I've just been updating the Dates for your Diary page with details of my next author event (check it out - FREE event, Exeter Central Library's Rougemont Room 10am-4pm Saturday 31st March 2018) and it started me thinking about how much I am enjoying bringing Aamena's story to life and how many opportunities I'm going to have to meet some of you in person and chat to you about it. The Exeter Authors Association has a brilliant programme of FREE events lined up for 2018, which you can find out about here - there are far too many to list! So if you'd like to pick up one of Aamena's monogrammed notes, which are only available direct from me at events, make sure you get yourself and book-loving friends and family along to see me at one of these events. Keep checking back and follow me on Twitter, because other events will be added in the coming months. It's shaping up to be an incredibly busy - and fun - year!

Greetings to you all. My name is Aamena Hinnorwen and The Fire-Eyes Chronicles tell my story.
I want to share what has been happening in preparation for the Exeter Authors Association's FREE Fantasy Authors event in A CreaTiv Hub, Fore Street, Tiverton, Devon, tomorrow and Wednesday, 13/14 March 2018, 10am - 3pm. 

In the last few days, since this site and the Twitter feed went live, it has been so wonderful to see people retweeting and liking the Fire-Eyes tweets. Thank you all for your support - it is very much appreciated! 

In readiness for the event, I have created some little thank you notes for Fire-Eyes supporters who come along to talk books in Tiverton this week. Each is sealed with my monogram, as you'll see in the photograph below. These will only ever be available at events, so turn up early before they all run out!

May you always walk in the path of the Benevolent Dragon.
 - Aamena

Ideas come to you at the most random moments, don't they? Today, for example, I was enjoying a latte and croissant when I suddenly had an idea. Welcome to Food and Frivolity, a random collection of musings about cake, games, books and fantasy-related stuff (because who doesn't like eating cake while gaming or reading??) I'm kicking off at The Independent Coffee Trader in Tiverton, Devon. Find out more about them here and follow them on Twitter here.  Leigh has been running the Independent Coffee Trader for nearly three years.

Pretty much the first thing I saw when I walked in today was this amazing cake:​

As well as garnering high praise from my 10 year-old for "the best sausage roll I have eaten in my life", Leigh, Mark and team also boast an impressive range of the most enticing cakes. Today's gem is Courgette and Avocado. Nestling under its dome, it is beautiful to look at, with a sprinkling of cornflower petals and pistachios in a bed of buttercream icing.​



​It was the flowers that sold it to me, plus the fact that the sponge looked incredibly moist. And when it arrived, it tasted every bit as good as it looked. Light sponge, very moist; filling, but not heavy on the stomach. It has a beautiful, rather mild flavour, neither courgette nor avocado - in fact, it reminded me very slightly of carrot cake, particularly in its consistency. The buttercream icing was perfection - again, not heavy and not too sweet; I find that some icings can be pretty sickly, but not this one! In addition, it's both gluten- and dairy-free. This cake is HIGHLY recommended and, like all the cakes they stock, it is made by hand.

So I asked Leigh and Mark how they choose what to stock and I have to say that their descriptions of catalogues and trade shows (plus a lot of samples) sounded like the dream job! The overall look of the cake is a big factor in the selections they make and they like anything a bit different. You won't find a plain Victoria sponge here, just a gorgeous selection of cakes that you may not have tried - or heard of - before. It's a chance to be adventurous and to venture out of your Cake Comfort Zone. A lot of their choices are customer-led, too. Plus, the coffee is as smooth and mellow as Stephen Fry's voice, the perfect complement to gorgeous cake.

So next time you're in Tiverton, why not head down Gold Street and see for yourself?

Many thanks to Leigh and Mark for taking the time to chat with me today!

 - Tracey
(top image is an open-source image frompixabay.com and the other two are my own)

You know that moment when an idea grabs you and just won't go away? Well, that is how this series began. I'd created a character for a RPG and she wouldn't leave me alone right from the start. As the game progressed, her extensive back-story hovered at my shoulder like an impatient child waiting for sweets, occasionally giving me a nudge, until it had developed into something that I couldn't really ignore any longer. 

Thus was born The Fire-Eyes Chronicles, the story of Aamena Hinnorwen, an ordinary elf who does extraordinary things. Yet, initially, it is not her story. When I started plotting the first book, The Battle for Dragonheart, I realised that, in order to tell Aamena's tale, I would need to go further back and tell her mother's. So I put Aamena to one side for a while and started thinking about Zilyana Yllayra. 

To my surprise, Dragonheart isn't her story either, not entirely. It wasn't long before a new character made herself known - the troubled Dhussena Lorafiel. As I explored Dhussena's story, I realised why Zilyana behaves as she does and uncovered a tragic secret that could destroy reputations...and lives. 

The Battle for Dragonheart follows Dhussena and Zilyana as they struggle to survive - socially, politically and literally. A natural disaster devastates lives and the environment, throwing the women's Clans together in the most violent of ways. The Imperial Forces are at their heels, a Treaty is violated and everything hinges on whether they can secure control of the perfect place to appease their goddess - the mighty temple of Dragonheart, deep in the Forest of the North. 

The book will be coming out later this year, so I will be spending the next few months sharing lots of background information about Aamena, Zilyana and Dhussena and the world in which they live. Check out my Twitter feed @fireeyeschron for updates and make sure you bookmark this site! 

​- Tracey