Manda Scott | |
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| Born | 1962 (age 61–62) Glasgow, Scotland |
| Pen name | MC Scott |
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Manda Scott (born 1962) [1] is a former Scottish veterinary surgeon who is now a novelist, blogger, columnist and occasional broadcaster. Born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland, [2] she trained at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine and now lives and works in Shropshire. [3]
She made her name initially as a crime writer. Her first novel, Hen's Teeth, was shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize. [4]
Her subsequent novels, Night Mares (1998), Stronger Than Death (1999), and No Good Deed (2001) , for which she was hailed as "one of Britain's most important crime writers" by The Times , were published by Headline and are now published, along with her other books, by Transworld, an imprint of Random House.
Her fourth novel, No Good Deed, was nominated for the 2003 Edgar Award. [5]
Alongside her original contemporary thrillers, she has written two sets of four historical thrillers. The Boudica series were her first historical novels, of which Dreaming the Eagle was the first. Rooted in the pre-Roman world of ancient Britain and the Britannia it became the novels 'give us back our own history', [6] exploring the worlds of druids (called dreamers in the book and portrayed as shamans), warriors and the Roman occupation that, in Scott's eyes, destroyed a once-great civilisation. [7] The books centre around two primary characters: the girl Breaca, who grows into the woman who takes the title 'Boudica' (meaning 'She who Brings Victory' [8] ) and her brother Bán, who, for much of the four books, is her nemesis.
Scott's Rome series (written under the ungendered name MC Scott), [9] and beginning with The Emperor's Spy (2010), are spy thrillers, set in the same fictional universe with some of the surviving characters from The Boudica series. The first novel in the series follows the life of Sebastos Pantera, the spy whose name means 'Leopard', as he comes in from the cold of a mission in Britannia to spy for the Emperor Nero at the time of the Great Fire of Rome. In subsequent books, Pantera faces his nemesis, Saulos (aka Paul of Tarsus) in The Coming of the King, dives deep into the loss of a legion's eagle in The Eagle of the Twelfth, (the Twelfth Legion, apparently, did in fact lose their eagle, while the Ninth Legion, subjects of Rosemary Sutcliffe's Eagle of the Ninth , didn't) and returns to Rome for the Year of the Four Emperors in The Art of War.
Between the two major historical series, she wrote The Crystal Skull, a dual timeline novel entered around a mythic Mayan skull, with a historical thread set in the Tudor era and a contemporary thriller set in modern-day Cambridge.
She began her dual time line novels with a fast-paced, "swift and vigorous" thriller, Into the Fire, [10] which explores the truth behind the myth of Jeanne d'Arc – and the impact those revelations could have on modern day France.
A Treachery of Spies, winner of the 2019 McIlvanney Prize, [11] is another dual time line, this one explores the impacts of actions by the Maquis, the SOE, the Jedburghs, and in particular, the nascent CIA on the present. It was announced in May 2020 [12] that veteran Harry Potter producer David Barron, and Enriched Media Group have secured all TV, film and ancillary rights to A Treachery of Spies and a TV adaptation was planned.
In 2010, she founded the Historical Writers' Association, [13] of which she remained Chair until 2015.
She has written regular columns for The Herald, reviews and columns for The Independent, [14] [15] intermittent columns for The Guardian, [16] The Daily Telegraph, The Times and HuffPost , [17] and has appeared occasionally on BBC Radio 4. [18]
Boudica or Boudicca was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She is considered a British national heroine and a symbol of the struggle for justice and independence.
Caratacus was a 1st-century AD British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who resisted the Roman conquest of Britain.
Rosemary Sutcliff was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novels were specifically written for adults. In a 1986 interview she said, "I would claim that my books are for children of all ages, from nine to ninety."
Genre fiction, also known as formula fiction or popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre.
Legio XX Valeria Victrix, in English Twentieth Victorious Valeria Legion, was a legion of the Imperial Roman army.
