Author Spotlight no.415 – Miriam A Averna

Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the four hundred and fifteenth, is of Miriam A Averna. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.

Miriam A. Averna writes horror, dark, mystery, twisted or just plain weird stories. She lives in Milton Keynes with her two cats and partner, but is originally from the South of England and was born in sunny Sicily. She enjoys writing flash fiction, short stories and has just completed her medical mystery novel- No Cure for Fear.

She began writing when she was a kid and is an avid reader of fiction. Her stories have featured in a number of publications.

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Her horror story Run, Scream, Eat, REPEAT featured in the first ever edition of Canadian magazine Devolution Z in August 2015 http://www.devolutionz.com/previous-issues.html.

Another horror story, End Trails, is available for free download on www.pennyshorts.com. It tells of a girl who is persuaded to run a 5k zombie race by her friend… but is it all it seems? Click here to read that story.

In the Autumn issue of Kishboo e-magazine, she won the runner-up prize for her short quirky story I didn’t like those shoes anyway. Ever wondered how shoes end up on the side of roads? Then read this story to find out!

She is also Assistant Editor for Horror Scribes which publishes flash fiction stories and regularly hosts competitions, their most recent one was based on Dante’s Inferno. https://horrorscribes.wordpress.com/fright-cards

When not writing she is mostly eating, thinking about eating or cataloguing ales and craft beers in her head.

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And now from the author herself:

If you’d said to me back in September 2014 that within two years I’d have three short stories published, a completed novel, and be running my own flash fiction site I would have laughed my head off. But amazingly all of this has happened! And all because I finally decided to attend an adult education Novel Writing course in Milton Keynes.

It’s been an awesome if somewhat tiring journey with so much learnt along the way. I had to teach myself the wonderful world of Twitter and what # tags to use. Beta readers? I have not only learnt what they are but have made full use of them! And now friends are coming to me for advice on how to start getting into the world of writing. It’s so flattering and I love being able to help them. I love the writing community. This is why me and my colleague started Horror Scribes, to read short and punchy fiction of less than 300 words, to challenge people and to help them on their way to grow as authors by giving them the best boost a writer could ever ask for – publication. God knows how much it boosted my confidence first time I saw my story in print.

And soon my next journey will begin. From 8^th July 2016, my medical mystery debut novel No Cure for Fear will be available for pre-order via Britain’s Next Bestseller. I am so excited because if I get enough backers, 250 to be exact, I get a formal publishing contract!   And all the backers will get their name printed in the book as a way to say thank you.

The next 12 weeks are going to be stressful but with your help, I might just do it!

For more information, including the book blurb and pre-order information, please visit my blog page: https://miriamaaverna.wordpress.com/no-cure-for-fear.

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If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.

*** Breaking news! My online creative writing courses are currently half price! ***

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You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my books (including my debut novel The Serial Dater’s Shopping List, various short story collections and writer’s block workbooks) and If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating. Thank you.

I now run online courses – details on Courses – and for anyone looking for an editor, do take a look at Editing and Critique.

If you would like to send me a book review of another author’s books or like your book reviewed (short stories, contemporary crime / women’s novels or writing guides), see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog. And I post writing exercises every weekday on four online writing groups.