SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Mike Everley has been writing for many years and has had poetry, short stories and articles published in numerous publications and online. He was a member of both the NUJ and the Society of Authors before retirement. He has tutored on courses run by the London School of Journalism, RRC and Writers' News.
Currently he is a Committee Member of the Swansea and District Writers' Circle and involved with the Elysium Scribes workshop.
Now, a silver scribbler, he devotes his time to creative writing
About Swallows: I particularly admired its craft and imagery. Danielle Hope, Acumen Editor.
About Salty Williams: He's a funny, brilliantly eccentric character and I could have listened to his tall tales for hours. Alan Bilton, Novelist.
About Salty Williams: Fabulous book. Helga Jensen, Novelist.
About On The Shelf: Loved this little poem. It is dynamic in its rhythm and almost feels like an advert of old. It made me want to bring the tin home with me. A fun treatment, thank you. Sophie Buchaillard, Novelist and Poet.
About Last One Standing: I loved this piece. It presents a very cohesive voice that plays on the perspective well, without feeling the need to over explain. Here is a writer who trusts their reader. Excellent characterisation that makes the reader engage with the narrator and feel its sadness, creating universal resonance around the themes of aloneness and the passing of time. The use of repetition to create shape and rhythm is also effective to drive the narrative forward. The fact that the identity of the narrator remains ambiguous plays well as it provides room for the reader to envision their own character, based on their own sense of things passed. An excellent example of less is more. Sophie Buchaillard, Novelist and Poet.
About Canal Workers: Diolch am y gerddi Mike. I will keep Canal Workers for the magazine next year. Really like your work. Mike Jenkins, Red Poets Editor.
About Six Poems: It is a pleasure to read and step inside your beautifully crafted work. I love your originality of voice, subject, language, the internal atmospheres and imagery in place and time in each of these poems. Mark Jones (Strider), Lothlorien Poetry Journal Editor.
About Evening At Bracelet Bay: Mike Everley's measured pastoral `Evening At Bracelet Bay` will charm you. Read this sonnet with a Swansea accent in mind, as I did, to draw out those extra trilly `r` sounds, cracking consonance and lush pure vowels. Jo Clement, Butcher's Dog Managing Editor.
About Restoration: We would love to feature your beautiful piece. Dark Poets Club.
About Locked Together and Kenfig Pool: Wow, I love them and would like to accept both for publication. DJ Tyrer, 5-7-5 Haiku Journal Editor.
About Instant Chicken: We loved the sense of humour in `Instant Chicken`. Rook and Alliyah, COOP Editorial Team.
About Mortality: The story created such an air of suspense. I was hooked. Voice Club.
Mike Everley is a prolific writer in many forms and styles. Set in Stone is a set of experimental poems. Each has a short explanation of what Mike is attempting. So, acrostics, Fibonacci poems, free verse, cynghanedd and many more are all here. It is a tribute to his skill that his individual poetic voice is not muted by any of the technical devices rigorously applied. This book is beautifully and lavishly illustrated with his own colour photos. Poetry Performance Pieces is just that - Mike loves to read at open mics and staged events. So, thirty poems with an immediate impact. I am enjoying dipping into these books and expect them to provide inspiration, particularly in the case of the experimental ones: they show that this approach can work and lead to pieces with great value beyond the game of writing. Both books are available at Amazon. Robert Atkins.
