Nicholas Thurkettle is a writer, actor, and filmmaker living in Southern California. He is the author of the short story collection Stages of Sleep and co-author (with MF Thomas) of the sci-fi thriller novels Seeing by Moonlight and A Sickness in Time. He has published sci-fi short stories such as “The Lake of the Dead”, “Fourth Grade”, and “4pants” in anthologies from Brick Moon Fiction, and also had his prose work featured in literary journals such as Paradigm, Blood Lotus Journal, A Few Lines Magazine, Subtle Fiction, Front Porch Review, and Silver Blade.

As a screenwriter, he is a member of the Writers Guild of America, having sold the comedy screenplay Queen Lara to Room 9 Entertainment, and optioned thriller screenplays such as Snowblind and 7 Red to independent producers. He collaborated with director Antonio Negret on the action thriller Under the Knife which is now in development, and wrote the pilot script for an unannounced animation series which is currently in production. His stage plays have been produced here in California and at regional theaters in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. He also serves as a writer/producer/performer with the award-winning podcast Earbud Theater, which produces new, original sci-fi and horror radio dramas. For his role as “Cthulhu, Jr.” in the Earbud Theater episode “This Monstrous Life”, he received the Audio Verse Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Long-Form, Standalone Production.

As an actor, he has roles in upcoming independent feature films such as Cloudy With a Chance of Sunshine, Revelator, Aventura!, and Reclaiming Friendship Park, for which he was recently nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Love International Film Festival. He has an extensive resume of on-stage Shakespeare, including five years with the acclaimed outdoor festival Shakespeare Orange County. Favorite stage roles include Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing and Renfield in Dracula. He also does extensive voice work, narrating audiobooks in many genres and voicing characters in videogames such as Titan: Dawn and Book of Demons.

In 2015, he directed his first short film, Samantha Gets Back Out There, a comedy-drama for which he was also producer, writer, and editor. The film had its world premiere at the Laughlin International Film Festival, and received an Honorable Mention as well as a nomination for Best Comedy at the IndieFEST USA Film and Music Festival. He recently completed his second short, The Retriever, for which he was once again editor, writer, producer, and director, and it is just beginning its run in the festival world. He also served as co-producer on writer/director Adam Stovall’s forthcoming horror feature A Ghost Waits, which completed production in summer 2016. Somehow, despite all of this, he finds a way to be dead broke.