I’m participating in Pitch Wars for the first time this year! Here is a little more about the contest, and here is a little more about me:

The basics

I’m Amanda. I’m starting my first year as an MA student at the University of West Georgia, where I’ll be studying History with a particular emphasis on Roman military history and early Christianity. I have a BA degree in History and Political Science, and I currently teach Latin and SAT/ACT Prep at a local private school.

Some random stuff

• I spent a semester abroad in Rome during my sophomore year. I also traveled to Pompeii, Florence, Venice, Paris, and Athens. (I came home an insufferable food, wine, and coffee snob. I like to think of myself as an Epicurean, but I feel like using the word “Epicurean” just confirms that I’m a snob.)
• I was homeschooled through high school.
• I lived in Sendai, Japan for a year as a missionary associate/ESL teacher.
• I worked for five years as a projectionist at a movie theater. I love movies and film culture. My top-five favorite movies have been pretty consistent for a while now: Pan’s Labyrinth, Casablanca, The Bourne Identity, Black Hawk Down, and The Great Escape, with The Social Network as a very close runner-up. I’m also an OT Star Wars fangirl.
• My favorite author is Ernest Hemingway (more on that below); my favorite book is A Farewell to Arms.
• My favorite sport to watch is ice hockey (and just about the only sport I can play is tennis).
• I love cats. More inexplicably, I also love amphibians and reptiles.

What I write

I write historical fiction and fantasy, or some combination thereof. Two of my greatest influences are Ernest Hemingway and Rosemary Sutcliff; I love Hemingway’s lean, matter-of-fact prose, and Sutcliff’s ability to make beauty out of tragedy. Imperial Rome is by far my favorite era to write, but I also love writing about the World Wars (in fact, my first-ever published piece of fiction was a short story set during WWII). My fantasy tends to be low on magic and high on political intrigue and impossible choices—also stabbings, slit throats, and other forms of character abuse. Always, my protagonists tend to be unswervingly honorable people trying to do the right thing, even though it usually ends up costing them dearly.

Be sure to visit all the other mentee blogs! You can see them all listed here.