Declan Ryan

Two years into publication, it’s still amazing to see The Top Road @adhocfiction.bsky.social on its travels! Thank you @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social ❤️

En bas de la Rue de Mission by the looks of it

Hope so. I know they’re available in hardback but I think that, as with Jim Thompson, your books should only be read in paperback

Are your novels no longer published in paperback?

I also loved this piece by @fionamckay.bsky.social in @trashcatlit.bsky.social for reasons below. That, and it nails that (unfortunately familiar) high alert feeling. Great ending (I'd be more specific, but spoiler). ❤️

Thank you so much to the lovely lionesses @theprideroars.bsky.social for nominating this piece of mine, In Your Orbit, for a pushcart ❤️❤️❤️

I’m so grateful to @claudiamonpere.bsky.social for her generous and kind words about my Novella, The Lives of the Dead ❤️❤️❤️

I’m catching up with social media, and this lovely spotlight on my piece The Good People in @trashcatlit.bsky.social 😍

Thanks for reply. Book bio says he has a son named William which is why I asked. Now I’d better go and read another of your books

Is this your dad?

Thank you for asking! I’ve just finished The Lives of the Dead by @fionamckay.bsky.social and it’s absolutely stunning! Loved the fairy tale references threaded throughout.

The Good People Fiona McKay ‘Cars these days don’t have a spare,’ the man says. Kate, looking in the boot of the car, is startled, her heart a flock of sparrows. The empty country road, her flat tyre. Where had he…

It’s lovely to be in the bin with all these trash cats @trashcatlit.bsky.social ❤️

Many thanks to Group 8 @smokelong.bsky.social Fitness who gave feedback on this 😘

I see Suede have pluralised one of your album titles

Reviews Miss Madeleine Armstrong Verified Purchase Powerful & magical Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2025 The Lives of the Dead is a novella-in-flash about Kate, trapped in a controlling marriage, first yearning for a child, then struggling with her new baby. The story is powerful in itself, and McKay has really captured the bleakness of new motherhood - but what makes it even fresher is the way the narrative is interwoven with reworked fairytales, which gives it extra poignancy. I devoured it with tears in my eyes.

Thank you so much for the lovely review @madeleinewrite.bsky.social ❤️😍❤️

The final line is just gorgeous - ‘I devoured it with tears in my eyes’ 🥹🥹🥹

Thank you so much to @smokelong.bsky.social reviews editor @erinvachon.bsky.social and reviewer Emily Webber for this thoughtful review of my novella-in-flash, The Lives of the Dead (available from @adhocfiction.bsky.social and also Amazon) ❤️

Delighted to be joining @laurabesley.bsky.social and the NIFTY book club for a Q&A on The Lives of the Dead 😍❤️😍

Back in the bin with the lovely Trash Cats!! Many thanks to my @smokelong.bsky.social summer Group 8 friends who gave me feedback on this one!

Bronwen Griffiths's review of The Lives of the Dead 5/5: I have read a number of books in succession which have dealt with women struggling against the patriachy, and this is another. If that sounds like sour grapes, it is not! All these books have bee...

My review of 'The Lives of the Dead' by @fionamckay.bsky.social published by AdHoc Fiction
www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Currently reading this gorgeous book by @fionamckay.bsky.social!!!!

Review of The Lives of the Dead - day ago THE UVES DE THE DEAD The Lives of the Dead by Fiona McKay (Goodreads Author) I have read a number of books in succession which have dealt with women struggling against the patriachy, and this is another. If that sounds like sour grapes, it is not! All these books have been exceptional, including this one. Kate is married, and although she has some good times with her husband, he is a controlling individual who denies Kate's need for agency. Ultimately Kate must find a way to forge her own path in life. The 'day-to-day' chapters - Kate's relationship with John and his mother, Kate's pregnancy and early motherhood, are interspersed with re-workings of fairy tales which add real emotional depth to this novella-in-flash.

