Sam Maggs (born November 10, 1988) is a Canadian-American author of books, comics and video games, and is known especially for her work on The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy, Marvel Action: Captain Marvel, and Rick and Morty: Ever After.
Along with her BA, Maggs holds an MA in literatures of modernity from Ryerson University, completed in 2011.[4]
Career
Maggs began her writing career as the weekend editor of the Abrams Media site Geekosystem, which was eventually consolidated into the feminist-leaning geek culture commentary site The Mary Sue.[5] Following this merger, she took on an associate editor role.[6]
While at The Mary Sue, Maggs sold her first book, The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy, to Quirk Books. It was published in 2015.[15] A second edition, titled the Fangirl's Guide to the Universe and featuring updated text and new illustrations, was released October 27, 2020.[16] A companion guided journal, The Fangirl's Journal for Leveling Up: Conquer Your Life Through Fandoms, came out on the same day.[17]
Maggs followed up her debut with Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors and Trailblazers Who Changed History, also from Quirk Books, in 2016.[18] Dubbed "extraordinary" by Entertainment Weekly,[19] the book shares the histories of notable women in the STEM fields, adventure, and espionage. In 2018, she published Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships That Changed History with Quirk Books, which Booklist referred to as "impressively researched and fascinating".[20] Both publications reflect Maggs' desire to celebrate the overlooked accomplishments of women throughout history[21] and the power of female friendships and women supporting women.[22]
In addition, Maggs has penned two encyclopedias about women superheroes for DK: Marvel Fearless and Fantastic! Female Super Heroes Save the World, published in 2018, and DC Brave and Bold!, published in 2019.[23]
She made her middle grade novel debut in June 2020 with the publication of Con Quest! from Imprint/Macmillan Publishers. The story follows a pair of twins as they run away from their older sister for a chance to meet one of their favorite celebrities at a giant comics and pop culture convention. Kirkus gave it a starred review.[24]
In July 2020, she released her first young adult novel, The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope via Marvel Press. The book follows the third Wasp, Nadia van Dyne, as she learns to balance her science career with school, superheroes, and the general stress and strain that comes with being a teenager.[25]
Her books have been translated into Turkish,[26] Portuguese,[27] Korean,[28] and French.[29]
Comics
In her first foray into comics, Maggs penned a story titled "Legacy" for IDW Publishing's Star Trek: Waypoint #2 in 2016.[30] Her story filled in the life and experiences of the series' first-ever female redshirt, and she told SyFy Wire that, "It's easy to forget, when you're watching any sci-fi, that the goons and extras and henchmen who die for the sake of plot momentum or main character development are all (hypothetically) people with their own lives and families and stories… Now, [Thompson] isn't just another one of the faceless masses who die so Kirk may live. I wanted to make sure that you knew why she would have sacrificed her life."[31]
She also wrote Marvel Action: Captain Marvel for IDW, where the inclusion of characters like Squirrel Girl, Nadia van Dyne/Unstoppable Wasp, and Spider-Woman continue to reflect her favored theme of the strength to be found in female friendship.[40]
Other projects include the Viz Media manga adaptation of Rainbow Rowell's bestselling YA novel Fangirl, with illustrations by Gabi Nam, released on October 13, 2020.[41] Her first full-length original graphic novel Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas, co-created with Kendra Wells and published by the Abrams Books imprint Amulet Books, released on February 9, 2021.[42] The story revolves around the real-life pirating adventures of Anne Bonny and Mary Read.[43]
Video games
From 2016 through 2018, Maggs worked as an associate writer for the video game studio BioWare, where she contributed writing to the Cards Against Humanity: Mass Effect pack.[44] She also wrote for the online game Anthem, specifically the asexual[45] character Ryssa Brin.[46]
She self-credits herself as lead writer for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart[49] despite her name not appearing in the official credits of the game and engaged in a public feud with Insomniac lead designer Mark Stuart alleging that he took credit for her work.[50] She left the studio in January 2020, before the game was released, and went on to work with Sledgehammer Games as a writer for the campaign of Call of Duty: Vanguard.[51]
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