The Escape Club writing staff

Belinda Hamilton – feature blogger, reviewer, book club moderator, cook club moderator

Belinda Hamilton grew up in Caboolture and moved to Brisbane a decade or so ago. She keeps a personal blog at Belinda’s Baubles. Belinda loves to read, write, make jewellery, bush-walk, try her hand at photography and spends a few hours a week volunteering for charity. She’s also the ex-president of the writing/critique group Marianne was co-founder of–Vision Writers.

Mandy Wrangles – reviewer and cook club moderator

Amanda Wrangles has never moved far from where she grew up on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne. In fact, she hasn’t  managed the whole growing up thing very well at all  – with a passion for reading and writing Young Adult stories, she would much rather live in a teenager’s world than an adult one.

Hooked on all things dark and macabre since watching a Dracula movie at age five, Amanda has a special place in her heart for the supernatural community.

An active member of Sisters in Crime Australia (winning their 2009 Scarlet Stiletto award for short story writing), she delights in books that dare to cross the lines in genre – particularly between crime and the paranormal world. Follow Amanda’s food blog.

Krista McKeeth – reviewer and book club moderator

Krista was born and raised in Utah. Lucky enough to have travelled to several countries, she fully intends on travelling more. She is a collector things, Books, Music, Movies and Apple Products. She has a varied taste and all genres have caught her eye, though she tends to become obsessed with all things Teen and Young Adult. She has come to adapt to her eight hour full-time job staring at walls and florescent lighting, developing a mental block in which she calls the CubicleBlindness. Reading is her favourite escape. You can find her personal reviews at Cubicle Blindness.

Joelene Pynnonen – reviewer and book club moderator

Joelene Pynnonen embraces the life of an avid book lover in every way. Her household is ruled cruelly by a wrathful cat; and should a fire ever start it is doubtful that she would make it past the elegant stacks of novels to her room door. At least once a year she coerces her mother into watching the BBC mini-series of Pride and Prejudice with her, and will often follow up by re-reading the book.

When not reading or bowing to the will of the tyrant cat, Joelene likes to draw, make futile attempts at learning Finnish and occasionally work in a bookstore.

Jamie Marriage – reviewer and blogger

Jamie Marriage is an internationally published Australian CyberPunk author with a taste for the dangerous and obscene aspects of life. His work ranges from the sarcastic to the satirical. Links to his work can be found at www.JamieMarriage.com.

A. V. Mather – reviewer

A. V. Mather is Brisbane-based writer of Fantasy fiction for Young Adults. She has a BA in Fine Arts and a Post-Grad in Education. In previous decades, she has worked as a Scenic Artist and a Secondary School Art teacher. Eight years ago, she finally gave in and devoted herself wholly to writing. She is represented by Tom Witcomb, of Blake Friedmann Agency in London, England.

A. V. Mather enjoys reading widely across genres and is also interested in art, satire, history, photography, popular culture, psychology, road trips and good stories – real and imagined.

You can follow her on Twitter @AVMather

Bec Stafford – interviewer

Bec Stafford has a Masters of Philosophy from the University of Queensland. She blogs and interviews for the Escape Club.

 Sarah Todman – reviewer

Sarah Todman is a contemporary fiction writer who lives in Brisbane. She loves books that deliver a gritty punch of realism. And ones that make her cry. Sarah blogs at sayanythingsare.