Miriam Hastings

Miriam Hastings, author imaginative fictions

For Candlemas, you can read for free an extract from my novel, The Dowager’s Dream, on the 'Novel' page of my website, www.miriamhastings.com as well as an extract on St Bride’s Day, taken from an earlier novel, The Burnings.

Bring back the ancient woodlands smothered beneath your timber plantations Ancient woodlands are vanishing – and with them, some of our most loved and endangered wildlife. Over 100,000 acres of our public forests used to be ancient woodland - that’s bigger than the Isle of W...

🌳Vast areas of our most vital habitat are at risk of being lost forever.

Will you join Dame Judi Dench and @wildcard.land in calling for DEFRA to fund the restoration of our publicly owned ancient woodlands?
you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/br...

‘Remember, remember the 5th of November!’ Read Walking Shadow, a historical novel with profoundly modern themes: the fear of terrorism, political manipulation of information, and issues of intolerance.
In paperback:
www.feedaread.com/books/Walkin...
also as an e-book on Kindle.

Who among us hasn’t dreamt of slowly descending down a stone spiral staircase with a torch in hand and discovering a hidden candlelit library filled with thousands of centuries-old novels and being welcomed by a cantankerous yet endearing library ghost?

After several weeks not eating, Jackie seems much better now. Fingers crossed her blood test this week will show her thyroid and her kidneys are okay! 😻

ID Woman in profile with a slight smile on her lips. her body is facing more towards us, and she has a leg raised up. Her hair is tied back, in front of her are a pot with some scissors in, a can of soft drink and a toilet roll . On the windowsill is a pot with paintbrushes and pens in it.

NEW ORIGINAL ARTWORK FOR SALE

Title - Ellie, Mental Health Series 2025

Thank you very kindly to Ellie for this fabulous collaboration.

TW for abuse

I was born in the 1970s to unmarried parents and suffered 16 years of continuously violent physical, sexual, and psychological abuse

With very many thanks to Chasing Driftwood Books. My novel, The Dowager's Dream, is available in paperback from www.feedaread.com/books/The-Do...
or from amazon as an e-book on kindle.

ID Middle aged woman with dark blonde hair, she is wearing glasses and a striped blue and white shirt. she is holding a wine glass forward in a gesture which says "cheers" She is smiling. Behind her are stained glass windows and dark wood panel walls. She is sat behind a wooden table

NEW ORIGINAL ARTWORK FOR SALE

Title - Christine Hollowell, Women's Health Series 2025

Thank you most kindly to Christine for this fabulous collaboration

Here is Christine's story

UK ban on Palestine Action at odds with international law, says UN rights chief

“I urge the UK Government to rescind its decision to proscribe Palestine Action." - Volker Türk, UN human rights commissioner

#StarmersBritain 🇬🇧🤐
#InternationalLaw
#HumanRightsAct
#RightToProtest

The Mad King strikes again!

Thank you Barbara xxx

ID Partially painted portrait of Sarah, she is smiling and has large brown yes, she is surrounded by large sunflowers. She is wearing a jumper with stars on it. WIP Portrait of Sarah Ismail

WIP Portrait of Sarah Ismail @sarahismail2022 for my Women's Health Series.

Thank you very kindly to Sarah for this fabulous collaboration.

Here is a snippet of Sarah's story to go with her portrait.

Go to my website to read a free short story for June, 'My Fall'. This is also available to buy for £1.29 on Kindle or Kobo, as a short pamphlet of three stories, The Doll and Other Stories: Strange Tales.
www.miriamhastings.com/books/short-stories/

For Mental Health Awareness week, The Minotaur Hunt, a winner of the Allen Lane MIND Book of the Year Award, is available 17-19 May for 99p on kindle.
www.amazon.co.uk/Minotaur-Hun...

Short stories THE MAKEOVER I won a £10.00 Boots’ token for singing at the Christmas Party; I’ve always had a good voice even when I was a child. I used to dream about being a singer when I grew up, of star…

May is Mental Health awareness month. You will find a free short story, 'The Makeover', on my website: miriamhastings.com/books/short-...

Really powerful story 😍

NO cruel cuts to benefits The Government is planning “catastrophic” cuts that experts say will force disabled people into poverty. Don’t think that’s right? Add your name now.

The Government is planning “catastrophic” cuts to benefits that experts say will force disabled people into poverty, and even those with extreme disabilities will lose money. Our social safety net isn’t up for grabs: add your name now. 38d.gs/NoCruelBenef...

Blackbury Camp iron age hill fort. Heavenly scent of bluebells.

Woman with red wavy shoulder length hair, sheis smiling and holding a red fox, wearing a red jumper and denim dungarees

NEW ORIGINAL ARTWORK FOR SALE

Pollyanna Rose - Women's Health Series 2025

Thank you most kindly to Pollyanna for this wonderful collaboration.

Here is Pollyanna's story in her own words

Petition aims to unite opposition to disability benefits green paper and force MPs to debate all cuts A new petition backed by disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) aims to unite opposition to the government’s “devastating” disability benefit cuts and reforms by calling for every one of the measur…

A new petition backed by disabled people’s organisations aims to unite opposition to the government’s “devastating” disability benefit cuts and reforms by calling for every one of the measures to be abandoned.
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/petition-aim...

This Week I... Remembered that it's okay to live a quiet little life I'm doing what I love and that is enough

My weekly #Substack round up where I review what I've read, watched and listened to during the week plus update my writing news. #blog #WritingCommunity #SelfPublishing #Indies #indieauthor
chantelleatkins.substack.com/p/this-week-...

The first book in an interconnected universe of characters, locations and stories. My last two releases are connected, and the final book is due in the autumn but this is where it started... let's go back to 1993 #bookreview #crimedrama #bookseries #WritingCommunity books2read.com/u/3nYRXR

It's never been about life.

A penguin pointing w a stick at a pic sitting on an easel of a Tesla w a pigeon flying over head pooping on it as 3 pigeons look on

🤣

Referring to a WRI report:

Forests are so much more than carbon. It is time to use them to their full climate benefit - for the benefit of the people who live and work in and near them, hundreds of kilometers away and around the world.💚🌿☘️🌱🌳🌲🍀💚

Photograph featuring the upper half of a standing Black woman, to the left, looking outwards with head raised proudly, to the right is her self-portrait, upoer half looking left, on a cream wall

"I just decided, when someone says you can't do something. DO MORE OF IT."
- Faith Ringgold (1930-2024) US artist #womensart

ID Partially painted portrait of woman with bobbed hair and a fringe, she is smiling and wearing a patterned top

WIP Donna Gleeson line drawing for my Womens Health Series. Thank you most kindly to Donna and her Mum Val for this fabulous collaboration. Here is a snippet of Donna's story - I will be posting her full story with her finished portrait

The Mess Of Us – Q&A with Chantelle Atkins Here’s an interview I did this week for our little indie collective Chasing Driftwood Books! A gripping sequel to her 2016 novel, The Mess of Me, this book dives back into the world of J…

The Mess Of Us - Q&A with Chantelle Atkins chantelleatkins.com/2025/02/21/t... #YA #BookSky #WritingCommunity

Primroses and wild garlic. There’s nothing more beautiful than a Cornish hedge in spring… and they’re only just getting started!

#cornishhedge #spring #wildflowers #primrose #wildgarlic