Hi! I’m Sam Espelho, a queer non-binary author on the road to self-publishing. I’m constantly working on a multitude of stories across genres: urban fantasy, high fantasy, romance, cyberpunk, horror and more. Most of my works are novel-length, and they always have a few things in common:
- Characters who are LGBTQ+, neurodiverse, chronically ill and otherwise different from “the norm”—and they always get to go on adventures and be loved and live fulfilling lives.
- One trope to rule them all: Found Family. This is something I naturally gravitate to, no matter what kind of story I’m telling.
- All character-driven fiction, all the time: I love fiddling with worldbuilding and setting up plot twists as much as the next spec fic writer, but for me, a book begins with a character arc.
Right now, I’m preparing a few stories for publication, as well as working on new first drafts all the time. You can read more about my projects below.
This site is very much a work in progress at the moment, and I’m plantsing it the same way I plants my books. Which means that I swear I have a decent idea where I want to get eventually and what major beats I need to hit to get there, but most of the journey is a mystery until the distance is traveled. All kinds of additions and changes may happen along the way, including separate sections for each of my series, a newsletter link, and more.
Projects Coming Soon:
Tales from the Witch House
A new adult slice of life urban fantasy web serial (wow, that’s a mouthful!) about a bunch of young witches, demons, friendly neighborhood lovecraftian monsters, and other supernaturals squatting in a semi-abandoned house under the protection of a cryptic old woman. The journey starts when you have nowhere left to go.
Planned to be released in 2020. Date coming later.
One Pill to Make You
A new adult weird horror novel about party drugs made of demon blood and bone, underground cults, things we leave behind as we cross the border into adulthood, and things that never let us go.
Planned to be released in 2020. Date coming later.
The So Far Untitled Superpunk Series
A cyberpunk world full of greedy corporations, rebellious gangs, reluctantly adventurous hackers, unethical medical experiments, and superheroes in name only. The series follows a vast cast of characters, with each book focusing close on two or three of them as these people change the world—one crime at a time.
Planned to be released in 2020. Date coming later.
The WIPs I’m Currently Most Focused On:
Lead Me Into Your Darkness
A dungeon crawl romance. A disillusioned former adventurer and a blood sorcerer living on borrowed time explore a dungeon that wants them dead.
Black Swan Maiden
A Swan Lake retelling focused on Odile and her reasons for being the villain of the tale. Contains a lot more court intrigue and spy games than I originally planned.
About
Sam Espelho creates diverse works of fiction focusing on characters who are LGBTQ+, neurodiverse, disabled, or otherwise marginalized.
They live with their found family and their service dog Verity in a house that was once rumored to be haunted. Sadly, Sam has yet to report any ghostly encounters.
Most of their hobbies have something to do with storytelling, and they will never, ever say no to coffee.
All images on the site come from Unsplash.com unless stated otherwise. The site logo and banner are created with Namecheap.
Sam and the Stories 