Jonathan Sims

During his time as a student in St Hilda's College, Oxford, Sims took part in amateur dramatics as part of the Oxford University Light Entertainment Society (OULES),{{Cite web |date=5 December 2018 |title=Jonathan Sims Member Page |url=https://oules.lightentertainment.org/member/jonathan_sims |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=OULES Archives}} which is billed as "Oxford's least serious drama society".{{Cite web |date=2 March 2025 |title=Home |url=https://oules.org.uk |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Oxford University Light Entertainment Society}}

In 2010, Sims was part of the initial line-up for a music group called The Mechanisms, a self-styled "Storytelling Musical Cabaret".{{Cite web |date=5 January 2025 |title=About |url=https://themechanisms.com |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=The Mechanisms}} Sims acted as lead singer, performing under the name Jonny D'Ville. Sims primarily acted as the narrator for performances,{{Cite web |last=Shaw |first=William |date=21 August 2015 |title=Review: The Mechanisms |url=https://williamshawwriter.wordpress.com/category/ed-fringe-review/ |website=William Shaw's Wordpress}} where classical stories such as the Odyssey and the legend of King Arthur were re-framed in steampunk, western and cyberpunk settings. Sims co-wrote lyrics for several songs in subsequent albums. The Mechanisms disbanded in 2020, after a final album entitled Death to the Mechanisms.

Sims created and launched the podcast The Magnus Archives in 2016, and served as its head writer, presenter, and voice actor.{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Eric |date=13 November 2020 |title=The best recent science fiction and fantasy – review roundup. The Evidence by Christopher Priest; The Thief on the Winged Horse by Kate Mascarenhas; Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims; Witch Bottle by Tom Fletcher; These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/13/the-best-recent-science-fiction-and-fantasy-review-roundup |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250302015515/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/13/the-best-recent-science-fiction-and-fantasy-review-roundup |archivedate=2 March 2025 |accessdate=2 March 2025 |newspaper=The Guardian}}{{cite news |last=Howse |first=Ryan |date=2020-11-13 |title=Review: Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan SIMs |url=https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-thirteen-storeys-by-jonathan-sims/ |magazine=Grimdark Magazine |accessdate=2025-03-02 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250302020844/https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-thirteen-storeys-by-jonathan-sims/ |archivedate=2025-03-02 }}{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=29 October 2021 |title=Chapter and curse: is the horror novel entering a golden age? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/29/chapter-and-curse-is-the-horror-novel-entering-a-golden-age |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250302015219/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/29/chapter-and-curse-is-the-horror-novel-entering-a-golden-age |archivedate=2 March 2025 |accessdate=2 March 2025 |newspaper=The Guardian}} Sims played a fictionalised version of himself: Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, a character who reads out disturbing and unusual cases that have been submitted to The Magnus Institute Archives.{{cite news |last=Nair |first=Amrita V |date=23 August 2019 |title=How podcasts are reviving radio plays |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/watch/the-return-of-the-radio-star/article29230389.ece |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250302015805/https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/watch/the-return-of-the-radio-star/article29230389.ece |archivedate=2 March 2025 |accessdate=2 March 2025 |newspaper=Business Line}}{{cite news |last=Divola |first=Barry |date=13 July 2021 |title=Critic's pick: the best new podcasts from the last 12 months |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/critic-s-pick-the-best-new-podcasts-from-the-last-12-months-20210713-p5894z.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250302015600/https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/critic-s-pick-the-best-new-podcasts-from-the-last-12-months-20210713-p5894z.html |archivedate=2 March 2025 |accessdate=2 March 2025 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald}}{{cite news |last=Veenstra |first=Connor |date=13 October 2021 |title=The Magnus Archives: An avatar of modern horror |url=https://www.michigansthumb.com/insider/article/The-Magnus-Archives-An-avatar-of-modern-horror-16526913.php |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20240730040321/https://www.michigansthumb.com/insider/article/The-Magnus-Archives-An-avatar-of-modern-horror-16526913.php |archivedate=30 July 2024 |accessdate=2 March 2025 |newspaper=Huron Daily Tribune}}{{cite news |last=Rouner |first=Jef |date=26 October 2022 |title=5 horror podcasts to check out this Halloween |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/5-horror-podcasts-to-check-out-this-halloween |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250302014800/https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/5-horror-podcasts-to-check-out-this-halloween |archivedate=2 March 2025 |accessdate=2 March 2025 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}} In development, the audio-drama had been initially proposed as a simple anthology of spooky stories, but gradually developed to include a meta-plot.{{Cite web |last=tea wood |date=26 October 2016 |title=MAG S1 Q&A |url=https://snarp.github.io/magnus_archives_transcripts/special/0402-qa1.html |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=The Magnus Archives Transcripts Archive Archive A (Extremely Unofficial)}} Over time the fictional version of Sims diverged completely from the real-world Sims. The podcast is immensely popular, reaching 100 million downloads on Spotify in 2025.{{Cite web |last= |date=17 February 2025 |title= UK production company Rusty Quill's The Magnus Archives Surpasses 100 Million Downloads, Earning Prestigious Award from Spotify |url=https://podnews.net/press-release/rusty-quill-magnus-archives |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Podnews}}

