{"id":34,"date":"2024-06-03T20:22:40","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T20:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/?page_id=34"},"modified":"2026-03-13T03:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T03:01:12","slug":"about-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/?page_id=34","title":{"rendered":"About Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I\u2019m a fantasy author living in Brisbane, Australia. I wrote Shadow Breaker<\/em>, my first novel, because of my daughter\u2019s fourth grade English teacher, who gave her class an assignment: write a 1\u20132-page fantasy story. How fun,<\/em> I thought when my daughter told me about it\u2014and I was whisked back to middle school, where I\u2019d been a member of the school\u2019s story club. I\u2019d been wanting to read a good retelling of ‘Robin Hood,’ but hadn\u2019t been able to find one\u2014so why not hark back to those story club days, and write it myself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took me four and a half years to finish Shadow Breaker<\/em>, and I was thrilled when I finally did, but I knew this was just the beginning; I had more books in me, more stories waiting to be told. Of course, I was dismayed at the prospect of embarking on another project of similar duration\u2014but then, miracle of miracles, a second idea came to me, and this time the book just flew from my fingers, and I finished it in six months (while also working full-time). Called Jack of Neath<\/em>, it is my second novel, and it is a mash-up of two fairy tales: ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I went on to complete my third book, a middle-grade story about a time-travelling wizard who lives in a lawnmower. That was a lot of fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I am working on my fourth book, a retelling of ‘Rapunzel.’ Stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of my books have yet been published, but I am doing my best to get the attention of publishers and agents, and I won\u2019t give up until I\u2019ve succeeded! I’ve also written many short stories, and lots of poetry. Watch this space!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 2 March 2026<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The glorious March issue of Luna Station Quarterly<\/em> is now available, I\u2019m so honoured to a part of this amazing publication\u2026and I LOVE the cover art! You can access it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 22 January 2026<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

WOW, my short story “The Hedge Knight Drinks’ has been accepted for publication in Flame Tree’s upcoming romantasy anthology Of Swords & Roses<\/em>. Check out the announcement here<\/a>. So excited!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 8 January 2026<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m thrilled to announce that my short story \u2018Squilla of the Flower Moon\u2019 has been accepted for publication in the March 2026 issue of Luna Station Quarterly<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 6 November 2025<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My short story ‘The Spell of Edrium’ has been accepted into the romantic fantasy anthology Of Love & Dragons<\/em> by Flame Tree! This is due to come out in March 2026, the author list is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 29 September 2025<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My short story ‘Welcome to the Fantasy Fair’ <\/em>has just dropped as a podcast on Connor Reads Books on Spotify! You can find it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 5 June 2025<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My short story ‘Second Skin’ has been accepted for publication in Graveside Press’s<\/a> Witchcraft Anthology! This is due to be published in December 2026! \ud83e\uddd9\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83e\uddf9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 29 March 2025<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My short story ‘The Witch of Tarthus’ has been accepted for publication in Murderfish<\/em> by WonderBird Press. This illustrated collection of stories will read like a worst-case-scenario aquatic bestiary, or an \u201cUnhelpful Encyclopedia.\u201d The Kickstarter campaign has now launched! You can check it out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS The cover design for Murderfish<\/em> looks great, and I’m so excited to see the illustrations!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 17 February 2025<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My short story ‘Quantum Hermit’ has been accepted by Zooscape<\/em>, and will be featured in an upcoming issue! You can find it here<\/a> (it will be published in Issue 27). Yay!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 31 October 2024<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My short story ‘The Haunted Library’ won the 2024 Halloween Writing Contest hosted by The Furious Gazelle! You can read it here<\/a>. I love Halloween! \ud83c\udf83 And libraries!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 21 October 2024<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My short story ‘The Witch-light’ has been accepted by Of Metal and Magic Publishing<\/em>, and will be published online in 2025!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Update on this: it\u2019s August 2025, and ‘The Witch-light’ has just been posted\u2026here it is<\/a>!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update, 21 June 2024<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I am now a published author!! My short story ‘Welcome to the Fantasy Fair’ has been accepted by The Pink Hydra<\/em> magazine, and is featured in the August 2024 issue, available here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hurrah!!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m a fantasy author living in Brisbane, Australia. I wrote Shadow Breaker, my first novel, because of my daughter\u2019s fourth grade English teacher, who gave her class an assignment: write a 1\u20132-page fantasy story. How fun, I thought when my daughter told me about it\u2014and I was whisked back to middle school, where I\u2019d been a member of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283,"href":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34\/revisions\/283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmcnamarabooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}