Samantha Lee Howe (née Harrison) is a British novelist and screenwriter. She writes horror and fantasy under the pen name Sam Stone. She is best known for her 2020 psychological thriller novel ''The Stranger in Our Bed'', published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

imprint One More Chapter. Howe 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.

Early life and education

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

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

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

The Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

, Howe admitted that her father was abusive and that she was also in an unhappy first marriage because of Domestic violence. As a result, Howe is now a Survivor Ambassador for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

charity Independent Domestic Abuse Services also known as IDAS. Despite this difficult start, she graduated with a

BA (Hons) A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in English and Writing for Performance at

University of Bolton The University of Greater Manchester (legally: The University of Bolton Higher Education Corporation) is a public university in Bolton, Greater Manchester in England. The university is commonly referred to as a 'post-92' institution, which is a ...

, a PGCE at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

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 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.

Career

Howe'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 pu ...

, ''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 Book of the Year Awards with its 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. 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 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 award results were announced, there was controversy over the voting (due to scrutiny garnered from her partner David J Howe's position as Chairman of the Society, relative to both her nomination and the nomination of books from his publishing company Telos Publishing, as well as an incident where one of the awards presenters opted to promote their Telos-published autobiography during proceedings) and amidst this, Stone publicly returned the Award three days after the results announcement, stating that "The society means too much to me and I cannot allow this controversy to taint the integrity of those involved." The BFS initially 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, owing to Stone's return of the award and Howe's resignation (though, the BFS were clear that no evidence was found of any corruption from Howe in his position). She also won the Best Short Story Award in the British Fantasy Awards in the same year, which - after initial confusion for the BFS - was confirmed as an award that she did ''not'' return amidst the controversy. In August 2012 Telos Publishing issued a press release announcing the forthcoming audio of Sam 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 ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. 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." Howe 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 sixth 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 British 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 ...

. In 2013 it was announced that Howe, writing still as Sam 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, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' 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 ...

. In May 2015 Stone became host of her own radio show, ''The Stone Tapes'', on Lincolnshire radio station SirenRadio The book went to print in January 2018. In 2020, she published a psychological thriller novel entitled ''The Stranger in Our Bed'' published in February 2020 by

imprint One More Chapter. It hit the number one slot in the ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' book charts. The novel was adapted 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. She played Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era, and appeared in ''Downton Abbey'' as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Rob ...

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. Early life Lloyd-Hughes was born in 1988 in London, the son of Lucy Appleby and Timothy Lloyd-Hughes. He attended St Paul's School, London. In 2011 he finished his acting traini ...

Joseph Marcell Joseph Marcell (born 14 August 1948) is a Saint Lucian-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 19 ...

Nina Wadia Nina Wadia (born 18 December 1968) is a British actress. 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 starring i ...

, 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. Car ...

, was released on 1 July 2022 on

Showtime Networks Showtime Networks, Inc. is a subsidiary of American media conglomerate Paramount Global under its networks division that oversees the company's premium cable television channels, including its flagship namesake service. Overview The compan ...

. 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. In 2022, Howe 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. ...

for consideration for the CWA Short Story Dagger and six stories from the 14 included were longlisted, three of which made the shortlist resulting in ''Flesh of a Fancy Woman'' written by Paul Magrs and featured in the anthology, going on to win this prestigious award.

Awards and nominations

''Gabriele Caccini'' * 2007 ForeWord Magazine Book of Year Awards - Silver Award Winner for Best Horror Novel ''Futile Flame'' * 2009 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards - Finalist for Horror oint acknowledgement with four other finalist booksref name="Fore2009" /> * 2010 British Fantasy Award finalist ''Demon Dance'' * 2010 ForeWord Magazine Book of Year Awards - Finalist for Horror oint acknowledgment with two other finalist booksref name="Fore2010" /> * 2011 British Fantasy Society Awards - Winner – Best Novel ubsequently returned due to the initial controversy regarding the administration of the event, with 'No Award' ultimately stated by the BFS for the category that year(despite the awards being cleared of any issues). ''Fool's Gold'' (from ''The Bitten Word,'' ed. Ian Whates) * 2011 British Fantasy Society Awards - Winner - Best Short Story ''The Stranger In Our Bed'' *2023 National Film Awards - Winner - BEST THRILLER PONSORED BY IVY NICHE*Rio De Janeiro World Film Festival - Winner - BEST WRITER (Summer 2023 edition) *Milan Filmmaker Awards - Winner- BEST SCRIPT (Fall 2023 edition) *Paris Lady MovieMakers Festival: Winner - BEST FEMALE FEATURE FILM WRITER & Winner - BEST SCRIPT WRITER (October 2023 edition) *Austin International Art Festival: Winner - BEST SCRIPT IN A FEATURE FILM (November 2023 edition) *Best Indie Film Awards Festival: Winner - BEST THRILLER SCREENPLAY (Winter 2023 edition) *Edinburgh Film Awards: Winner - BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (Winter 2024 edition)' *Chicago Script Awards: Honorable Mention - BEST THRILLER SCREENPLAY (Winter 2024 edition) *8 and Halfilm Awards: Winner - BEST FEATURE SCRIPT & Winner - BEST ORIGINAL WRITER ''Within Her Walls'' * The Script Awards Los Angeles - Winner - BEST BOOK (September 2023 edition) ''The House of Killers'' *8 and Halfilm Awards: Winner - BEST BOOK

