Sarah Pinborough Explained
Sarah Pinborough is an English author and screenwriter of over 20 YA and adult works. She is known for her thriller, fantasy and cross-genre novels.
Biography
Pinborough was born in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1972. Her father was a diplomat, and as a child she moved between various countries, including Syria, India, the Sudan, and Russia. After ten years at boarding school in England, she tried several different jobs before becoming a secondary school teacher. She taught for six years before becoming a full-time writer.[1]
Her first publication was a horror story entitled Express Delivery’ in 2001. She began writing novels, and six of these were published by Leisure Books. Moving away from horror, Pinborough then published the trilogy The Dog-Faced Gods (2010-12).
As Sarah Silverwood she penned the Nowhere Chronicles young adult series.
Pinbrough rose to prominence in 2017 with the cross-genre thriller Behind Her Eyes, which was adapted as a limited series for Netflix in 2021.[2]
Bibliography
Novels
Leisure Books
Her work has been published within the horror books section of Leisure Books.[3]
- The Hidden (2004, Leisure Books) — amnesia is the start of a new life with hidden horrors
- The Reckoning (2005, Leisure Books) — horrors from teenage years come back to a group of adult friends
- Breeding Ground (2006, Leisure Books) — 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) — ghostly revenge novel
- Tower Hill (2008, Leisure Books) — about a small town in America in supernatural peril of Biblical proportions
- Feeding Ground (2009, Leisure Books) — 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.[4]
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.
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.[5]
"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[6]
- A Matter of Blood (2010, Gollancz Books) (2013 Ace Books)
- The Shadow of the Soul (2011, Gollancz Books) (2013 Ace Books)
- The Chosen Seed (2012, Gollancz Books) (2013 Ace Books) [7]
The Fairy Tale Series
Subversive retellings of fairy stories published by Gollancz Books.
- Poison (April 2013 Gollancz Books) — a Snow White story
- Charm (July 2013 Gollancz Books) — a Cinderella story
- Beauty (October 2013 Gollancz Books) — a Sleeping Beauty story
Other novels
- The Language of Dying (2009, PS Publishing) (2013, Jo Fletcher Books)[8] — a dysfunctional family is revealed around the father's death-bed
- Mayhem (2013, Jo Fletcher Books) — a supernatural murder mystery set in Victorian London and based around the events of the Thames Torso Murders.
- Murder (2013, Jo Fletcher Books) — a sequel to Mayhem
- The Death House (2015, Gollancz)[9] — bleak lives of children with a 'Defective gene'
- 13 Minutes (2016, Flatiron Books) — 'young adult' thriller following a girl being rescued from an icy river
- Behind Her Eyes (2017, HarperCollins) — an idyllic life suddenly changes and who can be trusted?
- Cross Her Heart (2018, William Morrow & Co) — psychological thriller about a liar and truth
- Dead To Her (2020, HarperCollins) — crime thriller involving an outsider marrying into elite society
- Insomnia (2022, William Morrow & Co) — 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
- The Double-edged Sword (2010, Gollancz)
- The Traitor's Gate (2011, Gollancz)
- The London Stone (2012, Gollancz)
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) Hellbound Hearts (2009, Pocket Books) edited by Paul Kane (writer) and Marie O'Regan – Pinborough contributed "The Confessor's Tale"
- Zombie Apocalypse! edited by Stephen Jones (author) (2010, Running Press) – Pinborough contributed "Diary Entry #1", "Diary Entry #2" and "Diary Entry #3"
- 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.[10] [11]
- The Room Upstairs in House of Fear, an anthology of Haunted House stories edited by Jonathan Oliver (publishing), (2011 Solaris Books)
Adaptations
Several of her novels have been optioned or adapted for TV or film. 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[12] 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.
- Her teenage thriller, 13 Minutes was bought by Netflix in 2016, with Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage writing the adaptation.[13]
- Netflix developed a limited series based on Pinborough's psychological thriller novel Behind Her Eyes. The series premiered on 17 February 2021.[14] [15] [16]
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.[17] In 2024, Paramount+ will release Insomnia, starring Vicky McClure.[18]
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
- Web site: admin . 2012-03-18 . Sarah Pinborough: Beyond Horror . 2024-11-24 . Locus Online . en-US.
- Web site: Moore . Kasey . 2021-02-22 . 'Behind Her Eyes' Author Sarah Pinborough Discusses Netflix Limited Series . 2024-11-24 . What's on Netflix . en.
- 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
- "Q & A with Sarah Pinbourough," Black Static 16 April – May 2010, page 52
- Web site: Sarah Pinborough . 2014-10-05 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141006100442/http://www.davidhigham.co.uk/clients/Sarah-Pinborough.htm . 2014-10-06 .
- [British Fantasy Society]
- Web site: An Independent on Sunday Book of the Year 2012. 8 December 2012. independent.co.uk.
- Web site: Upcoming4.me. 2013. Sarah Pinborough – The Language of Dying cover art and synopsis reveal. 29 May 2013.
- Web site: Upcoming4.me. 2014. Stay With Me by Sarah Pinborough cover art and synopsis. 27 July 2014.
- Black Static 20 Dec2010/Jan2011 page 10
- See question 6 in Musings of the Monster Librarian
- Web site: Director Peter Medak Has Finally Cracked Up. Dread Central. 2 August 2012.
- Web site: Cowdrey . Katherine . Netflix to adapt YA thriller 13 Minutes . The Bookseller . 5 June 2020.
- Web site: Netflix series Behind Her Eyes starring Eve Hewson due out in 2021. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 4 November 2020. 20 November 2020.
- Web site: 'The Crown' Producers Making Psychological Thriller 'Behind Her Eyes' for Netflix. Clarke. Stewart. Variety. 25 January 2019. 7 February 2019.
- Web site: Carr . Flora . When is Behind Her Eyes on Netflix? . Radio Times.
- Web site: Red Planet options Dog Faced Gods trilogy . 28 November 2023 .
- Web site: Vicky McClure, Paramount+ battle Insomnia .
External links
