Category Archives: amreading

Quiddling for Quizzels

Posted on May 9, 2025 by Mark Hayes

(This is originally something I wrote for Hopeless Vendetta, in November last year. It is something of an autumn story, so entirely out of place mid spring… But I republish here because I want to, and readers of my blog … Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 29 ~ A Descent into the Maelström

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Author C Clark, The Playboy model, the whirlpool , and Edgar Alan Poe Continue reading →

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Justice for Pluto

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Mark Hayes

There are in fact seven dwarf planets (though three are listed as ‘possible dwarf planets’) among the many other Trans-Neptunian Objects that have been identified. Two of them even have moons. The main reason Pluto is recognized as a planet is because it was discovered first. Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Quaoar, Orcus, Sedna, and Gonggong all could lay equal claim to planethood.

The most plausible reason why the other TNO Dwarf-planets are not recognized as planets is I suspect because learning all nine planets in order is already too much for some people before you add another seven dwarf’s. Given Disney’s recent issues with that number of dwarfs this may prove wise… Continue reading →

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Tales from the notepads

Posted on April 8, 2025 by Mark Hayes

“And todays date is?”

Grunted laughter… “it matters not.”

“It matters not? We are in the third decade of third millennium, yet you speak of observing a battle in the first. By my reconning some fourteen hundred years ago.”

“it is still no dream.”

“What is it then, if not a dream?”

“A memory…” Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 28~ The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Posted on April 3, 2025 by Mark Hayes

At some point in your life you will have learned of this story, you will most likely not recollect when and how you learn of it, but you know of the story. ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ is one of those stories that is part of the zeitgeist of humanity. It is a story so intrinsic to our collective culture, so ingrain within us, so referenced and repeated, that it exists beyond itself. Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 27: The Man of the Crowd

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Mark Hayes

 It was well said of a certain German book that “er lasst sich nicht lesen” –it does not permit itself to be read. There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told. Men die nightly in their … Continue reading →

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Miscast in petticoats

Posted on March 28, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Lucifer Mandrake, Arcanist to the court of St James, by appointment of Queen Victoria Saxe-Coburg, is not having his best day. Someone has been resurrecting dead peers of the realm. The House of Lords is now inhabited by the undead. Sooner or later, someone is bound to notice. Well probably. Is this just a plot to derail The Witchcraft Bill? Or is it something more insidious, such as a plan to remove Victoria as head of state and replace her with the King of Hanover? Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar 16 ~ The Business Man

Posted on March 26, 2025 by Mark Hayes

At home, on the shelf above my desk, just to the left of the raven black quill and owl tormented ink stand, and in front of the leather bound scroll case of dubious origin, I have a porcelain phrenology skull, … Continue reading →

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The Unleashening of Ben Sawyer

Posted on March 20, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Ben Sawyer is a fellow Harvey writer and novelist. His Holly Trinity novels are unique, delightful and set in the ancient ghost haunted city of York, a place for which I have no small affection. It has been something of … Continue reading →

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Cocktails in the Cosmos

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Mark Hayes

I am to blame, at least in a small way, for something delightful. This has been known to happen before… Occasionally I think people just need someone to blame and I am convenient as I have an occasionally loud personality, … Continue reading →

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