PW Stephens

PW Stephens is an author of Gothic love, Gothic horror, and now cosmic horror. He is the creator of the Broken Pebbles series, the upcoming Venusian Born series, and the fictional father of Alice, Jacob, Evan, Vulpus, and Corvus.

Born and raised on the North Kent coast, in the heart of the Medway Towns during the late ’70s, Stephens grew up in a humble and loving home. Lacking confidence, he found solace in the escapism of reading and the boundless freedom of worldbuilding through writing. Inspired by literary greats such as Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Herman Melville, his mission is to breathe new life into an aging genre—bringing the horror of the macabre straight into the modern world, and perhaps, right into your own backyard.

His debut novel, The Rise & Fall of Jacob Brooking, was released to critical acclaim in August 2019. This short but powerful work explored the unraveling of a man’s mental health through an almost supernatural lens. Its sequel, The Psychosis of Alice Petalow, released in early 2020, expanded the story into a larger universe, interweaving the narratives of multiple characters. In February 2020, these two novels were combined into The Papillon and the Oubliette, the first book in the Broken Pebbles series—described by Writer’s Life Work as “Gothic love at its finest” and by Blue Book Promotions and Reviews as “The Shining meets The Notebook in a book that will stay with me forever.”

The sequel, Impressions of Violence, released in December 2020, brought the Broken Pebbles series to a haunting conclusion while leaving the door open for potential spin-offs. In 2022, the entire saga was combined into a single, sprawling 900-page epic, Broken Pebbles & Papillon Wings, which went on to win several independent awards.

Now, in 2025, Stephens returns with the highly anticipated release of Venusian Born, his first venture into cosmic horror and the beginning of an ambitious four-book series—work he considers among his finest to date.

Join PW Stephens and his murder of crows as he delves into the dark reflections of the mirror, where the boundaries between love, horror, and the unknown blur beyond recognition.