Manda Scott (born 1962) is a former Scottish veterinary surgeon who is now a

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger,

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

er,

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

and occasional broadcaster. Born and educated in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, she trained at the

University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine The School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow is one of nine veterinary schools in the United Kingdom, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in Veterinary Medicine. It was establish ...

and now lives and works in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. Reference for updated biographical information.

Writing

She made her name initially as a

crime writer Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

. Her first novel, ''Hen's Teeth'', was shortlisted for the 1997 Orange Prize. 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 ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', were published by

Headline The headline is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th century when incre ...

and are now published, along with her other books, by Transworld, an imprint of

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. Her fourth novel, ''No Good Deed'', was nominated for the 2003

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

''The Boudica series''

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', exploring the worlds of

druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...

s (called dreamers in the book and portrayed as

shamans Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of th ...

), warriors and the Roman occupation that, in Scott's eyes, destroyed a once-great civilisation. 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') and her brother Bán, who, for much of the four books, is her nemesis.

''Rome''

Scott's ''Rome'' series (written under the ungendered name MC Scott), 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 The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

to spy for the Emperor Nero at the time of the

Great Fire of Rome The Great Fire of Rome () began on 19 July 64 AD. The fire started in the merchant shops around Rome's chariot stadium, Circus Maximus. After six days, the fire was brought under control, but before the damage could be assessed, the fire reignit ...

. In subsequent books, Pantera faces his nemesis, Saulos (aka

Paul of Tarsus Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

) in ''The Coming of the King'', dives deep into the loss of a legion's

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

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''.

Later

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 Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. She began her dual time line novels with a fast-paced, "swift and vigorous" thriller, ''Into the Fire'', which explores the truth behind the myth of

Jeanne d'Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

– and the impact those revelations could have on modern day France. ''A Treachery of Spies'', winner of the 2019 McIlvanney Prize, 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 that veteran ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' 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. ''Any Human Power'' is a fiction novel by Manda Scott. It has been described as a thrutopian (mytho-)

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle; high stakes and suspense are the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. Th ...

. It was published by September Publishing. In 2010, she founded the Historical Writers' Association, of which she remained Chair until 2015.

Other activities

She has written regular columns for ''The Herald'', reviews and columns for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', intermittent columns for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

, ''

'' and ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'', and has appeared occasionally on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. She also has a podcast called "Accidental Gods" which was originally going to have perhaps a dozen episodes but surpassed 200 episodes in 2023. It features a wide variety of guests and discusses issues related to the meta-crisis. A phrase to summarise what it is about is "... the podcast where we believe that another world is still possible, and that together, we can create a future we'd be proud to leave to the generations that come after us." this or something similar is said at the start of each podcast. It has music by Caro C at for the into and outro, it is produced by Alan Lowells of Airtight Studios and is done in collaboration with Faith Tilleray. The podcast has been running since 2020.

Works

Kellen Stewart

* ''Hen's Teeth'' (1997) * ''Night Mares'' (1998) * ''Stronger Than Death'' (1999)

''The Boudica Series''

* ''Dreaming the Eagle'' (2003) * ''Dreaming the Bull'' (2004) * ''Dreaming the Hound'' (2005) * ''Dreaming the Serpent Spear'' (2006)

''Rome''

* ''The Emperor's Spy'' (2010) * ''The Coming of the King'' (June 2011) * ''The Eagle of the Twelfth'' (May 2012) * ''The Art of War'' (March 2013)

Inès Picaut

* ''Into the Fire'' (2015) * ''A Treachery of Spies'' (2018)

Stand-alone novels

* ''No Good Deed'' (2001) * ''The Crystal Skull'' (2007) * ''Any Human Power'' (2024)

Non-fiction

* ''2012: Everything You Need to Know about the Apocalypse''

Appearance in anthologies

* ''99%: In Fresh Blood 3'' (1999), edited by Mike Ripley &

Maxim Jakubowski Maxim Jakubowski (born 1944) is an English writer of crime fiction, erotica, and science fiction, and also a rock music critic. Jakubowski was born in 1944 in England to Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has a ...

* ''New English Library Book of Internet Stories'' (2000) * ''Scottish Girls About Town: And Sixteen Other Scottish Women Authors'' (2003) * ''Little Black Dress: An Anthology of Short Stories'', edited by Susie Maguire

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Manda 1962 births Living people Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity Alumni of the University of Glasgow Date of birth missing (living people) Scottish women novelists Scottish crime fiction writers Scottish historical novelists Writers from Glasgow 20th-century Scottish novelists 21st-century Scottish novelists 21st-century Scottish writers 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish women writers British women mystery writers British women historical novelists Tartan Noir writers Scottish veterinarians Women veterinarians Scottish bloggers Scottish women bloggers