Today we talk with Sam K. Horton about his debut novel Gorse. we also talk about ancient sites, standing stones, the Cornish landspape, about folklore and myth and about the process of writing and creating new worlds.

An author of literary fantasy, Sam lives above the moor in North Cornwall, and draws on its wild landscape, wide skies, and windblown folklore for his work.

Growing up on a sheep farm near Hereford, he left for London and trained as a costume designer working in film, theatre and opera before moving into visual art, still working with narratives, texts and stories. It was during his last project, surrounding the discovery and development of Eythin (an island lost off the coast of Cornwall, halfway between Boscastle and the Celtic Deep) that he found his talent for writing rich, detailed mythic worlds. This came as a surprise—despite a lifelong love of reading anything within reach, and over a decade working in libraries—but a welcome one.