In the latest SF Crowsnest, Patrick Mahon reviews "Telltale," the Raffalon tale in the January/February Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: " I have to admit that whenever I see Matthew Hughes’ name on the contents page of an issue of MF&SF, that’s the story I go to first. I’ve read at least four Raffalon stories over the last couple of years, I think, and each of them has been as enjoyable as the last. The character is an eternal ‘Jack the Lad’, with the style and charisma to carry the role off. Hughes’ prose seems effortless and these stories always provide an interesting and convoluted plot that maintains your interest from beginning to end."

The prose is effortless, I suppose. I certainly enjoy writing picaresque stories. And I never know, when I start one of those convoluted plots, exactly where it's going to end up, but they always go somewhere interesting.