Category Archives: amwriting

Maybe, just maybe…

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Mark Hayes

A storm is brewing in the mid Atlantic and the airship Maybe’s Daughter is caught up in the middle of it. Benjamin West is hanging from a cargo net after someone tried to kill him. Eliza Tu-Pa-KA is trying to save the airship, unaware of West’s plight. Meanwhile in a realm beyond the mortal world, the soul of a dead man faces a stark choice.

Hopefully Perkins will put the kettle on before it all goes too far… Continue reading →

Posted in amwriting, books, fantasy, Hannibal Smyth, indie novels, indie writers, novels, sci-fi, steampunk | Tagged books, creative-writing, fiction, reads, steampunk, writerslife, writing, writing-tips | Leave a comment

Not Committing Ritualised Murder

Posted on April 6, 2026 by Mark Hayes

The first bit of news is of a Free anthology. Yes FREE, on kindle and Smashwords and other places. Now normally the moment I talk about a free book I develop a nervous tick because no book is free, it all costs the writers, editors and publishers those most vital of resources, time and energy. Giving books away for free feels like a betrayal of the artist and a betrayal of the art… It is part of the malaise of the industry, because no one truly values that which is free*. However in this case the free anthology was created specifically to be free. It was also, ahem, my idea… Continue reading →

Posted in amwriting, books, fantasy, fiction, Harvey Duckman, horror, indie novels, indie writers, rites, sci-fi, writing | Tagged books, fantasy, fiction, reads, sciencefiction, short stories, steampunk, urban fantasy, writing | Leave a comment

The Publishing Iceberg

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Or of all the typos in the world why did you have to walk into mine… Continue reading →

Posted in amwriting, indie writers, indiewriter, publication, self-publishing, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged books, fiction, publishing, self-publishing, steampunk, writer, writerslife, writing, writingtips | 1 Comment

The Also By Anomaly

Posted on November 21, 2025 by Mark Hayes

I decide to do something different for Auguries of Euryale, my forthcoming anthology of my own work. I decided instead to write it in a more narrative style, telling a story of my novels and other works. I think it sort of works as a more interesting way to do the Also by pages… Continue reading →

Posted in amediting, amwriting, books, fiction, Hannibal Smyth, Harvey Duckman, horror, men in dark tweed, reads | Tagged book-review, books, fiction, horror, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writer, writing, writingtips | Leave a comment

The Quantum Pagan an Introduction

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Last week, because I don’t have enough to write, I started work on a project that has been kicking about for a few years. While it may never see the light of day, as it is in part a personal project, I have been encouraged through conversations with a few people to write a book on pagan mysticism, faith and quantum physics… Continue reading →

Posted in amwriting, big questions, druidry, opinion, pagan, quantum pagan, rites | Tagged history, pagan, paganism, paganisum, quantum pagan, reads, spirituality, writer, writing | 3 Comments

3 Turns Widdleshin’s: For she is Devine

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Whom ‘She’ is, is a matter for your conjecture. She could be ‘The Sibel’ of ancient Rome. She could just be a woman who claims that is the case to add mystic to her illegal den of vice and corrupted youth. A dark forbidding goth club named for an ancient standing stone. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, books, fantasy, Harvey Duckman, horror, indie writers, Poe, reads | Tagged books, reads, sciencefiction, urbanfantasy, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Turning Widdershins

Posted on September 29, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Three turns windleshin’s

Around the Lochfa’ston

Three turns windleshin’s

an’ call the other’s names Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, books, fiction, Harvey Duckman, indie writers, pagan, reads, sci-fi, Uncategorized | Tagged amreading, books, fantasy, fiction, Harvey Duckman, poetry, reads, urban fantasy, writing | Leave a comment

A Hint of Scarlet

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Then last night, or rather this morning while I was trying to make it back into last night, I had something of a break through. Scarlet started speaking to me, as she has previously only whispered. So perhaps, just perhaps, it is time. Continue reading →

Posted in #amwriting, amwriting, big questions, books, pagan, Passing Place, reads, writes, writing | Tagged #amwriting, amwriting, book, books, fiction, paganism, Passing Place, read, writer, writing | Leave a comment

To be a Writer

Posted on July 24, 2025 by Mark Hayes

To be a writer you have to write, it really is as simple and as complicated as that. Continue reading →

Posted in #amwriting, amwriting, writes, writing | Tagged books, creative-writing, writer, writers, writerslife, writing, writing-tips, writingtips | 1 Comment

10 years down the Lane

Posted on July 14, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Ten years ago this month I published my first novel. I wrote it in July the year before, then spent a year redrafting it several times, while trying to convince myself it wasn’t just a mid-life crises project. I had always wanted to write a novel, I been writing for the better part of three decades, but now I had actually written one. It was finished it was done , it was as good as I could make it. The only thing left to do was to send it out into the world. It was terrifying… Continue reading →