Category Archives: Uncategorized

An old beautiful thing and a terrible one

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Last weekend I was in Stroud attending their annual steampunk event, doing the author thing and a certain amount of prating about. It was a lot of fun, as such events always are. On this occasion I took with me an old beautiful thing and a terrible one. Well a stack of terrible ones, but lets talk about the old beautiful thing first.. Continue reading →

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Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 13 Released Today

Posted on June 3, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Originally posted on Ben Sawyer:
Beneath the trees, where nobody sees, we hide and seek as long as we please… https://markhayesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/harveyduckmanvolume13cover.jpeg The latest volume in the Harvey Duckman Presents series of anthologies is available today. Brace yourself for the unexpected…

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Inspiration and the future (mine, and everyone else’s)

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Originally posted on Druid Life:
Inspiration isn’t something that always turns up on demand. For a person attempting to work creatively this can be a bit of an issue. It’s certainly the case that trying to create can be a…

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Dear Edgar #6 MS Found in a Bottle

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Poe scholars are apt to say it was this story that truly launched Poe’s career. Certainly its is the first tale to read the way you expect Poe to read, with an ominous intensity wrapped in poetic language, creeping with ever more intensity towards a dark grim conclusion. In this tale then, you can see all that is to come late in Poe’s career. Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar #5 Bon-Bon

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Look too long in to the abyss and the abyss will make you an offer on your immortal aspect… Apparently. Continue reading →

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What is Steampunk? A Guest post by Matt McCall

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Mat McCall, a bulldozer of joyous exuberance and invested enthusiasm who manages to drag unsuspecting people into a whirlwind of frivolity. I love this man… He has some thoughts on ‘What is Steampunk’ he is something of an expert on the matter, though he would never claim to be. Continue reading →

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Hope is essential

Posted on April 14, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Originally posted on Druid Life:
https://markhayesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/image-1-1.png One of the big barriers to becoming more sustainable, is the widespread belief that it’s going to hurt us to do so. We are afraid we’ll have to give up all the nice things,…

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Ebooks, Publishers and going full circle

Posted on March 25, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Originally posted on Druid Life:
Electronic publishing began in earnest long before social media really existed and when many people weren’t online. Twenty years ago we relied heavily on egroups – mostly Yahoo groups to find each other and share…

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Dear Edgar #1: Metzengerstein

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Mark Hayes

In 1832 a now former Sargent Major in the United States Army had almost reached the age he’d claimed to be on his enlistment forms four year earlier. Why he lied about his age when joining the army is a bit of a mystery as he was 18 at the time but while he was at it he also lied about his name, the recruitment papers stating it as being Edgar A Perry Continue reading →

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Further Tales From Tantamount: The Ocean Remembers. February 1st of the Year of the Translunary Washing Machine

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Mark Hayes

Originally posted on Meredith Debonnaire:
Original fiction by Meredith Debonnaire. Being a found record of Certain Correspondences between Tantamount-Newly-On-Sea, and an unnamed Airballoon. Proceed at your own risk! The following letter sent by exciteable carrier pigeon from an airballoon, given…

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