Category Archives: fantasy

Severn sisters…

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Seven is a strange number. According to numerology the number seven represents perfection and is a symbol of eternal life. Seven suggest completeness, there are seven wonders, seven days to the week. It is also the number of change, it is often said that at the age of seven we become complete within ourselves and our true personalities manifest. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, pagan, pointless things of wonderfulness, quotes, reads | Tagged amreading, books, fantasy, goodreads, newbooks, newfiction, reads, sciencefiction, sureal, urbanfantasy | 2 Comments

Rune Rat Rune…

Posted on November 30, 2022 by Mark Hayes

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 | 1 Comment

The Sad Cthulhu World Tour 2022 is over…

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Mark Hayes

On the bookshelf of books ‘Wot I’ve Wrote’ sits Sad Cthulhu, usually… But on those occasions, when I venture out into the cruel cold world to sell books at events, he comes with me. Clearly this is merely an affectation … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, books, cthulhu, fantasy, horror, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, mythos, sci-fi, steampunk | Tagged books, cthulhu, Lovecraft, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writers, writing | Leave a comment

Yule is coming…

Posted on November 16, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Its that time of the year again, the nights are drawing in, there is a chill in the air, entities from beyond what we foolishly believe to be reality are seeping through the cracks… Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, books, cthulhu, fantasy, indie novels, indie writers, Lovecraft, reads, sci-fi, steampunk | Tagged amreadingscifi, books, horror, indiebooks, Lovecraft, newreads, reads, sciencefiction, scifi, steampunk, steampunk fantasy, yule | Leave a comment

NaNoWriMo: Or how to first draft 2022 edition

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Mark Hayes

With the 1st of November a week away here is my usual mildly self-aggrandising of attempting to offer some advice to budding writers, or as it is otherwise known the story of how I wrote my first novel. It is also the story of how I wrote my nineteenth novel. Continue reading →

Posted in amwriting, books, editing, fantasy, fiction, humour, indie, indie writers, indiewriter, nanowrimo, opinion, publication, writes, writing | Tagged nanowrimo, nanowrimo2023, writer, writers, writerslife, writing, writingtips | Leave a comment

The Guest Runes…

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Mark Hayes

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 Mark Hayes

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

The Complete Misadventures of Hannibal Smyth

Posted on October 11, 2022 by Mark Hayes

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 | 1 Comment

Talking books…

Posted on September 27, 2022 by Mark Hayes

“Are they available in audio…?” I get asked for the fifth time that day. At which point I start to explain, in my usual fluid, utterly self-confident, and in no way panic-stricken way that unfortunately they are not… I’ll go … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, books, fantasy, fiction, Hannibal Smyth, indie, indie novels, indie writers, novels, opinion, publication, rant, self-publishing, steampunk | Tagged amreading, books, indiereads, newreads, read, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writer, writers, writerslife, writing, writingtips | 6 Comments

A bit of genealogy and the Dutch

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Mark Hayes

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 →