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Mark  Hayes

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Mark Hayes

Goodreads Author


Born
in leeds, The United Kingdom
Website

Twitter

Genre

Member Since
September 2013


Mark writes novels that often defy simple genre definitions, they could be described as speculative fiction, though Mark would never use the term as he prefers not to speculate.

When not writing novels Mark is a persistent pernicious procrastinator, he recently petitioned parliament for the removal of the sixteenth letter from the Latin alphabet.

He is also 7th Dan Blackbelt in the ancient Yorkshire marshal art of EckEThump and favours a one man one vote system but has yet to supply the name of the man in question.

Mark has also been known to not take bio very serious.

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Popular Answered Questions

Mark Hayes Hi James

At the end of the day its down to the storys I want to tell. I don't actually write in one specific genre. While my latest novel A spider in …more
Hi James

At the end of the day its down to the storys I want to tell. I don't actually write in one specific genre. While my latest novel A spider in the eye is certainly a steampunk fantasy and is the first of three in that genre, Passing Place spans multiple genres, and indeed styles, as while the main storyline is set in a bar that isn't a bar, whose doors open to different times and places, a lot of stories are told by the bars customers which individually sit in their own genres, and are told in different ways depending on the storyteller. The novella A Scar of avarice does the same thing, though to a lesser extent.
Cider Lane, which was my first novel is not in any genre at all, unless it counts as a thriller, it is in essence a 'straight forward' contemporary novel.
Fantasy or speculative fiction makes up a large portion of my bookshelves as does science fiction. But I read extensively in most genres. Stories are what interest me, stories explain the human experience, humanity has been telling itself stories since long before they invented the written word after all.
I like the fantasy genre's and like to write in them simply because they enable you to tell more interesting stories and explore them in ways that other genres just don't allow. While still allowing you to explore that strangest of creatures in all creation, humanity, and the darkness and light at its heart.
My view on fantasy is much the same as Terry Pratchett's in that regard. He once said, and I paraphrase slightly.
'I wrote a story about the struggles of a man against his inner doubts and struggles with his flaws against the desire to do what is right, rather than just what everyone expects him to do. Then I put one damn dragon in it so they told me it was fantasy'
At the end of the day, I can never resist a good dragon or an airship or two for that matter, I just don't let them get in the way of the story.

Hope that makes sence.
Mark (less)
Average rating: 4.43 · 375 ratings · 56 reviews · 26 distinct worksSimilar authors
A Spider in the Eye (Hannib...

4.08 avg rating — 52 ratings2 editions
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Maybe (A Ballad of Maybes #1)

4.11 avg rating — 46 ratings2 editions
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Cider Lane : Of Silence and...

4.50 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions
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Passing Place: Location Rel...

4.79 avg rating — 28 ratings4 editions
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From Russia with Tassels (H...

4.32 avg rating — 22 ratings2 editions
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A Scar of Avarice

4.55 avg rating — 20 ratings2 editions
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Harvey Duckman Presents... ...

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A Squid on the Shoulder: A ...

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The Complete Hannibal Smyth...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings3 editions
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Overload

This is a bit of a rant, you may disagree with it, and that’s fine…

There is a friend of mine, a good friend, a friend I like very much, and with whom I share a great many foundational moral principals, who I find my self snoozing for 30 day on Facebook every month. Not because I dislike or are offended by any his posts in general, but because they are relentless.

Utterly unbearably relentless.

At

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Published on November 26, 2025 03:30
A Spider in the Eye From Russia with Tassels
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Maybe
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Complete Stories ...
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Mark Hayes wrote a new blog post

Overload

This is a bit of a rant, you may disagree with it, and that’s fine… There is a friend of mine, a good friend, a friend I like very much, and with whom Read more of this blog post »
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Lucifer Mandrake by Mark Hayes
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Lexicromicon by Mark  Hayes
"A whistle-stop tour through the works of the 'old tentacle hugger' himself, told with wit and verve. This book serves as a guide to the most readable and enjoyable tales in the Lovecraftian oeuvre (and also gives a heads up for the most overtly racis" Read more of this review »
Maybe by Mark  Hayes
"A real treat

Lovely book full of tongue in cheek references , surprise characters, and plot twists that will have you snickering for days. Well done!"
Ghosts of the Lost Forest by Nimue Brown
"Read in one sitting: a book too good to be put down and left for later. Unintended (but forewarned) parallels with some aspects of my own existence and a beautiful book - Nimue can write characters like no other and carries the mystical through the m" Read more of this review »
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Quotes by Mark Hayes  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“But one takes what one can get when the devil vomits on your primroses.”
Mark Hayes, From Russia with Tassels

“You don’t need to lie to me, not about this. Not about anything really. But you can, if you prefer to. I’m not important. You can tell me you tripped, or caught it on a nail, or whatever. And it doesn’t matter, if you want to lie to me, then you can.” “But don’t lie to yourself don’t ever lie to yourself .”
“If you do, lie to yourself that is, if you do. Then you’ll lose yourself to it and that way lays madness.”
Mark Hayes, Cider Lane: Of Silence and Stars

Topics Mentioning This Author

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“You don’t need to lie to me, not about this. Not about anything really. But you can, if you prefer to. I’m not important. You can tell me you tripped, or caught it on a nail, or whatever. And it doesn’t matter, if you want to lie to me, then you can.” “But don’t lie to yourself don’t ever lie to yourself .”
“If you do, lie to yourself that is, if you do. Then you’ll lose yourself to it and that way lays madness.”
Mark Hayes, Cider Lane: Of Silence and Stars

“Stuff your eyes with wonder. Live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that . Shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.”
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

“But one takes what one can get when the devil vomits on your primroses.”
Mark Hayes, From Russia with Tassels

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