Category Archives: book reviews

The one in five

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Mark Hayes

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 Mark Hayes

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 →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, pagan, reads, rites, sci-fi, writes | Tagged amreading, reads, sciencefiction, supernatural, urban fantasy, urbanfantasy, writers, writerslife, writing | 6 Comments

Witchcraft and Aether

Posted on July 14, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Sometimes when you start to read a book you get the feeling you have read it before. To be fair in my house there is always a good chance I have read it before, as I reread old books all … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, indie, indie novels, indie writers, reads, sci-fi, steampunk, supernatural, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, books, fantasy, newbooks, newfiction, newreads, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, steampunk fantasy | 1 Comment

Tentacles

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Regular readers will be aware I review indie books when I read them. Or at least do if I love the books. If I don’t I keep quiet about it, because if I don’t like something it doesn’t mean others … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, blogging, book reviews, books, cthulhu, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, horror, indie, indie novels, indie writers, IndieApril, indiefriday, indiewriter, Lovecraft, mythos, novels, opinion, pirates, reads, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, amreadinghorror, bookblog, bookloversday, bookreview, books, call of cthulhu, cthulhu, horror, Lovecraft, lovecraftian, mythos, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writer, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Apocalypso…

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Occasionally when you write you are asked if you would like to write something specific for an extended project. Something outside the realms of the norm. Such invites are always gratifying, sometimes lead to other things, and tend to be … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, horror, indie, indie novels, indie writers, Nyarlathotep, reads, writes | Tagged amreading, apocalypse, art, books, photography, Post Apocalypse School of Teesside, reads, writer, writing | 1 Comment

Passing Affirmations…

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Around three years ago in 2019, which was another age, I was convinced by a force of nature known as C.G Hatton to take my books, stand behind a stall in Scarborough at a Sci-fi convention and pretend that I … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, booksale, depression, fantasy, Hannibal Smyth, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, novels, Passing Place, reads, sci-fi, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, books, Passing Place, reads, sciencefiction, scifiscarbrough, steampunk, writers, writerslife, writing | 3 Comments

Quick reviews (relatively speaking)

Posted on April 4, 2022 by Mark Hayes

March, as you may have noticed, was a busy month for me. A new novel, a new non-fiction books as well, the 9th Harvey, the ide’s, and everything else… Thus I’m a tad behind on general blog related stuff and … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, humour, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, pointless things of wonderfulness, reads, steampunk, writes | Tagged bookreview, books, goodreads, humour, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, steampunk fantasy, urbanfantasy, writerslife | 1 Comment

Evolving Consciousness

Posted on March 29, 2022 by Mark Hayes

‘Cogito, ergo sum‘ ~ Descartes As a pretentious Frenchman once put it, because if you’re use Latin you’re always being pretentious… Though in fairness it was probably less pretentious in 17th century when Latin was the lingau franca of scientific … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, fiction, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, novels, opinion, reads, sci-fi, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, bookblog, books, future, reads, sciencefiction, writerslife, writing | 1 Comment

The strange foray into afterglow

Posted on March 25, 2022 by Mark Hayes

In less than a month I have managed to publish two books. Admittedly I expected to publish both of them last year and then didn’t… But still its been a busy time with years worth of work coming to fruition … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, fiction, goodreads, Hannibal Smyth, Harvey Duckman, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, Lovecraft, mythos, novels, Nyarlathotep, opinion, pointless things of wonderfulness, reads, sci-fi, self-publishing, steampunk, supernatural, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, books, call of cthulhu, cthulhu, Lovecraft, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writer, writers, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Winter’s Redemption Burning

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Of all the small press independent authors I know my favourite is CG Hatton, for many reasons. Not all those reasons are simply to do with CG’s books, because while I read the first three of her The Thieves Guild … Continue reading →