Books •
Check out my books, which are available in print at various outlets, including online retailers. My books can be purchased from any chain or independent bookstore Canada-wide, and if your local bookstore does not carry them, they can indeed be purchased by special order. My books are also available in eBook format as well as Audiobook!
Gothic Tales of Haunted Futures
Trade Paperback, $24.99 CAD/$19.99 USD
What haunts our hearts today may haunt us in the hereafter . . .
In future-Edo Japan, two lovers cross paths after fifty years apart. A drone-stream influencer is stalked by a spectre her online audience can’t see. Trans vampires’ lives intertwine in cyber-goth Paris. A non-binary chaplain serving a haunted space station becomes enamoured with the ship’s AI. And the treachery and passion of a gestalt alien mind reaches critical mass for the explorer who discovered it.
With stories spanning time, galaxies, and spirits, Gothic Tales of Haunted Futures features 17 original stories, casting the indelible themes of gothic romance forward in time, to imagined futures and tomorrow’s afterlives.
This collection follows the successful anthology, Gothic Tales of Haunted Love, named one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018, featuring all-original comics curated by award-winning author and editor S.M. Beiko.
with stories & art by
Alaire Racicot | Caeles | George Mylonas | Katie Fleming | Kielamel Sibal | Nika | Seren Krakens
Arlo Paige, Beth Sparks & Paul Coy | Allison Pang & Irma ‘Aimo’ Ahmed (Sad Sausage Dogs) | Sztehlo | Cait Zellers | Cameron Lucente | Jade Zhang & Mikaela Lucido | Jamie Isfeld | Joyce Chau | Leonie O'Moore & Skylar Patridge | Letty Wilson | Liezl Buenaventura | Luz Bianca & Kaylee Rowena | Merissa Mayhew |
Matt McGrath & V. Gagnon | Megan Kearney | Nicholai Farber |
Skylar Kardon | Trina Robbins & Anne Timmons
The Brilliant Dark
The Realms of Ancient Book 3
Hardcover, $22.99 CAD/$19.99 USD
It’s been seven years since the Denizens, people with elemental powers, were unmasked, and seven years since Roan Harken and Eli Rathgar disappeared into the Brilliant Dark.
Marked by Darklings and Death alike, Saskia is a mechanically minded Mundane, raised by Barton and Phae on daring stories about Roan Harken. But the world Roan left behind is in turmoil. The Darklings now hang in the sky as a threatening black moon, and with the order-maintaining Elemental Task Guard looking to get rid of all Denizens before they rebel, Saskia’s only option is to go into the Brilliant Dark and bring Roan and Eli back.
But nothing is ever that simple.
The Brilliant Dark is the final, thrilling chapter in this series about gods, monsters, and the people who must decide if they’re willing to pay the ultimate price to protect the family they found… in a world that may not be worthy of saving.
Children of the Bloodlands
The Realms of Ancient Book 2
Hardcover, $19.99 CAD/$16.99 USD
Three months after the battle of Zabor, the five friends that came together to defeat her have been separated. Burdened with the Calamity Stone she acquired in Scion of the Fox, Roan has gone to Scotland to retrace her grandmother’s steps in an attempt to stop further evil from entering the world.
Meanwhile, a wicked monster called Seela has risen from the ashy Bloodlands and is wreaking havoc on the world while children in Edinburgh are afflicted by a strange plague; Eli travels to Seoul to face judgment and is nearly murdered; Natti endures a taxing journey with two polar bears; Phae tries desperately to obtain the key to the Underworld; and Barton joins a Family-wide coalition as the last defense against an enemy that will stop at nothing to undo Ancient’s influence on Earth — before there is no longer an Earth to fight for.
Darkness, death, and the ancient powers that shape the world will collide as our heroes discover that some children collapse under their dark inheritance, and those who don’t are haunted by blood.
