Fiction
Novels
Dawnbringer
Two angels given mortal flesh are sent to guard two star-crossed lovers, born scions of rival merchant houses. At first, it looks as though love will conquer all, and the rift will finally be mended. But there are those who hate the word peace with a passion so much that it poisons everything they touch, corrupting house to turn against house, mother to turn against child, and angel to turn against angel. Dawnbringer is the perfect meld between classic and contemporary fantasy, with shades of Romeo and Juliet, told from the perspective of guardian angels, in a world where sorcery and monsters are commonplace.“I have to admit that I have rarely enjoyed a Forgotten Realms novel more. The book is easily read by anyone unfamiliar with the Realms, is entirely stand-alone (so far) has exceptional characterization and a complex but easily followed plot. It borrows plot devices from Shakespeare while also being full of sword and sorcery pulp action. I highly recommend Samantha Henderson’s
Dawnbringer.”
— Graping for the Wind Reviews
- Buy from Amazon (available in print and as a Kindle edition)
- Buy audiobook from Audible.com
- Buy from Mysterious Galaxy
Heaven’s Bones
Dr. Sebastian Robarts is a man paralyzed by the fate of his adored wife, dead in childbirth, their only child with her. He searches for a way to build angels from women, a pastime known to Scotland Yard as murder. Robarts meets the Vistani seer named Trueblood, who becomes his assistant and leads him to the Antebellum-era domain of Riverbend, controlled by the sadistic Dr. Weldon, to create angels, unfettered by conventional morality, or even rules. When the murderer returns to earth, it is the task of a Vistani policeman and a woman with a strange connection to Robarts to stop him. If he can be stopped.Heaven’s Bones skillfully blends horror and steampunk and classic Victorian literary style into something exotic and fascinating.“If you enjoy the experience of discovering the story as you read, pulling the various threads and making connections, then you’ll like this book. Samantha Henderson has succeeded ably with a difficult multi-threaded story.”
- Buy from Amazon (out of print, but available used)
- Buy the audiobook
- Can’t get it in a brick-and-mortar store or online? Contact me: samantha.henderson@gmail.com
Short Fiction
“Sugar Skulls”
- Jack-O’-Spec: Tales of Halloween and Fantasy (buy the anthology)
- Listen to the podcast at Podcastle
“Your Fairy is Serenity Elfsong”
- Bourbon Penn, Issue 7 (read it online)
“The Strange Tale of Samuel Winchester” (with Andrew Nicolle)
- Lovecraft eZine, April 2013 (read it online)
“Your Fairy is Serenity Elfsong”
- Bourbon Penn, Issue 7 (read it online)
“Maybe the Stars”
- Lovecraft eZine, February 2013 (read it online)
“The Hairy Tree”
- Zombies: Shambling Through the Ages (buy the anthology)
“L’Etoile Flamboyant”
- Allegories of the Tarot. Crowdfunded anthology project.
“Shallot”
- Reprinted in: Aliens: Recent Encounters, 2013 (buy the anthology)
- Fantasy, 2007
Though the core idea is science fiction, the story feels like a fantasy—in part, no doubt, because to everyone except the Lady, it is a fantastical series of events and not something they can connect with the skies above. Henderson shows successfully that the two genres need not exist on either side of a wall. She writes beautifully and with perfect pacing, quickly painting a striking cast of characters: a very strong story.
— Tangent Online
“Everything You Were Looking For”
- Bourbon Penn, Issue 5 (read it at Bourbon Pen)
- Listen to the podcast at Podcastle
“Beside Calais”
- Strange Horizons, May 2012 (read it at Strange Horizons)
- Reprinted in the European Magazine Nowa Fantastyka
“Outlander”
- The Feathered Edge, Sky Warrior Publishing, February 2012 (buy this anthology)
- Listen to the podcast at Podcastle
“The License Plate Game”
- Bourbon Penn, November 2011 (read it at Bourbon Penn)
“Cinderella Suicide”
- Reprinted in The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (buy this anthology)
- Strange Horizons, May 2006
- Listen to the podcast at EscapePod
I’ll admit up front that “Cinderella Suicide” is not the type of fiction I usually prefer to read. However, I was bowled over by its sheer elegance. It is more than a science fiction story of body-modded mercenaries. Henderson has woven in elements of a mythic quest as well as a poignant and somewhat horrific resolution.
