Shawn Speakman is an American fantasy writer, editor and publisher who grew up in Washington State. He studied at the University of Washington and became the webmaster of the novelist Terry Brooks. Diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2011 and without health insurance, he assembled the anthology Unfettered (2013), in which fantasy authors donated stories to pay off his medical bills; it raised more than two hundred thousand dollars and became the first book of his own imprint, Grim Oak Press. He has since edited Unbound (2015), Unfettered II (2016), Unfettered III (2019) and the Grimoire convention anthologies, and written the Annwn Cycle, beginning with The Dark Thorn.