Patrick Samphire Books in Order

Patrick Samphire writes fantasy for adults and younger readers, usually with a mystery to solve, a looming disaster, and characters who would rather not be responsible for saving anyone.

He grew up in England and Zambia, and has also lived in Guyana and Austria. Those moves gave him a wide view of places and people, something that carries into his fiction, from a very strange version of Regency Mars to the busy, dangerous city of Agatos.

His route to writing began at fourteen. He thought making up stories might get him out of English lessons. It did not, but he kept writing anyway.

Before publishing novels, Samphire built up a body of short fiction. He has worked as a teacher, an editor and publisher of physics journals, a web designer, and in a handful of other jobs. He also earned a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Essex, a fact that sits rather neatly beside his fondness for clockwork inventions, strange machines, and inventive magic.

His first novel, Secrets of the Dragon Tomb, introduced readers to British Mars in 1816. Twelve-year-old Edward Sullivan wants to read spy magazines in peace, but instead he is drawn into a chase involving kidnapped parents, ancient technology, and the dangerous dragon tombs of the Martian north. Its follow-up, The Emperor of Mars, keeps Edward and his unruly family at the center of another mystery full of spies, monsters, and political trouble.

Samphire later returned to that setting with The Dinosaur Hunters and A Spy in the Deep. These shorter Harriet George adventures follow a teenage girl who is far more capable than the adults around her expect. They blend detective work with dinosaurs, underwater hotels, social pressure, and plenty of trouble on Mars.

Then came a different kind of fantasy. Shadow of a Dead God begins the Mennik Thorn series, set in Agatos, where magic is tied to the remains of dead gods and powerful mages make the rules. Mennik, or Nik, is a freelance mage with limited power, overdue bills, a sharp tongue, and a bad habit of helping when walking away would be safer.

The later books, including Nectar for the God, Strange Cargo, and Legacy of a Hated God, build that story into a larger conflict over high mages, old powers, and the survival of the city Nik calls home. Readers who like fantasy mysteries often come for the cases and stay for Nik's messy friendships, dry humor, and determination to do the decent thing.

Samphire has also collected sixteen shorter works in At the Gates and Other Stories. The stories range across fantasy settings, history, magic, grief, myth, and occasional moments of danger.

He lives in Wales with his wife, fellow writer Stephanie Burgis, their two children, and their cat, Pebbles. Alongside writing, he works as a freelance editor and book cover designer.