A Slice of Cake With... Amanda Fleet

This week I am delighted to have a slice of cake with author Amanda Fleet.

Amanda Fleet is a physiologist by training and a writer at heart. She spent 18 years teaching science and medicine undergraduates at St Andrew's University but now uses her knowledge to work out how to kill people (in her books!). She completed her first degree at St Andrew's University and her doctorate at University College, London.

She has been an inveterate stationery addict since a child, amassing a considerable stash of fountain pens, ink and notebooks during her lifetime. These have thankfully come in useful, as she tends to write rather than type, at least in the early stages of writing a book.

During her time at St Andrew's, she worked with the College of Medicine in Blantyre, Malawi. While in Malawi, she learned about the plight of the many street children there and helped to set up a Community Based Organisation that works with homeless Malawian children to support them through education and training – Chimwemwe Children’s Centre. It was this experience that helped to inspire the Malawian aspects in her novel The Wrong Kind of Clouds (briefly released as The Call), though, of course, the book is entirely fictional.

She is the author of the urban fantasy series: The Guardians of The Realm, the crime novel The Wrong Kind of Clouds, and the psychological thriller Lies That Poison.

Amanda lives in Scotland with her husband, where she can be found writing, walking and running.

What kind of books do you write?

I tend to write books where people are in the wrong place – they might be from a different world or from a different period of history from where they find themself. They have to figure out who they are/where they’re from/when they’re from in order to battle their foes.

Can you describe your writing why?

Mostly because I get an idea in my head that then develops characters and they don’t shut up or give me any peace until I figure out their story by writing it. It can start with something as simple as a rock face, but my brain starts wondering if it’s a portal to a different world. Then I start wondering what this other world would be like and who would live there and so it goes on!

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

This is from Aeron Returns. Her estranged partner – Faran – has never been to Earth before and he’s a complete fish out of water. He also loves honey – a scarce food in The Realm, where he’s from. When Aeron buys it for him, it’s the first sign to him that she loves him again, after a very rocky start to their renewed relationship.

I grinned and held a hand out to him. “Come on. Let’s teach you about shopping.”

I needed cheap, filling calories, preferably with some protein in there, but given how little cash I had and the possibility my bank card wouldn’t work, choices were limited. I put a four-pack of baked beans with sausages in the basket, along with a cheap loaf of bread, a large carton of milk and some porridge oats. As we passed the shelves of coffee, I found the cheapest jar of instant there was and added it to the meagre hoard.

“Do you know how to cook?” asked Faran, peering at the packets in the basket.

“Yeah. It’s not what I would have wanted to make for your first proper meal Outside though.”

We reached the aisle with jams and spreads, and I paused next to the honey.

Faran turned to me, eyes shining like a five-year-old on Christmas morning. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yep.”

He stared at the shelf. “There’s so much of it!”

I raked through the coins in my purse, adding them up. With an internal sigh, I took the coffee out of the basket and put a jar of honey in its place. The look of delight on Faran’s face made it worth it.

Tell us about your latest project

The latest book, Invasion is the fourth book in the Guardians of The Realm series, although it could probably be read as a standalone.

Five years have passed since the end of “War”, and the Guardians and the people of The Realm have reached a new, albeit tetchy, equilibrium. The threat of civil war bubbles constantly, but so far, the Guardians have kept control.

It won’t take much for that to change.

People are going missing from one of the villages, returning days later, emaciated, exhausted, and claiming to have been forced to work on a building in a strange world. Where are they being taken? And who is taking them there?

The foe threatening The Realm is far more sinister than any previous enemy. It could destroy everything the Guardians rely on. Far from being the protectors of The Realm, the Guardians could be forced to be its destroyers.

Can Aeron and Faran find a way to save The Realm without sacrificing everything they hold dear? Or will The Realm finally fall?

What is your favourite cake?

Lemon drizzle cake. Though I do make a good fruit cake, from a recipe handed down from my Nan to my Mum and thence to me. When I was little and we visited my grandparents, my Mum always took them a fruitcake. Now I do the same with her!

You can connect with Amanda here:

Website: https://www.amandafleet.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaFleetWriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amanda_fleet1
Book Bub: @AmandaFleet
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/amandafleet
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/amandafleet
Newsletter Sign Up Link: http://eepurl.com/bPRByj

Join me next week when I will be having a slice of cake with Judith Moffitt. 

If you would like to take part in A Slice of Cake With... please fill in the form found here. I'd be delighted to have you.

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Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find out more about her books on her website clairebuss.co.uk. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.