Latest news from º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ

19 Nov 2015

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ English student to publish sci-fi fantasy book

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ English PhD student Amanda Bigler is set to publish her first novel, The Takers, this month.

The Takers centres on an 18-year-old high school student whose life is irreversibly changed by a freak car accident. It is based around the concept of emotional vampirism, which is the physical need to manipulate and extract the emotions of others in order to live.

Author Amanda says she developed the idea for the book after watching a documentary on people who believe that they can sense, feel, and feed on emotions, otherwise known as ‘empaths’. She also alludes to Celtic lore and the symbol on the front cover resembles a triskelion. 

Amanda, who already has a short story published in a collection entitled Haunted, spent two years writing her new novel, with a further two years editing and marketing it. She intends her latest work to be part of a trilogy.

The Takers is due to be published on 15 November in the USA and is available through online bookshops including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.

Notes for editors

Article reference number: November News

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It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, putting it among the best universities in the world, and was named University of the Year in the What Uni Student Choice Awards 2015.º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. It was 2nd in the 2015 THE Student Experience Survey and was named Sports University of the Year 2013-14 by The Times and Sunday Times. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

In September 2015 the University opened an additional academic campus in London’s new innovation quarter. º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London, based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities.