Category Archives: fantasy

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 →

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 | 1 Comment

Darker Ages

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Mark Hayes

There is an industry around romanticised paganism, its nothing new, it has been going on for decades, indeed more than decades, the Victorians were romanticising Britian’s past two centuries back. But there has been a particular raft of ‘cuddly’ paganism … Continue reading →

Posted in druidry, fantasy, fiction, horror, indie novels, indie writers, pagan, rites, supernatural, Uncategorized, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, books, darkages, druidry, fantasy, folklore, newreads, pagan, reads, supernatural | 2 Comments

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 →