In 2023, Sims was cast as The Voice of the Narrator and The Voices in Your Head for the acclaimed indie game Slay the Princess, acting alongside Nichole Goodnight.{{Cite web |date=2 March 2025 |title=Slay the Princess |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29702873/ |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=IMDb}} In the game, Sims demonstrates a wide range of vocal performances for multiple distinct characters which resulted in widespread praise from the gaming community.{{Cite web |last=Webling |first=Cat |date=9 October 2022 |title=Rethink Heroism With Slay the Princess – An Interview With Black Tabby Games |url=https://www.superjumpmagazine.com/slay-the-princess-creator-interview/ |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=SUPERJUMP}}{{Cite web |date=23 October 2025 |title=Slay the Princess |url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/slay-the-princess/ |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=MetaCritic}}{{Cite web |last=Shellding |first=Oliver |date=31 October 2024 |title=REVIEW – SLAY THE PRINCESS: THE PRISTINE CUT (SWITCH) |url=https://waytoomany.games/2024/10/31/review-slay-the-princess-the-pristine-cut-switch/ |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Way Too Many Games}}{{Cite web |last=Aickman |first=Will |date=2 March 2025 |title=Slay the Princess review |url=https://adventuregamehotspot.com/review/729/slay-the-princess |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Adventure Game Hotspot}}

In November 2022, a Kickstarter campaign was run to fund a sequel for The Magnus Archives, called The Magnus Protocol.{{Cite web |date=7 December 2022 |title=The Magnus Archives 2 |url=https://rustyquill.com/news/2022-12-07-the-magnus-protocol-kickstarter/ |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Rusty Quill}} The aim was to raise £15,000 (USD). The final value raised was £718,641, more than any podcast had yet raised in crowdfunding history.

In 2024, The Magnus Protocol began its run, releasing 30 episodes for Season 1, with Season 2 beginning in February 2025. The show is co-written by Sims and Alexander J Newall, and presents a "side-quel" to The Magnus Archives, focused on Samama "Sam" Khalid, Alice Dyer, Gwen Bouchard, Celia Ripley, and Colin Becher, hapless employees of The Office of Incident Assessment and Response (OIAR), a fictional Civil Service department in London.

