Sam Taylor

**Samuel "Sam" Coleridge Taylor** is a character in the InCryptid Series by Seanan McGuire. He is a fūri, a type of therianthrope able to shift between monkey-man and human. He is dating Antimony Price.

## About

### Appearance

Sam is tall, muscular, and Chinese-American. As a human, he is cleanshaven with dark hair and slightly larger-than-normal hands and feet. He must consciously tense his body in order to appear human. He does not like wearing shoes; when forced, he usually opts for easy-to-remove flip flops. He also favors baggy sweatpants and hoodies that let him hide his simian features when needed.

In fūri form, his black hair lightens to a brownish ticking and extends into fluffy sideburns along his cheeks. His hands and feet become more simian, and he has a long tail that he tends to wrap around objects like a security blanket.

### Personality

Sam is an asshole to strangers because they force him to remain in human form. To those he trusts, however, he is incredibly loyal and caring.

### Abilities

Sam is a trapeze artist, his natural talent aided by his simian features. Antimony notes that while flying in human shape he has impeccable form but appears tense. He is far more comfortable flying in simian shape, using his prehensile tail and finger-like toes to grip the bars.

He is faster than the average person in human form and exponentially so as a simian. In simian form, he has stronger bones than a human, to the point of being able to survive a gunshot to the head.

### Professional Life

Sam grew up in the carnival and now works as a trapeze artist. He also fills the role of boss's kid, acknowledged by all of the carnival workers.

He leaves the carnival to save Annie from the Lowryland Cabal and then moves with her to Oregon. He future professional plans are unknown.

## Biography

Sam's parents met while his mom was touring China. Delilah knew that her fling was a fūri but never told Emery the man's identity. Delilah is of European descent.

Free-spirited Delilah did not feel prepared or interested in raising a child, so she left Sam with her mother Emery. Sam's grandmother raised him in the carnival and created an insular community that allowed Sam to be himself, openly cryptid, within the boneyard. As such, he grew up sheltered and suspicious of outsiders. Emery also made a point of scaring off would-be girlfriends, thinking she was protecting Sam, but Sam managed to get some dating experience in as a young man. Still, even when dating within the carnival Sam never found a girl who was interested in even kissing him in simian form; he always had to maintain that tension to appear human. As such, he is still a virgin when he meets Antimony.

## In the Series

### Magic for Nothing

Sam is irritated when his grandmother allows Timpani "Annie" Brown to take refuge at the Spenser and Smith family carnival, as it means he must maintain his human form within the boneyard. He grudgingly lets her join his trapeze act, and even as they practice together he remains distant and grumpy. Then fellow carnie Umeko attacks Annie, revealing herself a joromungo, and Sam shifts to fūri while jumping in to help. He is shocked when Annie has no issues with his cryptid form and immediately gives into the attraction he'd been fighting, asking her out on several dates. They kiss on the Ferris Wheel and Annie assures him she'd rather he stay "relaxed" in his simian form as they kiss.

He is shocked and hurt to later discover that Timpani Brown is actually Antimony Price, cryptozoologist. He ditches her in the middle of watching a roller derby match, but their fight is cut short when the Covenant attacks the carnival. The two make up, hook up, and work together to drive the Covenant off. Sam is shot in the head during the attack, and if he were human he would have died.

He remains with the now fire-damaged carnival while Annie disappears into hiding.

### The Recitation of the Most Holy and Harrowing Pilgrimage of Mindy and Also Mork

At Annie's request, Sam takes her Aeslin mice to the airport so that they can return to Portland.

### Tricks for Free

Sam remains with the carnival, which stays at the Campbell Family Carnival's indoor training facilities while they recover from the fire damage. Mary keeps him updated on Annie's wellbeing but refused to share where she is without her consent - at least until Annie gets into a tight spot with the Lowryland Cabal. He hitchhikes to Florida and joins Annie and her allies. He is ecstatic when she takes him on a tourist day through Lowryland, but in doing so he forfeits his luck to the cabal. When a terrible accident happens in the park, Sam shifts to simian to rescue a child but then finds he cannot change back. Jink Cylia helps him regain some ambient luck back, and the group attempts to infiltrate the cabal in order to take them down. In the process, Sam and Annie almost drown. Annie makes a deal with the Crossroads to save them both, and then he helps her take down the cabal.

### That Ain't Witchcraft

Sam joins Annie, Fern, and Cylia on a cross-country road trip from Florida to New Gravesend, Maine. He rides most of the trip in the backseat, hoodie up, so he can nap without other cars noticing a giant monkey man in the vehicle.

In Maine, he explores the woods surrounding their rental house and offers Annie what support he can in dealing with the Crossroads. When she pretends to be James's girlfriend in order to look for sorcerer journals, he is jealous and grumpy but goes along with it. He is not a fan of the researching portion of the visit either.

He helps Annie take down the Crossroads, then joins her on another cross-country trip back to Portland.

### Follow the Lady

Sam meets Alice, Annie's grandmother, during a pit stop in Buckley Township, Michigan.

## Relationships

### Antimony Price

Annie is not Sam's first girlfriend, or even the first girlfriend who knows he is a fūri, but she is the first who fully accepts him for who he is. She encourages him to remain in simian form when they are in private, knowing that he has to be consciously tense in order to maintain his human form. He loses his virginity to her and the two develop a healthy intimate life that their friends tease them about.

Sam goes out of his mind with worry when Annie disappears after the carnival fire, to the point that Mary is strongly encouraging Annie to let Sam come help her. Once they are reunited, he is very firm that he has no interested being separated from her again, though he is very clear that he will never go alpha-male and force her into anything she doesn't truly want.

He is vocally appreciative of both Annie's mind and body, to her and to their friends.

### Emery Spenser

Sam is close to his grandmother, who raised him and is more of a mother to him than his actual mom. Emery is very protective of Sam and tries to warn off any carnival girls who show romantic interest in Sam.

## Quotes

**Magic for Nothing**

* “Okay, holy shit, you’re weird.” (Ch. 13)

**That Ain't Witchcraft**

* “She sets shit on fire. It’s pretty sexy.”
* “You broke her. I left her alone for six months and you broke her. This probably voids the warranty.” (Ch. 13)
* “You get one freebie. You already used it up. If you run away from me again, I’m tracking you down and looking at you sadly until you agree to stop.” (Ch. 14)
* “You’re like a cockroach. I’m dating a cockroach. That’s pretty cool.” (Ch. 23)
* “It’s hot when your name scares the shit out of people.” (Ch. 25)

## Trivia

* Sam shares a name with the 19th-century English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who was also of mixed birth (English and Sierra Leonean), but it is unknown if there is any other reason behind the name. He may also be named after Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an English writer (who Coleridge-Taylor the composer was named after).