Scion of the Fox
The Realms of Ancient Book 1
ISBN • 978-1-770413573
Hardcover, $19.99 CAD/$16.99 USD
"A smart, complex, animal-based fantasy." ― Kirkus Reviews
“A thrilling tale underscored by excellent, deep, and unique world-building.” ― Kelley Armstrong, #1 New York Times bestselling author
As the winter ice begins to thaw, the fury of a demon builds ― all because one girl couldn't stay dead . . .
Roan Harken considers herself a typical high school student ― dead parents, an infected eyeball, and living in the house of her estranged, currently comatose grandmother (well, maybe not so typical) -- but she's uncovering the depth of the secrets her family left behind. Saved from the grasp of Death itself by a powerful fox spirit named Sil, Roan must harness mysterious ancient power . . . and quickly. A snake-monster called Zabor lies in wait in the bed of the frozen Assiniboine River, hungry for the sacrifice of spirit-blood in exchange for keeping the flood waters at bay. Thrust onto an ancient battlefield, Roan soon realizes that to maintain the balance of the world, she will have to sacrifice more than her life in order to take her place as Scion of the Fox.
American Gods meets Princess Mononoke in this powerful first instalment of a trilogy sure to capture readers' imaginations everywhere.
Winner of the 2018
Copper Cylinder Award
for Young Adult Fiction
Gothic Tales of Haunted Love
edited by Hope Nicholson & S.M. Beiko
Named one of Kirkus Reviews
Best Books of 2018
Love is a spectre which haunts us all.
In 1950s Vietnam, a lost soul comes to the aid of a farmer’s field under attack. In Victorian Boston, a new governess comes to care for the rogueish widower of a stately manor and his charming brood of children. A fashion journalist lands the interview of her dreams – but it unearths deadly secrets of Taiwan’s most popular fashion designer. A Sioux elder heals a recently deceased woman who sets out to recover her lost love. And a young bride spins a story of murder and deceit that paints her husband as a killer . . . but is there any truth to her tale?
Featuring 22 original stories from some of modern comics’ finest talent, Gothic Tales of Haunted Love collects fragments of lovers torn apart, ghostly revenge, and horrific deeds, in the vein of 1970s gothic romance comics such as Haunted Love, Ghostly Tales, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, and Gothic Romances. Discover a diverse range of heroes and villains, spirits and monsters, in a modern reimagining that will leave your heart pounding and broken in the same seductive breath.
The Lake and the Library
ISBN • 978-1-77041-057-2
EBOOK ISBN • 978-1-77090-385-2
A haunting and romantic YA debut that explores the boundary between the real and imagined
Wishing for something out of Alice in Wonderland, something beyond her adventureless life, 16-year-old Ash is counting down the days until she and her mother move away from their prairie hometown of Treade. It’s Ash’s summer of goodbyes until, after a turn of fate, she finds her way into the mysterious, condemned building on the outskirts of town — one that has haunted her entire childhood with secrets and questions. What she finds inside — or what finds her — is an untouched library, inhabited by an enchanting mute named Li.
Brightened by Li’s charm and his indulgence in her dreams, Ash becomes locked in a world of dusty books and dying memories, with Li becoming the attachment to Treade she never wanted. As the summer vanishes underneath her, and her quest to discover who Li is — or was — proves nearly impossible, Ash must choose between the road ahead or the dream she’s living before it’s too late.
Imaginarium 2013:
The Best Canadian Speculative Writing
edited by Sandra Kasturi & Samantha Beiko
ISBN • 978-1-77148-149-6
EBOOK ISBN • 978-1-77148-150-2
Canadian speculative fiction has been increasingly recognized internationally for the calibre of its authors and their insight into the nature of social and religious identities, the implications of new technologies, and the relationship between humankind and its environments.
At their best, these stories disrupt habits, overcome barriers of cultural perception to make the familiar strange through the use of speculative elements such as magic and technology. They provide glimpses of alternate realities and possible futures and pasts that provoke an ethical, social, political, environmental and biological inquiry into what it means to be human.
Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing is a reprint anthology to be published annually by ChiZine Publications, collecting speculative short fiction and poetry (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, etc.) that represents the best work produced by Canadian writers (citizens, permanent residents, expatriates).
Release date: July 15, 2013