Sims' other voice acting roles include Dr. John Seward in Re:Dracula, Alf in The Silt Verses, the Stenographer/Narrator in Super Suits.{{Cite web |date=5 January 2025 |title=Super Suits |url=https://www.faustiannonsense.com/super-suits |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=Faustian Nonsense}}{{Cite web |date=5 January 2025 |title=Jonathan Sims Podcast Interviews and Credits |url=https://www.podchaser.com/creators/jonathan-sims-107ZzlMjRN/appearances |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=Podchaser}}

In addition to formal voice acting roles, Sims also narrates classic ghost and horror stories on his Bandcamp, Twitch, and YouTube accounts.{{Cite web |last=Sims |first=Jonathan |date=5 January 2025 |title=Jonathan Sims Audio |url=https://jonathansims.bandcamp.com |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=Bandcamp}}{{Cite web |last=Sims |first=Jonathan |date=5 January 2025 |title=Home |url=https://www.twitch.tv/jonnywaistcoat/ |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=JonnyWaistcoat - Twitch}}{{Cite web |last=Sims |first=Jonathan |date=5 January 2025 |title=Jonathan Sims Writer |url=https://www.youtube.com/@JonathanSimsWriter |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=Youtube}}

In 2015, Sims and his partner Sasha Sienna launched a self-owned tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) business called MacGuffin & Company.{{Cite web |date=5 January 2025 |title=Home |url=https://www.macguffinandcompany.com |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=MacGuffin & Company}} The company writes and publishes system-neutral micro-settings. These are short TTRPG campaign settings designed to be used with any game system, such as Pathfinder or Call of Cthulhu. Their first published collection Odd Jobs won ‘Best Roleplaying Game Adventure’ Award at the 2022 UK Games Expo,{{Cite web |last=Girdwood |first=Andrew |date=13 June 2022 |title=UKGE 2022 Awards: The best RPGs and board games of the year |url=https://www.geeknative.com/142923/ukge-2022-awards-the-best-rpgs-and-board-games-of-the-year/ |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=GeekNative}} and was nominated for ‘Product of the Year’ at that year's ENNIES Awards.{{Cite web |date=2 March 2025 |title=2022 Results |url=https://ennie-awards.com/2022-results/ |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=ENNIE Awards}} In addition to producing games for sale, the company has a Patreon where Sims and Sienna release early content, one-shot campaigns, and provide a course on how to be a Gamemaster or GM.{{Cite web |date=5 January 2025 |title=Home |url=https://www.patreon.com/c/macguffinandcompany/posts |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=MacGuffin & Company Patreon}}

Sims has also appeared on multiple podcasts about TTRPGs or live-play podcasts, where such games are played for the audience's enjoyment.

Sims has published two horror novels with Gollancz Ltd.{{cite news |last=Lovegrove |first=James |date=30 October 2022 |title=Fresh chills — the best new horror fiction |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6076b87e-23a5-4a81-80c7-a43cdd59ff18 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20221031133822/https://www.ft.com/content/6076b87e-23a5-4a81-80c7-a43cdd59ff18 |archivedate=31 October 2022 |accessdate=2 March 2025 |newspaper=Financial Times}} His debut novel, Thirteen Storeys, was published in 2020. The novel expands on the concept of a haunted house by setting the tale in a haunted block of flats in London. The novel explores the relationship between the wealthy "haves", who rent the luxurious flats at the front of the building, and the disempowered "have-nots" who rent the cheap flats, and enter via a back door.

Sims' second novel, Family Business, was published in 2022, and centres around the horror of grief and whose memory is upheld by society.{{Cite web |last=Forbidden Planet |date=16 January 2023 |title=Jonathan Sims takes us behind-the-scenes of his new novel FAMILY BUSINESS |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7XdHyK04eg |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Youtube}} The central character, Diya, starts a new job after the loss of a close friend. She begins working for a family (Slough & Sons) who provide specialist cleaning services after death: domestic, forensic, and otherwise. However, things quickly become strange as she cannot remember details of the deceased clients.

