Category Archives: indie

Auguries

Posted on February 8, 2023 by Mark Hayes

A storm was coming, dark things on the horizon, a great gnashing of teeth, dogs and cats doing unnatural things together. That sort of thing, nothing specific, just general ominous stuff. But whatever was brewing it wasn’t the Earl Gray… Continue reading →

Posted in amwriting, books, dreamlands, fantasy, fiction, horror, humour, indie, indie novels, indie writers, Lovecraft, novels, reads, rites, steampunk, supernatural, writing | Tagged amwriting, amwritingscifi, amwritingsteampunk, books, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writer, writers, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Piano Man, A Guest Post by Will Nett

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Like most authors, I’ll do almost anything to avoid writing. Buying a piano a couple of years ago seemed as good an idea as any. I’d always fancied having a crack at it, but would not have gone out of my way to find one, so when a friend was selling one, and another had a van in which to deliver it, I was first in line. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, big questions, books, humour, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiefriday, indiewriter, reads, writes, writing, writing music | Tagged books, reads, writer, writers, writerslife, writing, writingtips | Leave a comment

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

Pointy Eared Humans

Posted on December 29, 2022 by Mark Hayes

‘The Rings of Power’ Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel, Love letter to Tolkien’s mythology, or poorly written Sauron, Galadriel romance fan fiction? Brought to you, as it was, by more money than sense, it has it’s detractors. I have … Continue reading →

Posted in indie, opinion, pointless things of wonderfulness, rant, reads, sci-fi | Tagged amwatching, elves, fantasy, netfic, sciencefiction, tolkin, witcher | 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 →

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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 →

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Wyrd particles and Spooky Runes

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Mark Hayes

A Book review of Wyrd by Kieth Healing. A book on the the concept of the Wyrd and the ancient Anglo Saxon Runic alphabet, its use in divination, as well as the runes connections to the Wyrd. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, big questions, book reviews, books, druidry, goodreads, indie, indie writers, mental-health, pagan, publication, reads, rites | Tagged books, druidry, druids, magic, new-age, pagan, reads, runes, writing | 6 Comments

Another gimlet, please, Ivor. A Guest post from Will Nett

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Mark Hayes

William Nettleton is a fine name. Still a ‘Sir’ in front of it and it brings up images of a big game hunter in the 1800’s with an elephant gun nestled under one arm , smoking a pipe of suspicious … Continue reading →

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Is Steampunk Elitist? A guest Post by Mat McCall

Posted on October 1, 2022 by Mark Hayes

“Why do Steampunks always dress up as wealthy Neo-Victorians? What about the workers and the poor, why don’t Steamers dress up like them?” Continue reading →