Madeline Gibbs

And now for something entirely different! TSFoE is a story about Ira, a medieval trainee doctor who can't save his first patient! I mean can you even imagine?
So, she, a young girl, dies. His mentor buries her.
Fast forward a few years and Ira the accomplished doctor returns from travels abroad and bumps into the girl who had died. Nola.
His mentor denies it and Ira goes to some extreme lengths to prove it is his first patient. Does he succeed? Will Nola thaw Ira's icy persona? And will his mentor Pendleton ever come clean about who Nola is, where she's from and why he faked her death? To find out you have to read the book.

Hello, there!

My name is Madeline Gibbs and I'm an author and artist based in Eastern North Carolina. Originally from Manchester, UK, I grew up on a diet of Tim Burton, George A. Romero and Goosebumps.

I've always loved the weird, the wonderful and the macabre. I find extraordinary beauty in death and I never quite grew out of my Gothic 'phase' (sorry, Mum!).

It's no surprise, then, that these loves would influence my work.

I've always loved to create, be it drawing, doodling, writing, knitting, etc, but these were done mainly for fun or to help me through a tough time. When I finally decided to take myself seriously as an author and artist, my entire world changed!

With the goal of writing a short story in mind, I began scribbling some notes. But before long these notes grew into something much, much bigger. You see, I'd done this thing where I started thinking about stuff. And those thoughts became hypotheticals which then grew into ideas. . . Thoughts about plagues and how they affect societies. Thoughts about death and rebirth. Thoughts about magick and the occult (more subjects I find fascinating). Thoughts about religion. And thoughts about what a society without religion would look like. . .

So, I decided to use my newly-formed, little blob of a story to explore these scenarios and boom! My first novel, The Scarlet Flowers of Engelstadt, was born. She was published in Nov. 2021.

As I worked on the manuscript, I realised that this ‘Scarlet Flowers’ was going to be more than just a standalone work.

And thus, The Dark Doctrines series came into existence!

Since publishing 'Scarlet Flowers', I have published two short stories in The Dark Doctrines series: A Conversation with Mienk and The Tape.

All of my stories explore the topic of mental health. After going through my own battles with several severe mental health illnesses (which have nearly killed me a few times), I had to incorporate mental health into my work.

But, I am still here! I am still fighting! And I'm still creating!

Currently, I am working on The Tenth Sphere (the prequel to ‘Scarlet Flowers’) and another writing project, The Jackal of Rajpur. When I’m not writing, you will find me listening to music, drawing, painting, knitting, watching films or outside with my husband, little one and our dog.