television. Then came COVID. It turns out, writing gritty dramas centred on arguments over kitchen tables is all well and good until it is all one experiences over the course of a year. Instead, during lockdown, he found solace and escape in the fantasy classics from his youth - Tolkien, Martin, Pullman and more - whilst also endeavouring to broaden his horizons and quickly devouring the work of Jordan, Abercrombie, Hobb and Sanderson, to name but a few new favourites. Slowly, he became more and more consumed by the genre, and soon after began work in earnest on his first novel, hoping to combine the humanity and relatability of the kitchen-sink drama with the scope, scale and imagination of the fantasy epic.

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​Spending years writing an irresponsibly long tome, however, does not pay the bills. In addition to his freelance work, over the last few years Gabriel has worked part-time as a cook to supplement his decadent fantasy-writing obsession. A particular passion of his, he enjoys cooking up a good roast or stew almost as much as he does a colourful character or a magical realm. Much of his debut novel 'The Worth of Scars' was dreamt up while simmering sauces, peeling vegetables or searing meats (a detail that might go some way towards explaining the grimness of the story's magic system). After shopping the novel around in search of representation and traditional publication, it pretty quickly became apparent that, due to the project's length - Gabriel was 150,000 words in before realising that his favourites by Martin, Jordan and Sanderson, with their enormous word counts, were an exception, not the norm, particularly for debut authors - along with the darker, more controversial aspects of its content, the only way forward was through independent publishing. The first entry in 'The Scarred Saga' will now hit shelves, both physical and virtual, some time in the second half of 2026.

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