Ned Hayes's Blog, page 148
October 7, 2013
SINFUL FOLK - A Novel of the Middle Ages
Have you reserved your copy of my forthcoming NEW NOVEL Sinful Folk yet? Because why not?
It’ll be out in early January 2014, in Audiobook, print and e-book — with illustrations by the talented Nikki McClure.
"The darkness around us presses down, as if to listen. The...
"The darkness around us presses down, as if to listen. The music of the wind rises and falls with the swirls of the snow, the creaking of the sea of branches in the darkness above us."
— from the novel Sinful Folk
October 6, 2013
Writing in the Fall, a picture from the talented Kelli Russell...
Writing in the Fall, a picture from the talented Kelli Russell Agodon — read Kelli’s wonderful work here »
“Cold tears as salty as ocean spray wet my face. The day...
“Cold tears as salty as ocean spray wet my face. The day before she died, my mother did something I still don’t understand. She took me out in our little fishing boat, out on the open water of the sea—the thrum and hiss of surf upon the shore behind us, the rhythm never ceasing.
My mother waited until we were out of sight of land. She squinted against the bright sunlight, making sure we were alone. And then she taught me something: strange words in a foreign tongue, a lilting singsong cadence to it.
…………
My lips seem numb from the welter of memory that surrounded me there. Memories of running on the tall grass near the ocean waves, laughing with my mother nearby. And later memories, of watching my family suffer and die.
On her deathbed, gasping and shivering with pain, my mother brought forth words no one else could hear, and she gave them to me as her last secret, making me promise to fulfill her dying wish. For no one else was left here to take her name forward: none were left alive from this village.”
— from the novel Sinful Folk
Books may well be the only true magic!
Books may well be the only true magic!
October 5, 2013
"As the day flattened into dusk, I made my way back, a load of...
"As the day flattened into dusk, I made my way back, a load of heavy wood upon my back, Christian sleeping in my arms. A little wind rushed through the elms, a chiffchaff called, the scent of lavender was on the air. That rainy early spring. As I came out of the woods, I saw a little light in a wattled house built in a dark hollow."
— from the novel Sinful Folk
"Spring grew into summer, and the rhythm of my life now included...
"Spring grew into summer, and the rhythm of my life now included Nell. I carried Christian with me as I gathered sticks, piling branches into the bundles I carried on my back to the village that night. Nell’s secret thyme beds and her mint were deep in the woods, out by the chuckling stream that disappeared underground. She danced in the sunlight and the shade."
October 4, 2013
“The day wanes until the sun is caught once more in the...
“The day wanes until the sun is caught once more in the net of the darkening sky. I struggle ahead of the cart now, into the tracks.
I pretend the wind covers his words, that I cannot hear him. Ice cuts through the canvas rags on my feet, but still my curiosity compels me. I pretend to stumble, and I fall to the ground so my face is close to the trail.”
— from the novel Sinful Folk
