Samantha A. Branham was born in Pikeville, KY on December 26th, 1978. At the age of 28 she had traveled extensively and enjoyed the success of having produced her first album with Second Generation Vocal Band, entitled This Blood's For You, and publishing her first book, The Tempest's Child.

            During her formative years, Samantha was most likely seen as an enigma in her hometown. Keeping only few close friends, she mainly spent time working with school choirs until she began her schooling at  The Piarist School in Martin, KY. There she mainly kept to herself and wrote in her spare time. Samantha attributes her love of classic literature to some of the curriculum taught at the prep school. Her love of writing, and fiction in general, was nurtured by both her mother and great-grandmother.

            Samantha is something of a walking contradiction. She sings with a gospel band and writes horror fiction. That is to say, that tales of the supernatural, witchcraft, and mythical creatures like vampires are not foreign to her. When asked about her seeming fascination with the macabre, Samantha had this to say; "I grew up watching my mother being fascinated by the genre. Stephen King, Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, and Clive Barker were among her favorite authors. We loved scary movies in our house. I suppose it was a natural progression for me to take as a writer. It's imaginative and takes an eye for the extraordinary. While that might not be the whole reason, it is perhaps the easiest explanation to give."

            In 2006 Samantha took a look at her career and spoke with other artists struggling to make it in the entertainment industry. Through these conversations and her own struggles with both the music business and publishing world, Samantha has taken up a calling in trying to help independent artists with several projects she is working on jointly with others.

            The founding of Indie Searchlight in February 2007, has been a milestone for Samantha. Her dream of publishing is rapidly becoming a reality both as a novelist and also as a promoter for independent artists. Working closely with Edward Hancock II, Samantha has a series of promotional opportunities to spread the word about her work by way of book signings throughout the East Texas region while simultaneously sifting through submissions for the webzine at www.indiesearchlight.com and also finding time to maintain dates with her band, plan a wedding for October 2007, and work on a new book project.

            Currently Samantha has not retained literary representation. However, increasing demand for her work has left her with this to say in regards to literary agents.
 “I now understand what agents do for their writers and can honestly say that a good one would be worth their weight in gold.
 “Furthermore, I am seriously seeking representation for my next book project. However I do plan to be selective about who I forge that professional relationship with.”

Samantha has plans for several novel length fiction works in the coming three years. Her upcoming marriage to Lee Tiner, scheduled for October will be a big change for both her career and her lifestyle. While having published under Samantha A. Branham for her first book, she will publish new material under her married name of Samantha A. Tiner.

For more information on her projects please see her other websites at www.indiesearchlight.com and www.secondgenerationvocalband.com , family information for Samantha can be found at www.danielfamily.us which is maintained by her mother and grandparents.