magazine'' in Western Australia. The journal rapidly developed an international reputation as a leading publisher of new poetry ...

April 2013 *''Urban Wolf'' – Short Story Contribution "Demonologia Biblica" Western Legends – Feb 2013. *''Imogen'' – Short Story Contribution "Siblings" – Hersham Horror Sept 2012 *''Hammer Out Books of Ghosts'' – Short Story Contributions "Immortal Monster" and "Chillers and Breathers" – Published by Fantom Films *''Full Fathom Forty'' – Short Story Contribution "The Toymaker's House" – – published by The

British Fantasy Society The British Fantasy Society (BFS) was founded in 1971 as the British Weird Fantasy Society, an offshoot of the British Science Fiction Association. The society is dedicated to promoting the best in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. ...

*''BFS Journal'' – Short Story Contribution "Walking the Dead" – published by The

*''The Bitten Word'' – Short Story Contribution "Fool's Gold" – NewCon Press

Editor

*''Criminal Pursuits: Crimes Through Time'' -

Oct 2021 *''The Daemons of Devil's End'' -

- Standard Edition Special Edition *with

David J. Howe David J. Howe is a British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian. Biography David Howe was born 24 August 1961 and established himself (in the early 1980s) as an authoritative media historian through writing articles for fanzin ...

– ''Hines Sight – Autobiography of Actor

Frazer Hines Frazer Simpson Frederick Hines (born 22 September 1944) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor and appeared in ''A King in New York'' (1957) with Charlie Chaplin. He later played Jamie McCrimmon in '' Doctor Who'', appearing ...

'' – *''Rules of Duel'' by

Graham Masterton Graham Masterton (born 16 January 1946, in Edinburgh) is a British author known primarily for horror fiction. Originally editor of '' Mayfair'' and the British edition of '' Penthouse'', his debut novel, ''The Manitou'', was published in 1976. T ...

–

– *''Dark Horizons'', part of the ''BFS Journal'', Winter 2010 – published by The

*''Talespinning'' by

, Sep 2011 –

Current publishers

: ''The Stranger in our Bed''; ''The House of Killers''; ''Kill or Die''; ''Kill A Spy'' *

: ''Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings''; ''Kat Lighfoot Mysteries''; ''Jinx Chronicles''; ''Vampire Gene'' series; ''The Darkness Within: Final Cut''; ''Cthulhu and Other Monsters'' *

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or rush ...

: ''Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings''; ''The Darkness Within'' *Spokenworld Audio: ''Zombies At Tiffany's'' *

: ''The Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad'' *

: ''The Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes''; ''Black is the Night'' *

PS Publishing PS Publishing is an independent book publisher based in Hornsea, UK. Background PS Publishing was founded in 1999 by Peter Crowther.Dark Regions Press ''Dark Regions Press'' is an independent specialty publisher of horror, dark fiction, fantasy and science fiction, specializing in horror and dark fiction in business since 1985 founded by Joe Morey. They have gained recognition around the world fo ...

: ''Return of the Old Ones'' *

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

: ''The Confessions of Dorian Gray'' *

: ''Edge of Sundown''; ''Eldritch Chrome''; ''Atomic Age Cthulhu''

Former publisher

: ''Posing for Picasso'' *

: ''Killing Kiss''; ''Futile Flame''; ''Demon Dance''; ''Hateful Heart''; ''Silent Sand''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Sam Living people Alumni of the University of Bolton English horror writers Writers from Manchester Year of birth missing (living people) English women novelists