Avast M’hearties Pirate Day be a’coming. So batten down y’hatches. Splice the main sails. Steer with the wind, and damn y’eyes, for that callow cove Captain Duckman will keel haul the lot of y’ if y’nay pay him some mind…

International Talk Like A Pirate Day is on the horizon, and with it comes the release of Harvey Duckman Presents, The Pirate Special.

Just like the main series of Harvey Duckman Anthologies this is a collection of fifteenth exciting new writers and established independent authors of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, horror and Steampunk. To celebrate this I’m running a feature for the new few weeks on the authors and stories featured in this edition, cause Captain Duckman made me and there was mention of rum…

Mostly because of the rum…

According to his Bio in this special edition of the Harvey Duckman Anthologies:

Mark Hayes writes novels that often defy simple genre definitions; they could be described as speculative fiction, though Mark would never use the term as he prefers not to speculate. When not writing novels, Mark is a persistent pernicious procrastinator; he recently petitioned parliament for the removal of the sixteenth letter from the Latin alphabet. He is also 8 ¾’s Dan Black Belt in the ancient Yorkshire martial art of EckEThump and favours a one man one vote system but has yet to supply the name of the man in question. Mark has also been known to not take writing his bio very seriously.

How exactly it is possible to be an 8 ¾’s Dan Black Belt in any martial art is something on which he refuses to be drawn, but such are the mysteries of EckEThump, which he learned at the feet of a grand master, who can be found, wearing a flat cap and leaning on a farm gate, in the ancient hills above Halifax.

The story from Mark, in this special edition, begins on a row boat in the middle of an endless ocean, where a man dressed as a pirate is discussing the strange situation they have found themselves in with a man who isn’t. There may or may not be a cat involved, and ninja’s are made much mention of because this is a book about pirates…

The Harvey Pirates Special comes out on International Talk Like A Pirate Day on the 19th of September and will be available in paperback and on kindle, the kindle version is available for pre-order now… So get it or I’ll make yer walk the plank…

Now, and to stop referring to myself in the third person, this is the point where I normally list contact details and other things for which ever Harvey writer this blog is about. But as this ones about me, and you are already here… If you interested in my books, I’m sure you can figure out where to find them.