Tag Archives: writing

Dear Edgar 64 ~ Von Kempelen and His Discovery

Posted on August 2, 2026 by Mark Hayes

By April 1849 our dear Edgar was a widower finding his comfort once more in the bottle. Privately he had started becoming increasingly unstable after Viginia’s death in January 1847. Yet publicly he had never been so successful. The initial … Continue reading →

Posted in Poe, reads, retro book reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged amreading, book reviews, books, Edgar Alan Poe, fiction, literature, reads, writing | Leave a comment

Dear Edgar 63 ~ Hop Frog

Posted on July 28, 2026 by Mark Hayes

“I now see distinctly… what manner of people these maskers are. They are a great king and his seven privy-councillors—a king who does not scruple to strike a defenceless girl, and his seven councillors who abet him in the outrage. As for myself, I am simply Hop-Frog, the jester—and this is my last jest.” Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, Dear Edgar, horror, reads, retro book reviews | Tagged amreading, book-review, books, fiction, poetry, reading, reads, writing | Leave a comment

Oh what convoluted webs we do weave

Posted on July 21, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Main characters are bad enough, but the incidental characters that hang around the edges get more often than not have their own lives that morph and change as they go from a one chapter, one scene, body with a plot point nailed to it, to someone with a complete back story and who has had their own weird adventures of stage… Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, books, fantasy, Hannibal Smyth | Tagged book-review, books, fiction, reading, reads, steampunk, writing | Leave a comment

A Tale of Two covers

Posted on July 20, 2026 by Mark Hayes

This post may offend some people. To be fair I could write that at the beginning of almost everything I write so I’m not overly worried. However, this post will touch upon a subject which offends a lot of people, including me. The subject of AI art. Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, Harvey Duckman, horror, indie novels, rant, reads | Tagged AI, amreading, art, artificial-intelligence, books, reads, sciencefiction, urban fantasy, writing | Leave a comment

Music to Write by ~ Female Rage Edition

Posted on July 2, 2026 by Mark Hayes

So in the spirit of sharing new music to write by, or just listen to (of which there may be a theme… ) Form the almost mainstream down to an artist so obscure their you tube channel is only marginally better subscribed than my own Continue reading →

Posted in music, Uncategorized, writing, writing music | Tagged music, review, reviews, rock, writing, writing music | 1 Comment

Dear Edgar 61 ~ The Domain of Arnheim

Posted on July 1, 2026 by Mark Hayes

the question before us is not if the landscape Garden is a story, but if The Domain of Arnheim takes that original non-narrative piece and turn it into a story…? Continue reading →

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Cover Stories

Posted on June 11, 2026 by Mark Hayes

‘Don’t judge a book by the cover’ as the old wisdom goes, unfortunately, however, in the real world everyone does. There is going to be some harsh unforgiving honesty with myself in this post, but sometimes that is required Continue reading →

Posted in amwriting, books, fantasy, Harvey Duckman, men in dark tweed, reads, self-publishing, writes, writing | Tagged amwriting, book-review, books, cover design, fiction, reading, reads, sciencefiction, steampunk, writer, writing | Leave a comment

Dear Edgar 60 ~ The Cask of Amontillado

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Mark Hayes

In this grim tale of revenge by our Dear Edgar, the promise of sampling a cask of Amontillado is used by the protagonist Montresor to lure his intended victim Fortunato to his grotesque doom. Fortunato considers himself to be a connoisseur of fine wine, though just how true this may be is debateable. Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, horror, Poe, reads | Tagged amreading, books, Dear Edgar, fiction, horror, Poe, reads, short stories, writerslife, writing | Leave a comment

Dear Edgar 59 ~ The Sphinx

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Mark Hayes

Nor is it related to the character ‘The Sphinx’ in the movie Gone in 60 seconds, played by former football hard man Vinnie Jones. Though in fairness that would have been some what unlikely and remarkable prescient of Poe if that was the case.
Continue reading →