Stephen Hayes

#ScribesAndMakers July 3: We have some new people in the community. Re/Introduce yourself and tell us about your creative work.

I am Stephen Hayes, South African author and Orthodox Church deacon.

I've written three children's novels and one adult novel, and am working on a few more, and have also been writing about southern African history.

My children's novels are set in the 1960s, and so are historical novels in a a sense, though they are also adventure stories and have some fantasy elements as well.

You can see more on my author page here:
https://methodius.blogspot.com/p/stephen-hayes-author.html

#bookstodon #authors #writing #writingcommunity

#ScribesAndMakers 20 Mar: Self-promotion day. Shame optional.

I've written four fiction books and one non-fiction book. Three of the fiction books are for kids aged 9-99, and one is for adults. Details here:

https://methodius.blogspot.com/p/stephen-hayes-author.html

#writing #bookstodon #fiction #childrensbooks #MGlit

#PennedPossibilities 1060. Tell us about a WIP that you want to finish but doubt you ever will.

Mermoir of my time in Namibia, 1969-1972.

I went to Namibia in July 1969, just after the South African government had taken over most of the functions of the Administration. Two years later the World Court said that South Africa had no right to administer the territory, and the Lutheran Churches, the largest Christian denominations, publicly supported it. I was deported from Namibia in March 1972, so my time there seemed to cover an interesting historical turning point.

Can you drive a vehicle with a manual gearbox?

#poll #cars #driving

#WritersCoffeeClub 3.20 — Who is your ideal reader?

Kids aged 9-12, and adults who enjoy books written for kids aged 9-12.

Fans of early Alan Garner, the #Narnia books, and "The Dark is Rising" series would probably enjoy mine, and my ideal readers is one who likes the kind of books I write.

#writing #bookstodon #kidlit

#WordWeavers Mar 20: How much romance is in your story?

Not much in #WIP.

It's a kids book. Older brother of MC (age 13) has a bit of a crush on MC's friend, but that's about it.

#PennedPossibilities 986 #WritingCommunity

Check-In time! How are you enjoying working on your WIP? Are things going the way you planned, or has the outline somehow changed along the way?

I'm sort of stuck.

I keep thinking I need to go back to the beginning of the story, and take a different turn somewhere along the way. But when I re-read, I think, no, that's not so bad, don't break off there, and so get back to the point where I'm stuck.

#PennedPossibilities 985 — How long have you been writing or when did you start?

Ever since I learned to write at the age of 5-6.

My earliest efforts (some of which I still have somewhere) were fan fiction based on characters in my favourite books at the time, chief of which was "Choo-Choo: the little Engine that Ran Away".

#writing #writingcommunity

Fiction writers, what do you use for your initial draft of a new story/novel?

(Please boost for greater reach)

#writing #writingcommunity #authors

Those who are bothered by the influence of AI and LLMs on literature might find this reassuring, or they might not.
https://idiosophy.com/2023/04/poetic-diction-and-the-llms/
#literature #LLMs #AI #writingcommunity

#WordWeavers 3 For which characters do you come up with a backstory?

Those for whom other characters in the current story need to know the backstory.

For example in my book "Of Wheels and Witches" 11-year-old Jeffery Davidson goes to spent the school holidays as a paying guest on a farm because his parents are overseas. He meets the farm-owner's niece, 9-year-old Catherine, who is half-Russian, lives in England, and whose parents were killed in a plane crash. He learns this backstory when he is introduced to her.

In a later book in the series this backstory becomes significant when Catherine's grandmother gives her a jewelled cross which is a family heirloom, and becomes a mcguffin in the story.

So the backstory is given on a "need to know" basis -- when either the other characters or the reader need to know it to understand what is going on in the present.

#writing #backstory #writingcommunity

Morning Prayer of the Last Elders of Optina -- many Orthodox Christians end their morning prayers with this:
https://khanya.wordpress.com/2015/05/30/morning-prayer-of-the-last-elders-of-optina/
#prayer #prayers #Orthodox #Christian

Notes from underground: The Other Inklings: interviews with scholars of the Oxford Inklings.
https://methodius.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-other-inklings-interviews-with.html?spref=tw
#literature #Inklings #bookreviews #bookstodon

@Starfia

I wasn't saying that the UK version was incorrect, only that it wasn't the only possible correct version.

For proper nouns think of sports teams:

• Manchester United have won the FA Cup

• Manchester United is being sued

US English tends to be more rigid and arbitrary about grammar rules.

