Oh, hi - start here!

Welcome to Deadmedia: Monthly updates on what I'm working on, book news, thoughts on creativity, and other exclusive content.

I’m Samantha Garner, a Canadian author of character-driven adult fantasy and sci-fi novels inspired by history and mythology. I write books about outsiders who want to live their lives but end up unravelling the fabric of their whole world instead.⁠⁠ ⁠

I’m also an internet dinosaur who’s been writing online since 1997, and I’m basically always trying to re-create the community atmosphere of the Livejournal era as best I can. This newsletter was formerly called “I Can Barely Play This Thing” but at the end of 2023 I felt it was time for a change - deadmedia was the name of an old Livejournal and domain of mine from the early 2000s*. It felt right to go back to basics in this way. Despite how it has the word “dead” in the name, to me it’s hopeful. It symbolizes the joy of creativity and connection I used to have - still do have. So I’m using the name again with thanks to that long-ago version of me, gone but definitely not forgotten.

Here’s to staying weird, the joys of the unpolished life, and curiosity above all.

When you join, you’ll get a free fantasy short story. After that, you’ll get a newsletter on the 15th of each month, with infrequent emails in between if there’s time-sensitive news.

I hope you’ll join me!

(*Also from the early 2000s: my fixation on the band Hefner, who had an album and song called Dead Media, as well as many others that I still remember every second of even though I haven’t listened to them in years. Also appropriate, I’d say!)

Me, elsewhere

Check out my website, Instagram, Tumblr, and other things I’ve written online.