Mark Samuels (author)

Mark Samuels (1967–2023) was a British author of horror and fantastic fiction in the tradition of Arthur Machen and H. P. Lovecraft.^[1] His fiction was first published in 1988, and many of his early short stories are set in a shadowy modern London in which the protagonists gradually discover a dark and terrifying reality behind the mundane urban world. Thomas Ligotti wrote of Samuels's first short story collection, The White Hands (2003), that it is "a treasure and a genuine contribution to the real history of weird fiction".^[2]

The White Hands was shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award in the Best Collection category in 2004.^[3] The title story of The White Hands was also on their shortlist for the Best Short Story category. A paperback reprint was reviewed in The Guardian newspaper.^[4] In 2011, he wrote The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Weird Tales.^[5] The Age of Decayed Futurity: The Best of Mark Samuels received a starred review from Publishers Weekly in 2020.^[6]

The short fiction collection Marked to Die: A Tribute to Mark Samuels (2016) was edited by Justin Isis and dedicated to Samuels.^[7]

Samuels died in 2023.^[8]