Why am I passionate about this?

I have degrees in history and Christian theology, and enjoy science fiction and fantasy stories, whether set on earth, or in other worlds, whether real (other planets of our solar system), hypothetical (possible planets in other galaxies), or imaginary (Narnia, Wonderland). But I like those set in this world best, and value them especially for the insights they give into life, the universe, and everything. As C.S. Lewis once said to his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, if we want more of the kind of stories we like, we shall have to write them ourselves. The books I’ve recommended are the kind I like, and I’ve tried to write a few more. 


I wrote

The Enchanted Grove

By Stephen Hayes,

Book cover of The Enchanted Grove

What is my book about?

Jeffery, Janet, and Catherine spend their summer school holidays swimming and riding horses in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of War in Heaven

Stephen Hayes Why did I love this book?

Charles Williams’s books have been described as “supernatural thrillers.” Many later authors have tried to use the theme of a recently-rediscovered ancient holy relic, which various people want to get hold of for good or evil purposes, in this case the Holy Grail or Graal, but few have done it as well as Charles Williams. I’ve read it at least five times, and I also think it has one of the most attention-grabbing opening lines in fiction: “The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse.”

By Charles Williams,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked War in Heaven as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"War in Heaven" is a horrific romance, with many mythical creatures present. Instead of creating a unique secondary fantasy world or switching between two universes, Williams allows the supernatural to invade his modern world. This allows him to explore the influence of another reality on different characters. The object that guides the supernatural to the natural in this novel is the Holy Grail


Book cover of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen

Stephen Hayes Why did I love this book?

The 12-year-old son of a friend recommended this book to me, and his judgment was spot-on. Colin and Susan (aged about 11) spend their holidays with Gowther and Bess Mossock on a farm near Alderley Edge, in Cheshire. A strange woman, Selina Place, accosts them and causes the stone in a bracelet Susan wears to change colour. It seems that the bracelet has magical properties, and Cadellin Silverbrow, a wizard who guards a troop of sleeping knights in a cavern under The Edge explains that it could be used to wake up the knights before they are needed. Selina Place and her coven of witches are determined to get hold of Susan’s stone for their own purposes, and in a thrilling chase across country the children meet many characters from Norse and Celtic mythology, both good and evil, It also has the all-time scariest underground tunnel sequence of any book I have ever read. 

By Alan Garner,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Weirdstone of Brisingamen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is one of the greatest fantasy novels of all time.

"Alan Garner's fiction is something special." - Neil Gaiman

When Colin and Susan are pursued by eerie creatures across Alderley Edge, they are saved by the Wizard. He takes them into the caves of Fundindelve, where he watches over the enchanted sleep of one hundred and forty knights.

But the heart of the magic that binds them - Firefrost, also known as the Weirdstone of Brisingamen - has been lost. The Wizard has been searching for the stone for more than 100 years, but the forces…


Book cover of That Hideous Strength

Stephen Hayes Why did I love this book?

Mark Studdock, a young weak-minded but ambitious academic, wants to get into the inner circle of the college where he teaches, and when he is offered a job at a prestigious research institute he eagerly grabs it, but does not realise that he was offered the job simply as a way of getting at his wife Jane, whose role was much more important, but little understood by the institute or by Mark. The institute has its own inner circle, who are also after power, but a supernatural power that they fail to understand and try to explain in scientific terms. Eventually the powers do come among them, with results that none of them expected. This is the third book of a trilogy, though it can be read on its own. The other two books are set on other planets. I have read this one at least six times, and each time it has had something to say about the time when I read it. In the 1970s it seemed to be about the demonic power of the military-industrial complex. Later, when I worked at a university, I thought its portrayal of the rivalries and petty ambitions of academics was brilliant.  

By C. S. Lewis,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked That Hideous Strength as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Just as readers have been transfixed by the stories, characters, and deeper meanings of Lewis's timeless tales in The Chronicles of Narnia, most find this same allure in his classic Space Trilogy. In these fantasy stories for adults, we encounter, once again, magical creatures, a world of wonders, epic battles, and revelations of transcendent truths.

That Hideous Strength is the third novel in Lewis's science fiction trilogy. Set on Earth, it tells of a terrifying conspiracy against humanity. The story surrounds Mark and Jane Studdock, a newly married couple. Mark is a sociologist who is enticed to join an organization…


Book cover of Midwinter of the Spirit

Stephen Hayes Why did I love this book?

The Revd Merrily Watkins is the Vicar of Ledwardine in Herefordshire, England. When the diocesan exorcist retires, she is nominated to replace him. I studied theology at a college in Durham that trained clergy for the Church of England, and I liked Phil Rickman’s gently satirical touch. In the book, the church prefers the more twee title of “deliverance consultant” in place of the more blunt “exorcist.” I don’t know if any Church of England diocese has done such a thing, but it’s the kind of thing one could easily imagine that they might do. But whether she is an exorcist or a deliverance consultant, Merrily Watkins is soon faced with problems such as the missing relics of a saint and some occult conspiracies. I also think it comes close to being a successor to the novels of Charles Williams as a “supernatural thriller.”

By Phil Rickman,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Midwinter of the Spirit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE SECOND INSTALMENT IN THE MERRILY WATKINS SERIES

'They'll follow you home... breathe down your phone at night... a prime target for every psychotic grinder of the dark satanic mills that ever sacrificed a chicken...'

Diocesan Exorcist: a job viewed by the Church of England with such extreme suspicion that they changed the name.

It's Deliverance Consultant now. Still, it seems, no job for a woman. But when the Bishop offers it to Merrily Watkins, parish priest and single mum, she's in no position to refuse.

It starts badly for Merrily and gets no easier. As an early winter slices…


Book cover of Pet Sematary

Stephen Hayes Why did I love this book?

This is Stephen King’s zombie story, and I think it is the best of all his novels that I have read. I like the gradual build-up of menace in the story. Like the other books mentioned, there is supernatural evil, but unlike them, there are no occult conspiracies, the evil flows from human choices. It tells something about the nature of temptation, and one wants to warn the characters “Don’t do it. No good can come of this.” But they do it anyway, and no good comes of it. 

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked Pet Sematary as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major motion picture! Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestseller is a “wild, powerful, disturbing” (The Washington Post Book World) classic about evil that exists far beyond the grave—among King’s most iconic and frightening novels.

When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed’s beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing…as is evidenced by the…


Explore my book 😀

The Enchanted Grove

By Stephen Hayes,

Book cover of The Enchanted Grove

What is my book about?

Jeffery, Janet, and Catherine spend their summer school holidays swimming and riding horses in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa. But then they have to deal with bullying teenagers who are into witchcraft (one of whom has a magical hyena skull), poachers, a witch who lures them into a deadly enchanted grove, and the strange guardian of a cave of Bushman paintings. And just when it seems that things couldn’t possibly get worse, the children stumble across a secret government project that the police think they know far too much about.  

Book cover of War in Heaven
Book cover of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen
Book cover of That Hideous Strength

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Gloria Oliver Author Of The Secret Humankind

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Why am I passionate about this?

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What is my book about?

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The Secret Humankind

By Gloria Oliver,

What is this book about?

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Julia Xero is stuck in survival mode. After losing the only person she loved, the introverted orphan longs to escape her toxic employment for the zen of crime and trauma scene decontamination. But when she lands her dream job and is called to a bloody rooftop with a decapitated corpse, she’s horrified to come…


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