Category Archives: indie novels

Music and words

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Mark Hayes

Passing Place remains the book of which I am most proud. I love all my novels but this one is the one with the most blood in the ink, the most slivers of my soul between its pages. Its a tale of loss and love, of hope and grief , and of choices, the choice we all have….

Also, there really is a forest in the cellar. As well as a Dryad waiting tables when she is not in the back garden with her tree. A gunslinger with a tale of the mythology in the old west. An Inuit whose spear is dropping blood on the bar and speak of tears like diamonds. The wisest doorman in all the universe who will teach you many things, including how to drink brandy the right way. A girl in the corridor with eyes in her hands. A literal devil called Lyal. A grey man form a grey world marveling at the colour in the swirl of his mop water. A chef who understand how to may causality sandwiches. Continue reading →

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A Gentleman

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Mark Hayes

“It seems to me, that the use of lockpicks should fall under the remit of a gentleman’s valet, rather than the gentleman himself.” Benjamin West grumbled just after he snapped his second pick in quick succession.  Continue reading →

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The Return of a Semblance of Hope

Posted on August 19, 2024 by Mark Hayes

Time has past… Strange epochs are upon us, the stars are finally right and the thing that was prophesied will now come to pass… Also there make be coco! Continue reading →

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Here Today, Scone Tomorrow

Posted on July 29, 2024 by Mark Hayes

Folk law is full of places that don’t entirely exist. Places that slide off the map, and give cartographers a headache. Continue reading →

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Beguiling darkness: Tethered

Posted on June 21, 2024 by Mark Hayes

In the distant past before the lost years and the breaking of the world, in a younger less cynical time, I was sent a manuscript to read. This was about four years ( three atrocious prime ministers and one pandemic) … Continue reading →

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Books of the year 2023 Edition

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Mark Hayes

As with last year this may be slightly early, as there is a fair chance I’ll read a couple more before the end of the year. (in fact I know I will as there are a couple I am reading … Continue reading →

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Monomania et le gothique

Posted on October 30, 2023 by Mark Hayes

If a Gothic tale needs one thing to make it a truly Gothic tale, it needs an antagonist in the grip of a profound monomania. Obsessions and obsessional manias are among of the principle building blocks of gothic literature. Be … Continue reading →

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Breaking Reality in Gloucester by Nimue Brown

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Introduction by Mark Nimue Brown is one of my favourite authors and one of my favourite people. Despite this I invariably mispronounce her name, I’m a bit useless like that, I read a word and how it sounds in my … Continue reading →

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Strange wonders

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Tales of Sanctimonious cults, another of a strange tower that do not want to be seen. A story of madness and elder gods returning in the Tees valley, a tale of a magician appointed to the court of Victoria Sax-Coberg. The strange statement of a life repeating in waves of twenty-seven, a tale of a wyrd in the western deserts cira 1850, a story with Sigmond Freud in a rowing boat and finally Hannibal Smyth, who is his as reliably honest as ever, while carrying and aspidistra. Continue reading →

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The Rabbit Hole

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Mark Hayes

So I am down the rabbit hole, admit The Matter of France, Italian Epic Poems, adrift in the pedalo of an idea, that may become a thing… Continue reading →

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