Shawn Speakman

SHAWN SPEAKMAN grew up in the beautiful wilds of Washington State near Mt. St. Helens and surrounded by old-growth forests and lakes. After moving to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, he befriended New York Times best-selling fantasy author Terry Brooks and became his webmaster, leading to an enchanted life surrounded by words, books, and magic.

Shawn was a manager at one of the largest Barnes & Noble Booksellers for many years but now owns the online bookstore The Signed Page and the SF&F limited edition publisher Grim Oak Press. After releasing the bestselling fantasy anthology Unfettered in 2011 to eliminate over $200,000 of accrued medical debt, he decided to expand Grim Oak Press and continue writing what he loved—fantasy. In 2023, he partnersed with Skybound Entertainment (The Walking Dead, Invincible) to publish The King-Killing Queen, the first book in the Old World Tales trilogy.

More recently, Shawn has begun a Patreon where his readers can join for just $3/month and receive a new SF&F short story monthly.

Shawn is a two-time cancer survivor and lives outside Seattle, WA with his wife and two young sons.