Sarah Pinborough

Sarah Pinborough is an English author and screenwriter who has written YA and adult thriller, fantasy and cross-genre novels. She has had more than 20 novels published by several companies and in several countries. They have also been translated into a number of languages.

Sarah Pinborough
Born	1972 (age 51–52) Milton Keynes, England
Pen name	Sarah Silverwood
Occupation	Writer, teacher
Nationality	English
Genre	fantasy, young adult Influences Stephen King James Herbert
Website
www.sarahpinborough.com Publisher Leisure Books; Gollancz Books; HarperFiction; Random House; Ace Books

Bibliography

Novels

Leisure Books

Her work has been published within the horror books section of Leisure Books.^[1]

• The Hidden (2004, Leisure Books) ISBN 978-0843954807 — amnesia is the start of a new life with hidden horrors
• The Reckoning (2005, Leisure Books) ISBN 978-0843955507 — horrors from teenage years come back to a group of adult friends
• Breeding Ground (2006, Leisure Books) ISBN 978-0843957419 — end-of-the world novel where most of the population is wiped out by giant spiders born of human women
• The Taken (2007, Leisure Books) ISBN 978-0843958966 — ghostly revenge novel
• Tower Hill (2008, Leisure Books) ISBN 978-0-8439-6052-5 — about a small town in America in supernatural peril of Biblical proportions
• Feeding Ground (2009, Leisure Books) ISBN 0843962933 — sequel to Breeding Ground; Pinborough's original proposal for this sequel would have been called The Brethren but this was rejected by the publisher as being too much like science fiction for their list. The book as written is intended to be like a "creature feature" movie.^[2]

Torchwood

Torchwood is a spin-off series from the BBC series Doctor Who. These are TV tie-in novels and short stories in that shared world.

• Into the Silence (Torchwood) (2009, Random House) ISBN 978-1846077531
• The story Kaleidoscope in Consequences (Torchwood) (2009, Random House) ISBN 978-1846077845
• Torchwood: Long Time Dead (2011, Random House) ISBN 978-1849902847

Pinborough has also written short stories for the Torchwood Magazine. These are:

• Happy New Year Issue 20
• Mend Me Issue 23

The Dog-Faced Gods series

Published as the Forgotten Gods Trilogy in the US by Ace Books.^[3]

"The 'Dog Faced Gods' series is set in an alternative world. The Britain of this world isn't a dystopia but it is merely a little crappier and harsher than ours." Jim Steel^[4]

1. A Matter of Blood (2010, Gollancz Books) (2013 Ace Books) ISBN 978-0425258460
2. The Shadow of the Soul (2011, Gollancz Books) (2013 Ace Books) ISBN 978-0425258484
3. The Chosen Seed (2012, Gollancz Books) (2013 Ace Books) ISBN 978-0425258507^[5]

Sleeping Beauty by Gustave Dore

The Fairy Tale Series

Subversive retellings of fairy stories published by Gollancz Books.

• Poison (April 2013 Gollancz Books) ISBN 978-0575092976 — a Snow White story
• Charm (July 2013 Gollancz Books) ISBN 978-0575093010 — a Cinderella story
• Beauty (October 2013 Gollancz Books) ISBN 978-0575093058 — a Sleeping Beauty story

Other novels

• The Language of Dying (2009, PS Publishing) (2013, Jo Fletcher Books)^[6] ISBN 978-1782067542 — a dysfunctional family is revealed around the father's death-bed
• Mayhem (2013, Jo Fletcher Books) ISBN 978-1780871288 — a supernatural murder mystery set in Victorian London and based around the events of the Thames Torso Murders.
• Murder (2013, Jo Fletcher Books) ISBN 978-1780872346 — a sequel to Mayhem
• The Death House (2015, Gollancz)^[7] ISBN 978-0575096875 — bleak lives of children with a 'Defective gene'

The London Stone

• 13 Minutes (2016, Flatiron Books) ISBN 1250123879 — 'young adult' thriller following a girl being rescued from an icy river
• Behind Her Eyes (2017, HarperCollins) ISBN 978-0008131968 — an idyllic life suddenly changes and who can be trusted?
• Cross Her Heart (2018, William Morrow & Co) ISBN 9780062856791 — psychological thriller about a liar and truth
• Dead To Her (2020, HarperCollins) ISBN 978-0062856821 — crime thriller involving an outsider marrying into elite society
• Insomnia (2022, William Morrow & Co) ISBN 978-0062856845 — psychological thriller about a successful lawyer approaching her 40th birthday

As Sarah Silverwood

Sarah Pinborough first published The Nowhere Chronicles, a YA urban fantasy trilogy set across multiple parallel world versions of London, under the pseudonym Sarah Silverwood. The series has since been reissued under the name Sarah Pinborough.

