Category Archives: book reviews

Rune Rat Rune…

Posted on November 30, 2022 by darrack1

whats a littler mass murder between friends Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, humour, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, reads | Tagged amreading, bookblog, bookreview, books, fantasy, reading, reads, sciencefiction, urbanfantasy, writing | Leave a comment

I bought a copy of Barbara Avon’s novella Owl Eyes Motel in a fit of rage spite and with an urge to dress the balance of the universe a little because cretinous arseholes leaving shitty one-star reviews for another human being’s labours of love offends me… Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, fiction, goodreads, horror, humour, indie writers, indiewriter, novels, opinion, Passing Place, rant, reads, Uncategorized, writes, writing | Tagged bookblog, bookreview, books, horror, reads, writer, writers, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

The Guest Runes…

Posted on October 24, 2022 by darrack1

Somehow I have ended up hosting a discussion panel on Runes, there relevance to dark age culture, what the Victorians did with them and the difference between New Age pseudo-mythology and actual historical facts and ancient cultures… This is fascinating stuff. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, indie, indie writers, opinion, pagan, reads, rites, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, magic, reads, ritual, runes, spirituality, steampunk, supernatural, writer, writerslife | 1 Comment

Return of the Revenge of the creature from the Friday Reviews

Posted on October 21, 2022 by darrack1

Ardent followers of this fine ongoing series of ever more obscure ramblings of the paranoid conglomerate of emotional baggage that collectively refers to itself as Mark Hayes, will be aware I have a regular feature on a Friday where I do a few quick reviews of several books all in one go. If your definition of regular is once in a blue moon, probably twice a year at best, and frankly not always on a Friday Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, grathic novels, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, novels, reads, steampunk, supernatural | Tagged amreading, bookblog, bookreview, books, goodreads, graphic novels, reading, reads, steampunk, writers | Leave a comment

Wyrd particles and Spooky Runes

Posted on October 19, 2022 by darrack1

A Book review of Wyrd by Kieth Healing. A book on the the concept of the Wyrd and the ancient Anglo Saxon Runic alphabet, its use in divination, as well as the runes connections to the Wyrd. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, big questions, book reviews, books, druidry, goodreads, indie, indie writers, mental-health, pagan, publication, reads, rites | Tagged books, druidry, druids, magic, new-age, pagan, reads, runes, writing | 4 Comments

The Complete Misadventures of Hannibal Smyth

Posted on October 11, 2022 by darrack1

No one who ever dreamed of being a writer dreamed of the day their book was available on Kindle..
When you have the writers dream, you dream of writing and then holding your work in hardback, and any writer who tells you different is a liar. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, fantasy, goodreads, Hannibal Smyth, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, novels, opinion, Passing Place, pointless things of wonderfulness, publication, reads, sci-fi, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, books, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writer, writers, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

A bit of genealogy and the Dutch

Posted on September 2, 2022 by darrack1

I don’t know what my paternal Granddad did for a living. I’ve never known. It never occurred to me to ask my dad what his dad did for a crust. Genealogy has never really been much of a thing for … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, big questions, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, novels, pirates, reads, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, amreadingscifi, books, newbooks, newfiction, newreads, reads, steampunk, writers, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Numerology and Gargoyles

Posted on August 31, 2022 by darrack1

In the dim distant past, in a more innocent time, before the great pandemic, I was invited to write a story for a new anthology. This was in the Autumn of 2018, before the final draft of the first Hannibal … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, cthulhu, fiction, Hannibal Smyth, Harvey Duckman, horror, indie, IndieApril, indiewriter, novels, Passing Place, reads, sci-fi, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, books, fantasy, newbooks, newfiction, newreads, reads, sciencefiction, scifi, steampunk, steampunk fantasy, writer, writers, writerslife, writing | 1 Comment

The one in five

Posted on August 22, 2022 by darrack1

This is slightly disingenuous, slightly, but on average one word in every five I write makes it to the printed page. It disingenuous because that figure is probably higher in the case of my novels, and maybe a tad lower … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, fiction, Harvey Duckman, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, novels, opinion, sci-fi, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, amreadingscifi, bookblog, bookreview, books, reading, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writer, writers, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Whitby, Witchcraft, and Goth-boots

Posted on July 14, 2022 by darrack1

Whitby, the north Yorkshire coastal town that’s half fishing village, half haven for everything alternative, strange and draped in black crushed velvet. The once quite little harbour below a cliff top abbey first gained a reputation as something more than … Continue reading →