paranormal

Too Close To The Sun – republished

Mark Hastings books, Poetry, Short-story , , , , , , , , , ,

My short-story and poetry collection ‘Too Close To The Sun’ is once again available to buy from Amazon in its new hardcover edition – but now with a brand new cover, and including a never before published short-story called ‘Nora’.

The stories and poems within ‘Too Close To The Sun’ represent a shift, as well as an experimentation phase, in my journey as a writer and an author. When it was first published in 2016, I knew that ‘Too Close to the Sun’, was somewhat of a new beginning and a new direction for me – and the stories and poems within are symbolic of what kind of writer and storyteller I have grown to become, and what kind of stories I am interested in telling.

“A sad story about the end of the line for a lonely ghost girl. The thrilling tale about the devilish gift of a psychic psychopathic psychotherapist. A word of warning about the wicked “Witch in The Well”. A ray of hope in form of a story about a New York City bartender who discovers that there is more to life, and to death, than they could ever have imagined. A vision of another universe where a vengeful Vampire King finds love, but who must also embrace his fate. The tale of a dragon and a hero – who both discover they are not who they think they are.

Short-stories and poems of strange, magical, and extraordinary other realities that exist on the other side of doors that lead to other worlds and possibilities that can be found when you venture too close to the sun.”

Get your copy of the brand new hardback version of ‘Too Close To The Sun’ on Amazon now! 😎

My Poem “Scary Movies”

Mark Hastings Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , , ,

As a child, I – like so many children do –
grew up watching so called
“scary movies”, “horror films”,
that truly scared me,
and I also watched thrilling
and occasionally comedic depictions
of fictional, supernatural and paranormal
events and characters
that made me jump, entertained me,
made my heart beat fast, made me smile,
and put me in a good mood…
films like ‘It’, ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’,
‘Jaws’, and ‘Alien’ initially effected me
on an emotional level –
however now I can appreciate
the “fright tactics” of the film-makers,
because what feeling they were
attempting to illicit in people
is what they succeeded in making
me feel quite profoundly…
I also watched such paranormal comedies,
like: ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘The Addams Family’,
‘The Munsters’, ‘Beetlejuice’ –
which were fun to watch,
enjoyable, and they did not
take their subject matter too seriously.

Even to this day, I still occasionally
watch scary movies –
and I would have to highlight
the films that take place in the
“Conjuring Universe”, that feature
fictional depictions of real-life
paranormal investigators
Ed and Lorraine Warren,
based upon documented
supernatural experiences
that occurred around the world,
as being some of the scariest,
the most thrilling, the most heart-racing,
and the most believable of any
and all of the scary movies
that I have seen recently
and the experiences that I had
of seeing them in a cinema
will forever stay with me.

If could pick just one
so called “scary movie”,
or a particular supernatural thriller,
that I believe is my favourite
of all that have been made,
I would have to choose
‘The Shining’, directed by Stanley Kubrick,
based upon the book of the same name
by the one and only “master of horror”,
Stephen King – because to me
‘The Shining’ is a masterpiece
of both storytelling and film-making
that entances you from the first
camera shot and from the first
note of music of the film’s soundtrack –
just as the original ‘Jaws’ does;
and, in my opinion, the ability
of movie-makers to be able to
take a viewer on a roller-coaster
ride of emotions, thoughts,
and feelings, while watching
something “otherworldly”,
by using all the magic of
movie-making at their disposal,
in a truly collaborative effort,
is what contributes to what makes
the most thrilling and the most scary
of thrilling and scary movies.

Happy Halloween! 🎃

My Poem “Supernatural Obsession”

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , ,

The thing about the universe,
the thing about the world,
the thing about life,
the thing about death
and what happens after we die
is that we simply do not know
everything that is out there,
nor do we know what is going to happen next…
we don’t know why any of us are here,
nor do we know what real aliens look like,
or why some people are haunted by ghosts?
So much is known about the world –
however, so much about life is still unexplained…
so much has been explored
and so many questions have been answered –
and yet there still remains fundamental questions
about the nature of life and what awaits us all
in our after-life that are constantly being posed
within someone’s brain.
Heaven? Hell? Angels? Demons?
What world awaits us and who should we expect
to find on the other side when it is our time?
Is where we go next dependent upon
if we have lived a life in which
we have been cruel, or if we have been kind?
It is existential questions
that drive our souls as we live our lives…
it is questions of morality that define
the stories that we tell one-another
that are the content of what we dream about at night…
it is our fascination with questions of the incredible,
the impossible, the unbelievable, and the phenomenal
that will continue to always spark to life
humanity’s collective imagination…
there will always be characters
in paranormal stories and adventures,
like Sam and Dean, who will be our guides
and our storytellers of paranormal events
and experiences that will continue to fuel
our long-held supernatural obsessions.