Clare Ashton's first novel, Pennance, was long-listed for the Polari Prize and After Mrs Hamilton is a Golden Crown Literary Society award winner.Clare grew up in Mid-Wales and she has a brain stuck somewhere not particularly useful between the arts and science. And that's how she ended up studying History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge.She has worked as a scientific copy-editor (where she learnt to spell diarrhoea), a waitress at the Little Chef (where she learnt you could survive on toast alone) and as a software engineer (where she learnt to spend far too much time on a computer).She has been accused of sometimes living too much inside her head, but it turns out that this is good for writing stories. Her novels are a mix of suspense, intrigue, romance and darker elements too. She lives in the midlands (UK) with her partner and son and daughter who are a lovely distraction from writing.She also edits the UK lesbian fiction blog with Cari Hunter: http://uklesfic.wordpress.comFind out more about Clare at http://rclareashton.wordpress.com