My name is Sam Kates, at least when it comes to writing fiction. If there’s a photo on this page of a middle-aged bloke with a hair shortage, that’s me.

I live in Wales, a small constituent country of Great Britain and the U.K. Like many of my fellow countrymen, I possess a fondness for rugby union (though these days only as a spectator) and a good pint of beer. Usually the two go hand in hand.

My tastes in reading and film tend toward the darker side of life and the fantastic. Little surprise, then, that the fiction I write is usually science fiction and fantasy with a decidedly dark flavour, or outright horror.

Outside of writing, my main ambition is to see Wales beat the New Zealand All Blacks to win the Rugby World Cup. A forlorn hope, I suspect, but if you're going to harbour ambitions, they might as well be lofty, right?