Writing credits

Novels, novellas and collections

* ''Gabriele Caccini'' (January 2007) - AuthorHouse; later reworked in September 2008 by The House of Murky Depths and republished as ''Killing Kiss'' ook One of Vampire Gene(as Paigan Stone; republished as Sam Stone) - & * ''Futile Flame'' (June 2009) - The House of Murky Depths; later republished August 2015 by Telos Publishing ook Two of Vampire Gene(as Sam Stone) - * ''Demon Dance'' (September 2010) - The House of Murky Depths; later republished September 2015 by Telos Publishing ook Three of Vampire Gene(as Sam Stone) - * ''Hateful Heart'' (September 2011) - The House of Murky Depths; later republished September 2015 by Telos Publishing ook Four of Vampire Gene(as Sam Stone) - * ''Zombies At Tiffany's'' (September 2012) -

ook One of Kat Lightfoot(as Sam Stone) - *''Kat on a Hot Tin Airship'' (August 2013) -

ook Two of Kat Lightfoot(as Sam Stone) - * ''The Darkness Within – Final Cut'' (February 2014) -

(as Sam Stone) - * ''What's Dead Pussycat'' (August 2014) -

ook Three of Kat Lightfoot(as Sam Stone) - * ''Jinx Town'' (February 2015) -

ook One of The Jinx Chronicles(as Sam Stone) – * ''Kat of Green Tentacles'' (August 2015) -

ook Four of Kat Lightfoot(as Sam Stone)- * ''Silent Sand'' (October 2015) -

ook Five of Vampire Gene(as Sam Stone) - * ''Jaded Jewel'' (May 2016) -

ook Six of Vampire Gene(as Sam Stone) - * ''Jinx Magic'' (May 2016) -

ook Two of The Jinx Chronicles(as Sam Stone) - * ''Kat and the Pendulum'' (November 2016) -

ook Five of Kat Lightfoot(as Sam Stone) - * ''Posing For Picasso'' (January 2018) - Wordfire Press; later republished in November 2022 by SLH Ltd (as Sam Stone) - & * ''Jinx Bound'' (July 2018) -

ook Three of The Jinx Chronicles(as Sam Stone) - * ''Ten Little Demons'' (November 2018) -

ook Six of Kat Lightfoot(as Sam Stone) - * ''The Stranger In Our Bed'' (February 2020) - One More Chapter (as Samantha Lee Howe) - * ''The House of Killers'' (March 2021) - One More Chapter ook One of The House of Killers(as Samantha Lee Howe) - * ''Kill Or Die'' (May 2021) - One More Chapter ook Two of The House of Killers(as Samantha Lee Howe) - * ''Kill A Spy'' (July 2021) - One More Chapter ook Three of The House of Killers(as Samantha Lee Howe) - * ''The Soul Thief'' (December 2024) - One More Chapter (as S. L. Howe) - ;Collections *''Crimes of Passion'' -

Nov 2023 *''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 *''House of Killer - Pilot'' *''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 ...

1 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 *''Gwen'' - ( As S L Howe) Short Fiction Contribution "Terror Tales of the West Country"

Oct 2022 *''Trophy Wife'' - Short Fiction Contribution "Black in the Night"

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, which was established as Titan Books in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cine ...

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 the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, which was established as Titan Books in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cine ...

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

Dark Regions Press ''Dark Regions Press'' was 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 gained recognition around the world for th ...

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 (game designer), Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fic ...

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. History Constable & Co. was founded in 1795 by Archibald Constable, and became the publisher of works by Sir Walter Scott. In ...

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 – ''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 i ...

'' – *''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 David J. Howe

, Sep 2011 –

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Samantha Lee Living people Alumni of the University of Greater Manchester English horror writers Writers from Manchester Year of birth missing (living people) English women novelists