— Tangent Online Reviews
“Escaping Salvation” (with Josh Rountree)
- Realms of Fantasy, June 2011 (buy this issue)
“Escaping Salvation by Josh Rountree and Samantha Henderson is the sort of story that could be used for the kernel of a pretty convincing novel. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic southwest where fuel and water are scarce, electricity is gone, and people are living in camps. Dirt angels, large giant sand golems, form from time to time and wreak havoc on people and settlements. The main characters hunt these creatures and take their parts to sell. They stumble on a camp and into the midst of a family drama that is years-old, which conjures up dreams of wind power and enough water to live. This story is very earthy and real, with a strong sense of magic pervading the land and the lives of the people living on it. RECOMMENDED.“
— SFFWORLD.COM
“The Red Bride”
- Strange Horizons, July 2010
- Listen to the podcast at Drabblecast, September 2010
- Reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Science Fiction, Prime Books 2011 (Buy this anthology)
- Locus Online Recommended Reading List, 2010
“I particularly liked ‘The Red Bride’ by Samantha Henderson. It’s a simple story, slyly told, set on an alien planet (apparently, though the feel is deliberately fantastical) as the long-enslaved local race finally revolts, behind the title character.”
— Locus
“Skin in the Game”
- Running with the Pack, Prime Books, April 2010 (Buy this anthology)
“Deutoroi”
- Abyss & Apex, 1st Quarter 2010 (read it at Abyss and Apex online)
“East of Chula Vista”
- Abyss and Apex, Issue 29
- Listen to the podcast at Podcastle
“Chandra’s Game”
- Lone Star Stories, February 2009
- Listen to the podcast at Escape Pod
Henderson’s prose is crisp and energetic, and while there are no lengthy, drawn-out passages of description, one gets a clear visual of what this world looks like. The strength here is in how Henderson awakens our senses by evoking touch, sound, smell, and taste. The world is gritty and real, and the climax when it arrives is satisfying as well as unexpected. Highly recommended.
—The Fix
“Garkain”
- Fantasy Magazine, April 2009
- Listen to the podast at Drabblecast
“Tongue”
- Dog vs. Sandwich, October 2008
“The Mermaids’ Tea Party”
- Helix, Summer 2008
“Extreme”
- Farrago’s Wainscot, Spring 2007
“The Ballad of Delphinium Blue”
- Sybil’s Garage, February 2008
My favorite story was Samantha Henderson’s “The Ballad of Delphinium Blue”, a lyrical story of a “bist-girl” on another world, and her betrayal by a handsome Earthman.
— Rich Horton
“Better Out Here”
- Behind the Wainscot, March 2008
“Shallot”
- Fantasy, 2007
Though the core idea is science fiction, the story feels like a fantasy—in part, no doubt, because to everyone except the Lady, it is a fantastical series of events and not something they can connect with the skies above. Henderson shows successfully that the two genres need not exist on either side of a wall. She writes beautifully and with perfect pacing, quickly painting a striking cast of characters: a very strong story.
— Tangent Online
“Monsters of Abiding Grace”
- Helix, Summer 2007 (read it at Helix online)
“Bottles”
- Realms of Fantasy, April 2007
- Facebook page for the short film based on Bottles
- Bottles short film trailer
“Curse”
- Clarkesworld, December 2007
“The Black Hole in Auntie Sutra’s Handbag”
- Lone Star Stories, 2007
“Hollywood Ending” (with Mikal Trimm)
- Spaceships and Sixguns, Winter 2007
“Starry Night”
- Helix, Winter 2007
- Listen to the podcast at Drabblecast
“Such a Lovely Shade of Green”
- Fantasy Magazine, December 2006
“Histories”
- Lone Star Stories, December 2006
This dark fantasy has an eldritch tone, almost Lovecraftian, as a human is trapped by forces unhuman and unknowable.