Trumpkin Derangement Syndrome and Book Review Bulverism
https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2026/03/20/tbc/
#writing #literature #litcrit

It's that time of year again.
Easter - Christian or pagan?
https://ondermynende.wordpress.com/2007/09/27/easter-christian-or-pagan/
#Easter #Pascha

Yesterday I donated copies of my children's novel "The Enchanted Grove" to the Silverton and Alkantrant branches of the Tshwane city library & belatedly sent a copy to the Legal Deposit section of the National Library of South Africa. I hope they don't fine me for late submission!
https://methodius.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-enchanted-grove.html
#writing #writing community

The "Cultural Protestant" Origin of Multiculturalism
https://ondermynende.wordpress.com/2006/10/19/the-cultural-protestant-origin-of-multiculturalism/
#multiculturalism #monoculturalism #apartheid

I asked Grok what it knew about my book "The Enchanted Grove", and this is what it said:

The Enchanted Grove is a children's/young adult adventure novel by South African author Stephen Hayes.

lulu.com

Key DetailsISBN: 9781920707637 (ISBN-10: 1920707638)
Format: Paperback (pocket-sized, about 4.25 x 7 inches / 108 x 175 mm), 247–248 pages
Publisher: Self-published / Stephen Hayes (via Lulu)
Publication Date: March 3, 2021
Language: English
Genre: Children's fiction, adventure, with elements of mystery and South African settings

Plot SummaryJeffery, Janet, and Catherine spend their summer school holidays swimming and riding horses in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa. Their idyllic vacation turns challenging as they encounter bullying teenagers involved in witchcraft, poachers, and the mysterious guardian of a cave filled with Bushman (San) paintings. Things escalate further when the children discover a secret government project, drawing unwanted attention from the police who suspect they know too much.

lulu.com

The story is set in 1964 and blends outdoor adventure, local folklore/cultural elements (like Bushman rock art), and suspense.

suesbookreviews.blogspot.com

AvailabilityIt is available as a paperback (and possibly ebook) through retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Lulu, and others. Prices typically start around $16–17 for the paperback.

walmart.com

This appears to be a self-published title aimed at younger readers who enjoy adventurous stories with a South African backdrop. If you're looking for reviews, purchase links, or more specifics, let me know!

3 web pages

#books #childrensbooks #kidlit #MGlit

TGIF on Friday 10 April 6:30 am South African time, 4:00 am UTC

Steve Hayes: "Words and Things": a TGIF talk on words that can have confusing meanings
https://youtu.be/7QNBX6llXwA?si=d14ajJVx6PVfiYWN via @YouTube

#language #usage #words

Notes from underground: How social networks undermine community and promote extremism.
https://methodius.blogspot.com/2024/03/how-social-networks-undermine-community.html

#socialnetworks #communication #community

USA's Six Outrageous South Africa Demands: Lying, Threats, Hypocrisy // ...
https://youtu.be/uBm6lQ2l5wg?si=yO_LYUVVo3S_0l0B via @YouTube
#USA #RSA

"Cross Purposes" on Meet New Books. Find similar books to ones you already like
https://meetnewbooks.com/new-exciting-book/1233/Cross-Purposes-Stephen-Hayes
#AuthorsOnBookstodon #books #booklovers #readers #goodreads #readingcommunity #Bookish #BookRecommendations #BookSuggestions

I wrote this nearly 8 years ago, but when I read what many people write on social media, I think it needs to be repeated.

Forward to the past: South Africa is back in 1985
https://khanya.wordpress.com/2018/07/17/forward-to-the-past-south-africa-is-back-in-1985/
#RSA #culture #racism

Now here's a man after my own heart -- seen on exTwitter:

Brent Lindeque @BrentLindeque
I’m so "millennial" that I "have to" do some things on a computer, not a phone. Like booking flights... totally a computer job. Even “worky” messages. I’m more email than WhatsApp when it comes to work... and email totally needs to be replied to on a computer, right?

Right! Absolutely right!

But I'm not even millennial.

I can't even say I'm premillennial, because then I would have to say whether I was pretrib or posttrib, and I'm actually amillennial.

So let me settle for saying that I'm prebabyboomer. I'm one of those dreadful creatures, a war baby, which implies, of course, that my daddy was not away at the front.

#generations #IT

Scary books for kids: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
https://ondermynende.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/the-weirdstone-of-brisingamen/
#kidlit #mglit #childrensbooks

Fantasy? Magic realism? Historical novel? Adventure story?

Perhaps a mixture of all of them, set in South Africa in the apartheid time, for kids aged 9-99.

Should appeal to fans of "The Dark is Rising" sequence: "The Enchanted Grove" by Stephen Hayes. ISBN 978-1-920707-65-1

https://methodius.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-enchanted-grove.html

#books #childrensbooks #kidlit #MGlit

How many books have you read this year?

Me: 25 -- 2 nonfiction, 23 fiction

Favourites:

89 Lewis, C.S. 1980. The Magician's Nephew.

85 Banville, John. 2005. The Sea.

83 Murdoch, Iris. 1980. The Sea, The Sea.

80 Barclay, Linwood. 2007. No Time for Goodbye.

79 Greene, Graham. 1970 [1960] A Burnt-Out Case.

77 Higgins, Colin. 1995 [1971] Harold and Maude.

75 Ellwood, Nuala. 2020. The House on the Lake.

#bookstodon #reading #readingcommunity

Makwerekwere
https://khanya.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/makwerekwere/

#language #usage #xenophobia