The Iceni or Eceni were an ancient tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the west, and the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes to the south. In the Roman period, their capital was Venta Icenorum at modern-day Caistor St Edmund.
William Angus McIlvanney was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He was known as Gus by friends and acquaintances. McIlvanney was a champion of gritty yet poetic literature; his works Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch, and Walking Wounded are all known for their portrayal of Glasgow in the 1970s. He is regarded as "the father of Tartan Noir" and as Scotland's Camus.
Jenna-Louise Coleman is an English actress. She began her career in television, making her acting debut as Jasmine Thomas in the soap opera Emmerdale in 2005, followed by a recurring role in the BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road (2009). She made her film debut with a small role in the American superhero film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and made appearances on diverse British period miniseries, including Titanic (2012), and Death Comes to Pemberley (2013).
The Lover is a 2004 crime fiction novel written by Laura Wilson and first published in the United Kingdom by Orion Publishing Group on 17 June 2004. A fictionalized account of the activities of a serial killer known as Blackout Ripper who began killing prostitutes in London during World War II, the novel follows the viewpoints of three different people, including the killer, as their individual lives begin to intersect.
Craig Russell, also known as Christopher Galt, is a Scottish novelist, short story writer and author of The Devil Aspect. His Hamburg-set thriller series featuring detective Jan Fabel has been translated into 23 languages. Russell speaks fluent German and has a special interest in post-war German history. His books, particularly The Devil Aspect and the Fabel series, tend to include historical or mythological themes.
Eagles of the Empire is a series of historical military fiction novels written by Simon Scarrow. The series began in July 2000 with the publication of Under the Eagle, and as of March 2022 there have been 21 novels released in the series, with the 22nd novel due in November 2023.
Kate Quinn is an American writer, known for her works of historical fiction.
Master and God is a historical novel by British writer Lindsey Davis, the author of the Falco series. It was first published in the UK on 15 March 2012 by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States on 5 June 2012 by St Martin's Press.
The Druid King is a 2003 historical novel by American novelist Norman Spinrad. The novel is set during the Gallic Campaigns of Julius Caesar. The main protagonist of the novel is Vercingetorix and the plot follows his rise to power to become king of the Gauls and his eventual surrender to Caesar at the Battle of Alesia. The book is a novelisation of an early version of the script for Vercingétorix, la Légende du Druide Roi, a French language film.
Walking Wounded is a collection of short stories written by William McIlvanney and published in 1 January 1989. Following a revival of interest in McIlvanney's writing, this book was reissued by Canongate Books in 2014.
Falco: The Official Companion is a 2010 book by English writer Lindsey Davis, which accompanies her 20 historical crime novels about Marcus Didius Falco, a private eye in Ancient Rome. It was published by Century, ISBN 978-1846056734.
The Boudican revolt was an armed uprising by native Celtic Britons against the Roman Empire during the Roman conquest of Britain. It took place circa AD 60–61 in the Roman province of Britain, and was led by Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni tribe. The uprising was motivated by the Romans' failure to honour an agreement they had made with Boudica's husband, Prasutagus, regarding the succession of his kingdom upon his death, and by the brutal mistreatment of Boudica and her daughters by the occupying Romans.
Mary Paulson-Ellis is a Scottish writer and novelist. She writes across the genres of literary, crime and historical fiction. Her work has appeared in the Guardian and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her books have received a number of awards. Paulson-Ellis’ first novel, The Other Mrs Walker (2016) became a Times bestseller and was named Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year in 2017.
Bloody Scotland is a Scottish international crime writing festival, held annually in Stirling, Scotland. It was founded in 2012 by Tartan Noir writers Lin Anderson and Alex Gray and describes itself as "the literary festival where you can let down your hair and enjoy a drink at the bar with your favourite crime writer". Its sponsors include the University of Stirling and Stirling Council. In 2022 most events were held at the Albert Halls or the Tolbooth.
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