10 Things You Might Not Know about Claire McFall

10 Things You Might Not Know About Claire McFall

Hello All!
Today I am delighted to welcome Claire McFall onto the blog to tell us all 10 things we might not have known about her before!

Before she dives into her secrets though, here’s some more information on her newest book, Trespassers; the long awaited sequel to Ferryman!!

About the Book

Tristan and Dylan have escaped the afterlife. But fate never meant for them to live. Dylan should have been killed in a horrific train crash. Tristan should still be a Ferryman, an immortal. Now, living in bodies they have no right to inhabit, they discover they’re connected by something stronger than love. Their souls are bound together. Alone, they’ll die. When they broke through the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead they defied the laws of the supernatural world, and showed the way for others to escape. Now they must face the consequences. Can true love transcend destiny? Trespassers continues the epic love story of Dylan and Tristan, in the stunning sequel to the truly original, award-winning debut novel Ferryman. This is a love story like no other, beautifully told, richly imagined and with a narrative as full of suspense and action as it is with intense emotion.

Goodreads. Amazon UK. Waterstones.

10 Things You Might Not Know About Claire McFall

By Claire McFall

Yes, I am a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Or… not. Still, here are a few titbits about me that I hope will be at least vaguely interesting if they don’t leave you ooh-ing and aah-ing in shock.

1. As well as being a writer, I’m an English teacher. Aaaaand watch my coolness level drop by ten points. I like to think I’m one of those awesome teachers that pupils look back on in twenty years and say “Remember Miss McFall? She was amazing!” and then sigh with happy reminiscence. Alas that’ll probably never happen, but I can dream.

2. I’m allergic to beans. This is a really weird one. I can eat a can of chickpeas and be totally fine (if not uncomfortably bloated…), but put me on a treadmill for ten minutes afterwards and there will be hives and swelling and all sorts of ugliness.

3. Which leads me on to number 3: I like running. Wait, let me rephrase that. I hate running with the power of a thousand suns, but I need to run because I have such a sweet tooth that my diet mostly consists of cake. So I run, lots. As the weather in Scotland is rubbish 90% of the time, I spend a lot of time with my treadmill

4. I am a smooshy romantic at heart. I’m very Scottish in that I’m more likely to buy you a drink than hug you (you want to touch me? Why???) but underneath all that social awkwardness and hug-avoidance, I’m secretly lovey-dovey. If you ever crack the secret code on my Kindle, you’ll find loads of trashy romances with swash-buckley heroes for me to swoon over.

5. I hate peanuts. And mushrooms. And most foods that are green (the exception being green Haribo). But peanuts the most though. I can literally smell a Snickers at twenty paces. In fact, if you ever want to kill me, that’s what you should bring to a duel.

6. I’m a pretty big sports fan. Watching, not playing, that is. I’m a stout (no cake jokes!) Partick Thistle fan, but I’m also really into some US sports. My hubby is from Colorado so we watch a lot of Rockies baseball and, of course, the Denver Broncos when it’s “football” season (Yes, I know, I know. It isn’t football).

7. Nobody knows what I really sound like. Not even me. That sounds creepy, doesn’t it? It’s kind of embarrassing. I moved from Peterborough to South Lanarkshire when I was 10. My English accent hadn’t set in stone and suddenly I was surrounded by all these people who talked funny. By the time I’d absorbed the Scottish accent, I met my husband, who’s from the US. My voice is a funny smoosh of all three, and when I meet someone new, their accent just blends in. I’m like a voice chameleon – I can’t control it. The pupils at my school think it’s hilarious when this English accent just bursts out for no reason (oddly, it’s usually when I’m feeling flustered and trying to pretend I’m more organised than I actually am). My “real” accent? Who knows?

8. I like Country music. I know, I’m so cool. Honestly, though, Country music in the US is pretty huge – it’s come a long way since the days of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Get on Spotify (other music providers are available…) and look up Zac Brown Band, Brothers Osborne or Sam Hunt. See what you think.

9. I threw myself off the Wallace Monument. I mean, I was securely attached to a rope and it was for charity, but still, just call me Danger McFall.

10. When Diana Gabaldon wrote Outlander, she had me in mind when she created Claire. OK, that’s not true… but it should be, because I am going to marry Jamie Fraser, never mind that he’s fictional and I’m already married. But it worked for Claire in the story… (Note: if Jamie Fraser is unavailable what with his being imaginary and all that, I will accept Sam Heughan as a substitute).

About the Author

Claire McFall is a writer and a teacher who lives and works in the Scottish Borders. She is the author of paranormal thriller Black Cairn Point, winner of the inaugural Scottish Teenage Book Prize 2017. Her debut novel Ferryman won a Scottish Children’s Book Award, and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Branford Boase award. Her other books include dystopian thriller Bombmaker.
Trespassers, the much-anticipated sequel to Ferryman, will be published on 14th September 2017.

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