Nick Stead is the author of Hybrid, the first of a horror series about a werewolf. He began writing the very first draft at the age of fifteen in 2003, during his GCSE years at high school, after his cousin encouraged him to start writing and helped brainstorm ideas for the first three chapters. What was initially intended to be a short story quickly began to develop into a narrative that would become a full length novel, and with the realisation of this Nick’s dream to one day be published was born.
He finished the first draft before starting college, where he had a somewhat varied education, first choosing to study animal management and then going on to do courses in IT and web design. In the pursuit of these other interests and caught up in the social side of student life, the manuscript remained virtually untouched through these years, though he did write another horror during this time which he will seek to publish sometime in the future.
Once Nick completed his studies he began to grow serious about being published again and gave Hybrid its first major redraft. After testing the manuscript on a few brave guinea pigs who all reported back they enjoyed it, and then doing some research into the publishing process, he finally began to submit to literary agencies in September, 2012. Undeterred by the rejection letters that were soon to pile up, he kept trying until finally he discovered Wild Wolf Publishing in 2014. Though their initial advice was that it still needed some work before it was ready for publishing, they invited him to revise and resubmit. Filled with excitement he went through an intensive month of editing and completely reworking the parts that he felt needed it, until he was happy enough with the final draft to approach Wild Wolf once more. This led to the book deal Nick had been dreaming of and Hybrid was finally published in the summer of 2015.
Born in Huddersfield, Nick has lived in Yorkshire all his life. He moved back to Huddersfield in 2011 where he now lives with his two cats, and hopes to add a tamaskan dog to the family soon as well. He has been fascinated and obsessed with werewolves for as long as he can remember, and a fan of horror in general all his life. He also enjoys fantasy and some sci-fi, and has many hobbies, ranging from his obvious love of reading and writing to movies and video games, and more recently LARP (live action roleplay).
Since starting to write at fifteen Nick is now unable to stop. He became a proud member of Huddersfield Author’s Circle in August 2012, through which he feels he has really honed his skills as a writer. Joining the group has also encouraged him to take part in several competitions. He writes mostly supernatural horror but does have plans to write a dark fantasy in future, having been inspired by LARP. For the latest news on his books and other projects check out the news page, and you can also read his short stories for free here on the site.