Sam Maggs is a New York Times Bestselling, Eisner-winning author of books, comics, and video games; a narrative IP strategist; and an on-air host.
Sam has had a decade-long career in game writing and IP strategy, and is currently the Senior Manager of Narrative Storytelling for Critical Role, where she helps to oversee the Actual Play juggernaut’s forays into interactive media and traditional publishing. She is the two-time host of the Game Developers Choice Awards and a former BAFTA Games Awards Narrative Jurist. Fortunate enough to learn from the very best in immersive storytelling at BioWare Edmonton, Sam’s credits in game writing include Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered (Insomniac); Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (Gearbox); Call of Duty: Vanguard (Sledgehammer); Anthem (BioWare); and, in narrative IP leadership, Idle Champions and Baldur’s Gate III (Wizards of the Coast).
In her spare time, Sam is also a prolific novelist and comic book writer. Her New York Times Bestselling novel Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars expands upon the characters and story from Respawn’s smash hit Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Her Original Graphic Novel Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas, co-created with Kendra Wells, is a magical queer all-ages retelling of the story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and her first book – The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy – received universal praise for daring to say that women could be nerdy, too. She is a former Ringo Awards Jurist and one of many partial recipients of the Peabody for contribution to the Star Trek franchise. Sam has written novels and comics for massive IPs like Marvel, DC, Archie, Star Trek, Transformers, EVE Online, Rick & Morty, Critical Role, Borderlands, Dungeons & Dragons and more, including for the Eisner-nominated My Little Pony: 40th Anniversary Celebration and Eisner-winning DC Pride: What the Heart Wants.
Sam began her career in front of the screen as the host of the Cineplex pre-show, seen before movies in front of over 6 million Canadians. She hosted her own television show, Fangirling, for the Nerdist, and has appeared as a guest on episodes of Um, Actually for Dropout. She’s been a personality for MTV, the Discovery Channel, PBS, and myriad Canadian networks most of you have never heard of, like the CBC. She’s moderated in front of massive crowds for the casts of shows like Stranger Things, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The L Word, and the MCU, and for countless writing panels at conventions like San Diego and New York Comic Con.
An authority on women in pop culture, Sam has spoken or written about the topic for, among others, the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, Vulture, NPR, Syfy, The Verge, Teen Vogue, Marie Claire, PC Gamer, The Guardian, and Entertainment Weekly. She’s an active and vocal proponent for equality behind-the-scenes in video games and comics. Her books have received praise from the ALA, OLA, SLJ, Kirkus, Indie NextList, GoodReads, YALSA, and more. If you’re up for the lecture, ask her sometime about how her MA in Victorian Literature has been surprisingly applicable to her current work.
Sam’s parents saw Star Wars: A New Hope twenty-four times in theaters when it first came out and used to keep her home from school to marathon the Indiana Jones trilogy, so it’s really not her fault that she turned out the way she did. She was named after Bewitched‘s Samantha Stephens, her cat is called Tabitha, and she collects original art of awesome fictional witches. Sam mostly loves cat biscuits, her remote island cottage, Garrus Vakarian, tarot, nineteenth-century sensation fiction, Stargate, Tamora Pierce books, and the Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack. She’s super gay.
A Canadian in Los Angeles, she misses Coffee Crisp and bagged milk. (…And other things.) Please click here for interviews, appearance requests, or work inquiries.
