Tag Archives: writerslife

Supporting your local itinerant author

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Mark Hayes

I throw words into the wind and what them swirl around me and hope to catch them again, I am a writer, writing is what I do, occasionally quite well, it defines me in many ways and I believe through my writing I add to the zeitgeist of humanity in positive ways.

But I don’t always believe any of that to be true… Continue reading →

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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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The darkness

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Mark Hayes

I am the darkness that dwells in your head

I am the secrets you’ve never said

I am the malice that lay at your heart

Continue reading →

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Dear Edgar #20 The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Mark Hayes

As authors go you would be hard pressed to find many with a legacy as influential as that of our own dear Edgar. Poe’s works have inspired directly or indirectly much of what we now perceive as the western cannon. … Continue reading →

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Prose poet

Posted on July 26, 2024 by Mark Hayes

I had one of those conversations the other day with another writer on the subject of poetry. The essence of which was they held the opinion all writers should write poetry, I disagreed as I don’t. Except of course when … 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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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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Harvey’s not dead/Men in Dark Tweed

Posted on April 9, 2024 by Mark Hayes

Over the last several years I have been involved in the Harvey Duckman Anthologies project. First as a writer, occasionally a mentor and then latterly as part of the editorial staff . I have spoken of it here more than … Continue reading →

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Our Lady of the Peat Bog

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Mark Hayes

Our Lady of the Peat Bog* *A short piece inspired by Jessica Law The lady of the Bog does not give out swords, that her sisters job, the one who hangs about in lakes. The lady of the Bog hands … Continue reading →

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