Category Archives: book reviews

Nietzsche’s sister

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Mark Hayes

“God is dead” As a German philosopher of some little note once said, and for many people, that’s probably as much as they know about Nietzsche, the quotes. There is, after all, a lot of them, he is the most … Continue reading →

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Life in the Passing Place

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Mark Hayes

Step in from the cold, through the saloon door of the strangest bar in creation. A place where causality is just a set of rules and the rules can be bent. Where no one knows your name, but everyone has … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books, cider lane, Esqwiths, goodreads, Passing Place, pointless things of wonderfulness, publication, reads | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Oswald Bastable: The Original Steampunk Trilogy

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Mark Hayes

H.G.Wells and Jules Verne share the honour of being amongst the father’s Science Fiction, and retrospectively the fathers of Steampunk. There is little doubt the Verne and Wells influence on Steampunk is huge, though their tales are set in a … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, Hannibal Smyth, novels, opinion, pointless things of wonderfulness, reads, retro book reviews, sci-fi, steampunk | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Doom That Came To Sarnath: the complete Lovecraft#13

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Mark Hayes

Thirteen is an ominous number on occasion. This being the thirteenth post, it is perhaps appropriate that it is ‘The Doom That Came To Sarnath’. For more reasons than one. As the subject is an impending doom befalling a city, … Continue reading →

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20000 Leagues under the Sea: Jules Verne: Retro Book Review

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Mark Hayes

If you want to know about a classic, and any book that survives in print long enough generally gets considered a classic, there are plenty of dry Wikipedia entries you could read.  No one reviews them in the way they … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, pointless things of wonderfulness, retro book reviews, steampunk | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The thing I hate about self-publishing

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Mark Hayes

This is really just one thing. Which is asking people, I converse with on Facebook, if they will read and review my book … Really, words can not describe how much I hate doing this… which is why I don’t … Continue reading →

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Waiting at the bus stop of lost hopes…

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Mark Hayes

Okay, slight over dramatic title for this piece, but it is taken from the name of the first chapter of Passing Place so it had a certain appeal because waiting is more or less what I am doing. It’s not … Continue reading →

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Kheris Burning, book review

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Mark Hayes

Not done a review for a while but stumbled over this gem in Stockton SFI festival a year after I read the original 4 novels by C.G.Hatton, which are reviewed way back in this blog about a year ago  link … Continue reading →

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#Yourenext book review

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Mark Hayes

What the scariest monster you have ever seen or read about in horror fiction. Werewolves? Vampires? Zombies? Old tentacle face himself Cuthulu? Pennywise from IT? Pinhead? Maybe old school Frankensteins corpse gave life… It doesn’t matter because all those answers are inevitably … Continue reading →

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Amazon reviews (and why they are important)

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Mark Hayes

Amazon Reviews and why they are important Amazon, like it or not, is the leading retail channel for new authors, and the marketplace. It’s not perfect but is vital if you’re trying to get people to read your books. All … Continue reading →

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