Many thanks to @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social for the lovely review of The Lives of the Dead over on Goodreads ❤️❤️❤️

Great @liarsleague.bsky.social performances last night & lovely to enjoy them with @tomwrote.bsky.social @sarahillswrites.bsky.social
@sagreene1.bsky.social & Bridget, @fionamckay.bsky.social & Co,
@cherylmarkosky.bsky.social &
@fabwrites.bsky.social & Co! 🥰

Thank you so much to @lmbayley.bsky.social 🤩🤩🤩

Thank you, @aniking.bsky.social for the lovely words ❤️😍❤️

Cover of The Lives of the Dead

Anne Anthony A Woman's Search for Herself Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2025 Fiona McKay's narrator, Kate, in her novella in flash, The Lives of the Dead is a woman in search of herself. Whether it's reading between the lines of fractured fairytales or random queries in an internet search engine, readers are witness to the unraveling of Kate's wants, her desires, her life as she'd planned. Written as a series of flash stories, McKay expertly weaves together the threads of Kate's life even as it unspools. Wholeheartedly recommend!!

THE LIVES OFTHE DEAD The Lives of the Dead by Fiona McKay Fora Makay Bronwen's review • 8 Aug 2025 I have read a number of books in succession which have dealt with women struggling against the patriachy, and this is another. If that sounds like sour grapes, it is not! All these books have been exceptional, including this one. Kate is married, and although she has some good times with her husband, he is a controlling individual who denies Kate's need for agency. Ultimately Kate must find a way to forge her own path in life. The 'day-to-day' chapters - Kate's relationship with John and his mother, Kate's pregnancy and early motherhood, are interspersed with re-workings of fairy tales which add real emotional depth to this novella-in-flash. Read from: Aug 03, 2025 - Aug 08, 2025 Shelved as: read

THE LIVES OF THE DEAD The Lives of the Dead by Fiona McKay Fora Matay Linda's review 17 Aug 2025 The Lives of the Dead is about the life of Kate as she navigates through becoming engaged, getting married, and having a child with a man who doesn't really see her as anything other than a means to his own ends. John ends so many discussions with "Kate, we discussed this! We agreed!" and it's clear that Kate does not have the option of changing her mind or speaking up for herself. These pieces of Kate's life would be compelling on their own, but Fiona McKay intersperses them with reworked fairy tales and "screen shots" of search histories that show us Kate's desperation on an entirely different level. Taken all together, this novella-in-flash is a remarkable piece of literature, and I'm glad I read it. Outstanding, and highly recommended. Read from: Aug 08, 2025 - Aug 17, 2025 Shelved as: read, novella-in-flash

📚Three lovely reviews for The Lives of the Dead on Amazon and in Goodreads - thanks so much to @anchalastudio.bsky.social @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social and @lmbayley.bsky.social 📚

Book cover of Fiona McKay's The Lives of the Dead

Photo of text which reads: Today will be a good day, Kate pleads through sudden tears. Notices that the windows are edged with dirt and wishes for rain to clean them. The sun continues shining, but in Kate, the sea-mist is rolling in and blotting out everything on its way, blotting out the very sun. Somewhere in the house is a vortex, and it sucks her in, leaves her spiralling down in the gloom, wondering where it all went wrong, and hoe many times she will have to do this all over again until she can sit down, switch off, just be for a while without being wanted or needed. Never, the sea-mist says as it rolls through her head. Never.

Finished @fionamckay.bsky.social's incredible novella-in-flash THE LIVES OF THE DEAD (Ad Hoc Fiction) today. This is a devastating and sensitively observed book about a woman's marriage and foray into motherhood, against the backdrop of retold, un-idyllic fairy tales. I loved it ❤️

Thank you so much @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social for the kind words about The Lives of the Dead ❤️

There might not be a book tour, but my book is on tour, getting to accompany some lovely people on their holidays!! Thank you, @yallaalia.bsky.social for taking Kate to Italy!!

📘 It’s here!! 😁

The Lives of the Dead is available through your regional Amazon!!

So excited to see this 😍📘

amzn.eu/d/3B3fvFe

Pre-Order Alert!!

OMG 🤩 Here it is!! The cover of my new NiF, The Lives of the Dead 😍

Thanks to Jane Ryan for the cover art! And thanks to @judehwriter2.bsky.social and all at @adhocfiction.bsky.social

(Coming to Amazon soon for those outside UK)