Category Archives: reads

A Squid on the Shoulder

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Queen Victoria is in the 200th year of her reign, and her Glorious British Empire faces a grievous threat due to the Machiavellian machinations of that most notorious instigator of insurrections Herbert George Wells. No longer an agent of The … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, Hannibal Smyth, Harvey Duckman, horror, humour, indie, indie novels, indie writers, novels, reads, sci-fi, writes, writing | Tagged amreading, amwritingsteampunk, books, Canadian steampunk, reads, sciencefiction, scifi, scifiscarbrough, steampunk, steampunk fantasy, writing | 1 Comment

Proof copies of joy

Posted on February 23, 2022 by Mark Hayes

I don’t generally post a lot of pictures of things, well not my own at any rate. My medium is generally words. The exception to that is when I type set a book, which for complicated reasons to do with … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, blogging, book reviews, books, cthulhu, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, Hannibal Smyth, Harvey Duckman, horror, humour, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, Lovecraft, mythos, novels, Nyarlathotep, reads, sci-fi, steampunk | Tagged amreading, books, newbooks, newfiction, newreads, reads, sciencefiction, scifiscarbrough, steampunk, writers, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Dystopian Forrest’s and the Merrily Method

Posted on February 21, 2022 by Mark Hayes

I’m not a great believer in self-help books… I always find them a suspicious offering. I suspect the only selves ever really helped are the ones selling the books. Which is ultimately the point of them, to make money. It … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, druidry, fiction, humour, indie, indie novels, indie writers, reads, sci-fi, steampunk, supernatural, Uncategorized | Tagged amreading, books, distopian, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writers, writerslife, writingtips | 6 Comments

Micro Fictions

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Mark Hayes

I don’t like micro fiction. I say this not to denigrate it as entertainment or indeed as an art form. It is simply a personal thing. If pushed as to why I don’t like it then I will admit that … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, book reviews, books, dystopia, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, Harvey Duckman, horror, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, opinion, reads, Uncategorized | Tagged amreading, bookblog, books, flashfiction, Harvey Duckman, reads, writerslife, writing | 2 Comments

Echo’s of Lovecraft

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Mark Hayes

Back at the end of November I reviews a novel by Keith Healing called ‘The Burnt Watcher‘, I was, you may recall, quite taken with it, and the post cataclysm world in which it took place. Not least because it … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, cthulhu, dreamlands, goodreads, horror, indie, indie novels, indie writers, Lovecraft, reads, steampunk, supernatural, writes | Tagged amreading, bookblog, bookreview, cthulhu, indiebooks, Lovecraft, reads | 3 Comments

Bohemians of the Severn

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Mark Hayes

Gloucestershire is, I have come to believe, a strange place. Maybe it’s something to do with the waters of the Severn, or the wind blowing out of the Malvern hills, or maybe it’s something in the soil and the roots … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, big questions, book reviews, books, indie, indie novels, indie writers, opinion, pagan, reads, supernatural | Tagged amreading, bookreview, books, indiebooks, magic, reads, romance, supernatural | 4 Comments

The Talented Child Dilemma

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Mark Hayes

I’m a little tired and world wherry when it comes to ‘talented child’ stories. This may seem a little harsh, indeed it is, but as the basis for a plot it has been around along time, particularly in fantasy, sciFi … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, indie, indie novels, indie writers, novels, reads, steampunk, supernatural | Tagged amreading, bookblog, books, reads, steampunk, writer, writers, writerslife, writing | 6 Comments

The Hydrogen Cigar

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Mark Hayes

‘Helium is a bit of a sticky wicket you see. Had you requested Hydrogen that would have been easy,’ Sir Robert had been informed by his chief science officer. The scientist, whom Sir Robert suspected was a man who would … Continue reading →

Posted in books, fiction, goodreads, Hannibal Smyth, indie, indie novels, indie writers, indiewriter, novels, reads, sci-fi, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged amwritingsteampunk, fiction, indiereads, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk | Leave a comment

A message from The Sanctimonious Order of the Willing Sacrifice

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Mark Hayes

We, The Sanctimonious Order of the Willing Sacrifice, must regrettably start this annual meeting by apologising, but once again, for the tenth year running, we have failed to secure a year king. While there are of course be those who … Continue reading →

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The Other Elves…

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Mark Hayes

Lord of the Rings, was perhaps the greatest mythological whitewashing job ever undertaken. The works of Old Grandpapa Tolkien drew heavily on Nordic, Germanic and to a lesser extent Celtic mythology, though it changed a great deal in doing so. … Continue reading →