Simon Graeme

Simon is a dark fantasy author and artist born 1976 in rural Ohio. Growing up in poverty gave him a dark and gritty view of the world. Growing up in a real haunted house gave him the permanent stain of the macabre that dominates his writing. He considers Brian Lumley, Ann Rice, and Roger Zelazny his biggest influences. Simon has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a focus in Creative Writing, worked as Managing Editor of Prose for the Oddville Press, and received honorable mention in L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future 2015. After working in the retail mines and then the corporate gulag, Simon became a high school teacher but was forced into early retirement after an attempt on his life by a handful of blood clots and a stupid heart, which led to a stroke. These days, he lives with his wife and youngest son in southern Illinois writing full-time. He is best known for the Crusades-inspired dark fantasy series, The Black Crusade.