Category Archives: reads

Genteel light vs Grim dark

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Mark Hayes

Just to avoid any confusion I like grim dark fiction. I like heroes and heroines with shades of grey. I have no problem with a two sided coins, villains with heroic traits and heroes who are half the villain. I … Continue reading →

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Authors of Folly and Madness

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Mark Hayes

In a dimly lit basement. Beneath the grim streets of a post industrial city whence dark satanic mills long since ceased to pushing dense black smoke in to the air. On a wooden operating table, complete with ancient leather straps … Continue reading →

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Patronising Miss Law

Posted on July 1, 2024 by Mark Hayes

Occasionally, I wonder if regular readers of these witterings wonder if I could just once in a while stay on topic… What when it comes down to it is this blog for. Oh sure I talk about writing a lot, … Continue reading →

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Men in Dark Tweed #10

Posted on June 28, 2024 by Mark Hayes

The Men in Dark Tweed were created on a whim while I was working on my current WIP novel, a Victorian Urban Fantasy entitled ’Lucifer Mandrake and the Hanoverian Proxy’ The new, somewhat nefarious Home Secretary sets up a plain clothes … Continue reading →

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A writers solstice

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Mark Hayes

I have always been fond of the above quote. It comes form Stephen King’s memoir/guide to the craft of writing, On Writing . A book I recommend to anyone looking to progress in the craft. It is also a quote … Continue reading →

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The Men in Dark Tweed #9

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Mark Hayes

The Men in Dark Tweed were created on a whim while I was working on my current WIP novel, a Victorian Urban Fantasy entitled ’Lucifer Mandrake and the Hanoverian Proxy’ The new, somewhat nefarious Home Secretary sets up a plain clothes … Continue reading →

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Forgotten forests

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Mark Hayes

The nexus of my identity is not external to me. This was a hard lesson, long to be learned, over many years and to an extent still unlearned. Coming to the realisation that what makes you you, and understanding that … Continue reading →

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The Maggot of Salamanca

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Mark Hayes

Occasionally while happily writing away, you write yourself into unexpected corners. For example, in my current main work in progress ‘Lucifer Mandrake and the Hanoverian Proxy’, the plot requires a hole in the arcane wards protecting Queen Victoria’s court. As … Continue reading →

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Pagan Books (of the year and otherwise)

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Fellow author, blogger, musician, poet, worshipper of trees, insightful guru, druid, and all round wonderful person,Nimue Brown started a Facebook group called Pagan Book News. If you are interested in paganism, belief structures, and humanities connection to the wider universe, … Continue reading →

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A Brush with the Law A Guest post by Will Nett

Posted on December 14, 2023 by Mark Hayes

To the Black Maisonette the Childe Nettleton came This line is of course from the infamous fragment of the lost narrative poem by Bob Brown, found written on the back of a fag packet in 1992. Many have since claimed … Continue reading →

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