After his first two novels, Sims signed the world rights to another two novels to Gollancz.{{cite magazine |date=21 February 2024 |title=Gollancz signs two new novels by horror writer Jonathan Sims |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/gollancz-signs-two-new-novels-by-horror-writer-jonathan-sims |magazine=The Bookseller |accessdate=2 March 2025 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250302021026/https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/gollancz-signs-two-new-novels-by-horror-writer-jonathan-sims |archivedate=2 March 2025}} Sims' third novel, Burnout, is currently being written, scheduled for publication in 2026. Described as his "breakup letter to London", Burnout is a horror story set in modern London during a heatwave, making things uncomfortable for a group of residents stuck on the London Underground. When pitching his new novel, Sims told his editor "did you know there's a legal maximum temperature that cows can be transported at, but not humans?".{{Cite web |last=Gollancz |date=21 April 2024 |title=Bringing News from Our World to Yours |url=https://gollancz.tumblr.com/post/748341271434838016/casual-reminder-to-keep-your-eyes-out-for-this |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Tumblr}}

Sims has also written science-fiction, co-writing ‘’Of that Colossal Wreck’’ with Sienna, for Season 1 of the Neon Inkwell podcast series. The series follows a group of people waking up alone on a vast space station, figuring out what to do and how to be, when most of humanity seems to have gone the way of Ozymandias.

Sims has contributed to the Zombies, Run! fitness app by writing a scenario called The Graveyard Run,{{Cite web |last=ZRX |date=7 November 2022 |title=The Graveyard Route: Interview with Jonny Sims and Ella Watts |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WK9ZuE1clU |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Youtube}} featuring ghost stories based around English history.{{Cite web |last=Watts |first=Ella |date=17 November 2022 |title=Interview with Jonathan Sims |url=https://blog.zombiesrungame.com/2022/11/17/interview-with-jonathan-sims/ |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=The Zombies, Run! blog}} He has also contributed writing to historical fiction podcast Outliers and collections of short stories, Curtains and Great British Horror: Major Arcana.{{Cite web |last=Sims |first=Jonathan |date=2 March 2025 |title=Other Works |url=https://jonathan-sims.com/other-work/ |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Jonathan Sims Website}}

Sims has stated his narrative style and The Magnus Archives were heavily inspired by a childhood spent reading The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James.{{Cite web |last=Rusty Quill |date=28 February 2025 |title=Reading the Collection of MR James stories Clip |url=https://www.twitch.tv/rusty_quill/clip/AbstemiousZealousClamShadyLulu-V1NASM8K84iGXuPR |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Twitch}} The Magnus Archives were named after his favourite story from this collection, "Count Magnus".{{Cite web |last=Rusty Quill |date=28 February 2025 |title=Count Magnus by MR James Clip |url=https://www.twitch.tv/rusty_quill/clip/OddBoxyFriseeOSkomodo-H1fwRJudEbzF9BOt |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Twitch}} Sims is a fan of horror movies {{Cite web |last=Sims |first=Jonathan |date=27 November 2024 |title=@jonnysims.bsky.social |url=https://bsky.app/profile/jonnysims.bsky.social/post/3lbwtgn4un22q |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=BlueSky}} and frequently gives characters surnames based on horror authors or characters.

Sims has been described as having "the most phenomenal skill of finding the human stories that make his horror really hit home. He has an uncanny ability to tap into the deepest innate fears and use them to shine a mirror on society.".

Sims lives in Manchester with his spouse, Sasha Sienna, and the "two best cats in the world",{{Cite web |last=Exeter University Podcast Society |date=10 February 2023 |title=Interview with JONNY SIMS! Magnus Protocol, Star Signs and Cats! |url=https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/exeter-university-podcast-society/episodes/Interview-with-JONNY-SIMS--Magnus-Protocol--Star-Signs-and-Cats-e1uon2k |access-date=2 March 2025 |website=Spotify}} Ser Pouncealot and The Ambassador.

{{reflist}}

• [https://rustyquill.com/show/the-magnus-archives/ The Magnus Archives]
• [https://rustyquill.com/show/the-magnus-protocol/ The Magnus Protocol]
• [https://rustyquill.com/show/neon-inkwell/ Neon Inkwell Season 1 - Of That Colossal Wreck]
• [https://store.gollancz.co.uk/collections/author-jonathan-sims Gollancz Storepage]
• [https://www.macguffinandcompany.com Macguffin & Co.]

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Category:1988 births

Category:English horror writers

Category:English novelists

Category:English podcasters

Category:English voice actors

Category:Living people