Spotlight On: Mandy Wrangles

Mandy Wrangles – sometimes known as Amanda – has lived by the beach on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula most of her life. She likes to grow food and bake cupcakes and write about murder and monsters and steampunk ships. She likes big action superhero movies, and movies that make you cry. Her home is filled with boys, dogs, skateboards and books. Lots and lots of books.

How long have you been writing for MDPWeb, why did you join the group, and what do you like about being part of it?

I’ve been with MDPWeb since late 2010. I think?

I love being part of such a like-minded group, and have made some cherished friends from the team over the last few years. We’re a really eclectic mix of people, all with different areas of specific interest, but we all share the same passion – great stories.

Also having the opportunity to read and meet some of my all-time favourite authors has been pretty amazing…did you hear about the morning I had breakfast with Charlaine Harris, creator of Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood? Yep. For real.

What creative piece are you working on, and which author would you liken your work too?

I’m currently working hard on a couple of short stories for competition, so can’t say anything about them right now. I’ve also recently dived back into a SF novel that’s been burning away in my bottom drawer – and my heart! – for a couple of years. Thanks to awesome feedback and encouragement (you rock, MDP and AG) I think it might actually get finished this year.

I don’t know who I write like!? That’s a really tough question. I do know my style has changed a lot over the last couple of years to be more lyrical than it used to be. I’m influenced by a bunch of incredible Australian authors: Alison Goodman, Margo Lanagan, Isobelle Carmody and of course our own Marianne de Pierres.

What book have you most enjoyed reviewing for MDPWeb?

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan.

It was a difficult book to review – quite daunting actually – it’s just so beautiful. I always worry if my reviews can ever do a book like that justice. Sea Hearts is one of those books I just can’t get out of my head. It’s breathtaking. Read it!

What’s your favourite thing to do in your downtime?

With three sons, I rarely get downtime. As well as being a hairdresser and dive master, I’m a qualified bookbinder, so I used to spend a lot of time in my art studio making leather-bound journals or painting in oils to chill out. These days, most afternoons and weekends you’ll find me by the bowl at one of Melbourne’s skateparks, watching my boys do their thing. I love it. I also really enjoy growing edible plants and baking – but again, more time sitting at skateparks than anything else lately!

Is there somewhere else online/in bookstores we can find your work?

Umm…yes.

You can find me – and lots of yummy food – over at www.mandywrangles.com and on Instagram where I go by mandy_wrangles.

I’m also one half of writing duo A.K. Wrox, with Kylie Fox. Our novel, fantasy spoof ‘Arrabella Candellarbra & the Questy Thing to End All Questy Things’ can be found at  http://www.clandestinepress.com.au/paperback/arrabella-candellarbra

It’s available as both paperback and ebook.

You can find A.K. Wrox on Facebook and sometimes Twitter.

Clan Destine Press also publish ‘Scarlet Stiletto – The Second Cut – Award Winning Thrillers’ where my Scarlet Stiletto winning short story ‘Persia Bloom’ appears. Again, pb and ebook available at http://www.clandestinepress.com.au/paperback/scarlet-stiletto-second-cut

My short crime story ‘Plotting Jasper/A Forgiving Kind of Nature’ is published in ‘Hard Labour’ by Crime Factory. You can get your copy here:

http://www.thecrimefactory.com/shop/

All these books should also be available through Amazon etc, your local library or bookshop. If not – you could always order them in 🙂 I also have a couple of things on the horizon – an ebook collection of my short crime stories, and an appearance in an upcoming Spec Fic anthology.

What’s your favourite TV series?

Of all time? Buffy the Vampire Slayer, without a doubt. I was with Buffy and the Scooby Gang right from the start, and still watch the entire series at least once a year. It’s like comfort food for my brain. More recently, Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead.

 Who or what is your current crush?

I don’t think I’ll ever lose my crush on Joss Whedon’s brain. I’ll also happily watch anything with Charlie Hunnam in it. Or Aiden Turner.

Shout out to big-time Hollywood blockbuster producers: Can you please organise a Whedon/Hunnam/Turner mega-project in the near future? Yeah? With Jessica Morais as a fabulously strong, intelligent lead? Thank you.