The Nowhere Chronicles

1. The Double-edged Sword (2010, Gollancz) ISBN 978-1780620596
2. The Traitor's Gate (2011, Gollancz) ISBN 978-1780620657
3. The London Stone (2012, Gollancz) ISBN 978-1780620671

Short stories

• Waiting For October (2007, Dark Arts Books) – a book of the combined short stories of Sarah Pinborough, Adam Pepper, Jeff Strand and Jeffrey Thomas (writer) ISBN 978-0977968619
• Hellbound Hearts (2009, Pocket Books) edited by Paul Kane (writer) and Marie O'Regan – Pinborough contributed "The Confessor's Tale" ISBN 978-1439140901
• Zombie Apocalypse! edited by Stephen Jones (author) (2010, Running Press) – Pinborough contributed "Diary Entry #1", "Diary Entry #2" and "Diary Entry #3" ISBN 978-0762440016
• The Compartments of Hell written with Paul Meloy in Black Static. A post apocalypse story where the only survivors are those who are high on opiates.^[8][9]
• The Room Upstairs in House of Fear, an anthology of Haunted House stories edited by Jonathan Oliver (publishing), (2011 Solaris Books) ISBN 978-1-907992-06-3

Adaptations

Several of her novels have been optioned or adapted for TV or film.^[10] This includes:

• In 2012, it was announced that director Peter Medak had been attached to direct Cracked, a screenplay based on Pinborough's first novel The Hidden^[11] but it has not been aired.
• The Forgotten Gods/Dog-Faced Gods Trilogy was optioned for a television series in 2014 but has not been aired.^[3]
• Her teenage thriller, 13 Minutes was bought by Netflix in 2016, with Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage writing the adaptation.^[10]
• Netflix developed a limited series based on Pinborough's psychological thriller novel Behind Her Eyes. The series premiered on 17 February 2021.^[12][13][14]

Screenwriting

Pinborough has written for the BBC and several other television companies. In 2012, Pinborough wrote Old School Ties, the second episode of the ninth series of the BBC TV crime drama New Tricks. On Dec 4, 2023, it was announced that Pinborough will adapt her Dog Faced Gods novels to television for Red Planet Pictures.^[15] In 2024, Paramount+ will release Insomnia, starring Vicky McClure.^[16]

Other projects in various stages of development include:

• M (2013) World Productions/ITV Global Returnable Drama Series.
• Fallow Ground (2012) World Productions Original 3-part drama.
• Red Summer (2012) Blind Monkey Pictures Feature screenplay. Under option.

Personal life

Pinborough was born in 1972 in Buckinghamshire, UK.

She is a patron of the Educational Wealth Fund.

References

1. When I was writing for Leisure that was more restrictive because they have a clear vision of their list. They are horror with a capital H and that is what their readers expect. Interview in 2010 in Black Static 16, page 54
2. "Q & A with Sarah Pinbourough," Black Static 16 April – May 2010, page 52
3. "Sarah Pinborough". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
4. British Fantasy Society Journal Autumn 2011 page 29
5. "An Independent on Sunday Book of the Year 2012". independent.co.uk. 8 December 2012.
6. Upcoming4.me (2013). "Sarah Pinborough – The Language of Dying cover art and synopsis reveal". Retrieved 29 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
7. Upcoming4.me (2014). "Stay With Me by Sarah Pinborough cover art and synopsis". Retrieved 27 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
8. Black Static 20 Dec2010/Jan2011 page 10
9. See question 6 in Musings of the Monster Librarian
10. Cowdrey, Katherine. "Netflix to adapt YA thriller 13 Minutes". The Bookseller. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
11. "Director Peter Medak Has Finally Cracked Up". Dread Central. 2 August 2012.
12. "Netflix series Behind Her Eyes starring Eve Hewson due out in 2021". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 4 November 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
13. Clarke, Stewart (25 January 2019). "'The Crown' Producers Making Psychological Thriller 'Behind Her Eyes' for Netflix". Variety. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
14. Carr, Flora. "When is Behind Her Eyes on Netflix?". Radio Times.
15. "Red Planet options Dog Faced Gods trilogy". 28 November 2023.
16. "Vicky McClure, Paramount+ battle Insomnia".

External links

• Official website
• Sarah Pinborough at IMDb
• Story Behind The Language of Dying – Essay by Sarah Pinborough
• Story Behind Murder – Essay by Sarah Pinborough
• Interview at Gothic Imagination