Category Archives: fantasy

Dear Edgar 53 ~ The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade

Posted on January 29, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Truth, as the old saying goes, is stranger than fiction. It is also on occasion harder to believe. Fiction has the advantage of the internal logic of the story. Truth has to actually be true, even if that truth is … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, fantasy, Poe, pointless things of wonderfulness, reads, retro book reviews | Tagged amreading, book reviews, book-review, books, Dear Edgar, fiction, Poe, reading, reads, writing | Leave a comment

Pagan Lines

Posted on January 20, 2026 by Mark Hayes

She utters words of honeyed violence to sooth the savage at her breast.

I harken to her words, but they are as nothing to me. Garbled sounds, senseless, meaningless. Words from across the whale road. Words from the lands of the cross carriers. The land where they worship the murdered god. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, books, fantasy, Harvey Duckman, pagan, quantum pagan, reads | Tagged amreading, books, fantasy, pagan, paganism, reads | Leave a comment

Preludes in Obscurum

Posted on January 6, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Hello and welcome to what will eventually become the year of the Rusty Hobbyhorse in mid February. While we are now in 2026 it is still the year of the Distressed Snakeskin Belt for a little longer. However, weary travelers, I bring you news of some import before the celestial cladder turns once more. To wit, to help you through the cold darkness of winter there are two new releases coming your way in which to feast this eyes and feed you imagination. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, books, fantasy, pagan, Passing Place, reads, sci-fi, urban fantasy | Tagged adult, books, fantasy, pagan, reading, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, urban fantasy, writing | Leave a comment

Dear Edgar 45 ~ A Tale of the Ragged Mountains

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Science Fiction is awash with tales of procession or bodily transference… This one by Poe, may have been the first Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, Dear Edgar, fantasy, sci-fi | Tagged amreading, books, Dear Edgar, fiction, horror, literature, Poe, reads, sciencefiction, writing | Leave a comment

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

Dear Edgar 42 ~ The Black Cat

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Pluto the cat was not named for Pluto the planet. Pluto the planet was not discovered until 1930 (though one suspects it was always there…) which was almost ninety years after this story was written. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, Dear Edgar, fantasy, horror, mental-health, reads, retro book reviews | Tagged amreading, book-review, books, edgar-allan-poe, horror, poetry, reads | Leave a comment

New Book, Conventions, and an update

Posted on July 4, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Occasionally, just occasionally, everything all comes at once. Which is why I have an ear infection, am currently deaf on my left side, feel like curling up in a dark room under a blanket, just as I have the busiest … Continue reading →

Posted in fantasy, Harvey Duckman, indie, indie writers, steampunk | Tagged alternative history, books, fantasy, fiction, read, reads, steampunk, steampunk fantasy, writing | Leave a comment

Maybe Tuesday

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Mark Hayes

In another universe, where a man in a small lab in China didn’t drop a non-descript vail on the floor (allegedly) on a Tuesday in late 2019, the release of my 2020 novel ‘Maybe’ might have gone differently. It must have been a Tuesday when he dropped the vial, these things always happen on a Tuesday. No one ever accidently changed the course of history on a Monday. Continue reading →

Posted in fantasy, goodreads, indiewriter, reads, sci-fi, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, book-review, books, fiction, reading, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Cogkneys, Minoan’s and Devilish Preludes

Posted on June 11, 2025 by Mark Hayes

Anyone following this blog over the years will be aware my taste in reading can be a tad ecliptic. Well buckle up buttercup, ecliptic was three turns back. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, druidry, fantasy, humour, pagan, steampunk, urban fantasy | Tagged book reviews, book-review, books, humanity, humour, pagan, paganism, reading, reads, steampunk, urban fantasy, writing | 1 Comment

Researching Lovecraft

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Mark Hayes

So here me, back up to my neck with old tentacle hugger, getting annoyed at him. Just like old times… thus here are a few ‘notables’ which will probably find the cutting room floor in the end but have amused me for one reason or another in the meantime. Continue reading →