— Internet Review of Science Fiction
“The Mandarin’s New Tea”
- Beyond Centauri, October 2006
“Grandmother”
- GrendelSong, September 2006
- Reprinted at Chizine, June 2011
“Honey Mouth”
- Heliotrope, August 2006
“Wild Copper”
- Lone Star Stories, June/July 2006
- Reprinted in Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded, 2010 (Buy this anthology)
“Cinderella Suicide”
- Strange Horizons, May 2006
- Listen to the podcast at EscapePod
I’ll admit up front that “Cinderella Suicide” is not the type of fiction I usually prefer to read. However, I was bowled over by its sheer elegance. It is more than a science fiction story of body-modded mercenaries. Henderson has woven in elements of a mythic quest as well as a poignant and somewhat horrific resolution.
— Tangent Online Reviews
“Girl with a Lute”
- Chizine, April/May 2006
“How I Got Fired from the Best Damn Job in the Whole Wide World”
- Sybil’s Garage, Winter/Spring 2006
“Route Nine”
- Shimmer, Winter 2006
- Listen to the podcast at Drabblecast
“Business Week”
- Shadowbox Anthology, 2005
“Scales”
- Lone Star Stories, December 2005
- Listen to the podcast at Drabblecast
- View and purchase Adam Doyle’s amazing artwork for “Scales”
“The Tailor and the Fairy”
- Lone Star Stories, August/Sept 2005
- Listen to the podcast at Toasted Cake
This is a nice play on the eighteenth-century literary fairy tale device in which the tales are written as though told by the governess. But they certainly never had a governess quite like this. This brings humor and a sharp edge to the story. Henderson handles both aspects of the finely told tale with equal skill in an assured performance.
— Tangent Online
“Debbie and the Deep Blue Sea”
- Sybil’s Garage, Spring/Summer 2005
“Ms. Found in the Footprints of a Stoat”
- Lone Star Stories, April/May 2005
- Reprinted in the Lone Star Stories Reader, 2008 (Buy this anthology)
“Five Ways Jane Austen Never Died”
- The Fortean Bureau, March 2005
- Reprinted in Fantasy: The Best of the Year, Prime Books, 2006 (Buy this anthology)
“The HP Lovecraft Cookbook”
- ELP Library, December 2004
“Disposal Service”
- Hell Hath No Fury, December 2004
“Scones”
- The Lost Pages, Halloween Issue 2004
“Fixing It”
- Would That It Were, Oct/Nov/Dec 2004
“The Bijou”
- The Fortean Bureau, September 2004
“Seven Tears in the Sea”
- Invitations, September 2004
“Terror at Twinkingham”
- Eggplant Productions Library, June 2004
“Paranoia”
- Abyss & Apex, May 2004
“The Legend of St. Ignatz the Provider”
- Ideomancer, January 2004
- Listen to the podcast at EscapePod
“The Raven and the Snake”
- The Spectravaganza, 2003 (read it at The Spectragavanza online)
“Leviathan”
- The Fortean Bureau, November 2003
“Abroad”
- Bloodlust-UK, June 2003
“Just Cause”
- The Fortean Bureau, June 2003
“Dead Letter”
- Strange Horizons, March 2003
- Listen to the podcast at Podcastle
“Celine”
- Office Number One, September 2002
- Reprinted in Project M Zine: Hadez, June 2004
“Empire”
- The Nocturnal Lyric, Issue #57, 2000
“My Big Fish Story”
- Theater of Blood, Issue #5 1995