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Sam Hawke

Goodreads Author

Born

in Canberra, Australia

Twitter

samhawkewrites

Genre

Fantasy

Member Since

July 2015

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/samhawkewrites

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I have wanted to write books ever since realising as a child that they didn’t just breed between themselves in libraries. Having contemplated careers as varied as engineer, tax accountant and zookeeper I eventually settled on the law. After marrying my jujitsu training partner and travelling to as many countries as possible on very little budget, I now live in Canberra, Australia, raising two small ninjas and two idiot dogs.

My debut novel, City of Lies, was released in 2018. It won the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Ditmar Award for Best Novel, and the Norma K Hemming Award for excellence in exploring issues of gender, race, disability and class in SFF, and long listed by the British Science Fiction Awards.

The sequel, Hollow Emp ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

Hello, Your depiction of Kalina's experience of chronic pain is one of the most authentic I've ever read. I don't often see characters with conditions like mine in fiction, let alone as an actual hero of the story. Thank you, it really means a lot. Did you have a specific condition in mind when you wrote Kalina?

Sam Hawke Hi Pancha - thanks for the question (and for the lovely review). I saw Kalina as having an immune system disorder of some kind, though I didn't have a…moreHi Pancha - thanks for the question (and for the lovely review). I saw Kalina as having an immune system disorder of some kind, though I didn't have a specific one in mind. I'm so, so glad that the depiction rang true for you. That means so much to me, thank you. I know people with invisible conditions don't get to be the heroes all that often in fantasy so it was really important to me to try to accurately reflect the challenges without it being the thing that defined the characters as people.
All the best
Sam (less)

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Hi Sam! I am so excited for your book to come out! From what little Ive read you seem to be an absolutely wonderful writer and I was wondering if I could ask for some writing advice before you become incredibly famous and are flooded by messages like these. In creating a fantasy world, what do you personally do to give well-defined fantasy/sci-fi tropes the necessary twists to make your book feel new and compelling?

Sam Hawke Hi Keifer,

Thanks so much. Haha, I doubt I'll be flooded any time soon.

Oh, that's a tough one. I suppose when it comes to tropes the thing to remember …moreHi Keifer,

Thanks so much. Haha, I doubt I'll be flooded any time soon.

Oh, that's a tough one. I suppose when it comes to tropes the thing to remember is that most of the time they're not inherently bad (leaving aside harmful tropes that hurt people), but they can be boring. I think the key is identifying what the readers' expectations of a particular trope are going to be, and then asking 'what if' questions to unsettle those expectations. What if the prophecy was a lie? What if the wicked stepmother makes a better ruler than the indulgent king? What if what you thought was going to be the solution turned out to be the cause of the problem? That sort of thing. Knowing what's feeling stale right now and what might be a fresh take is critical here, and you only really get that by reading a lot in your genre.

But ultimately, sometimes there are just tropes that you love and you're happy to embrace. Then you just have to identify what it is that you enjoy about it and, using that core principle, try to give it your own voice.

I hope you enjoy the book!(less)

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Combine Editions
Sam Hawke’s books

Average rating: 3.83 · 3,349 ratings · 772 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	City of Lies (Poison Wars, #1) 3.77 avg rating — 2,705 ratings — published 2018 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hollow Empire (Poison Wars, #2) 4.09 avg rating — 639 ratings — published 2020 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fearless Women Sampler: Excerpts of Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels by Fearless Women by Tessa Gratton (Goodreads Author), Sherrilyn Kenyon (Goodreads Author), Robyn Bennis (Goodreads Author) 3.71 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2018 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Series by Sam Hawke

Poison War (2 books)
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Sam Hawke (Goodreads Author)

3.83 avg rating — 3,344 ratings

Sam is Currently Reading

Sam Hawke is currently reading

Salvage (Peridot Shift #2)

by R.J. Theodore (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 15, 2019 03:15AM

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A Choir of Lies (The Tales of the Chants, #2)

by Alexandra Rowland (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 11, 2019 08:49PM

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Walking the Tree

by Kaaron Warren (Goodreads Author)

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Mar 29, 2019 02:48AM

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Sam Hawke has read Night Flower (Court of Fives, #0.5) by Kate Elliott (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 23, 2024 08:03PM · like

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Quotes by Sam Hawke (?)

“And what am I supposed to do without you?" he muttered, so softly I barely heard.”
― Sam Hawke, Hollow Empire

tags: adult-fiction, fantasy, hollow-empire, jovan-oromani, poison-wars, tain-caslavtash-iliri, tain-iliri

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