FICTION AND PROSE

Novels

Heorot
Bartonwood
Mai's Wedding
The Tugen and the Toot
The Missing Moon*
Rain and Other Stories*

Non-fiction

A Standard of Verse*
The Way to Write (with John Fairfax)*

Books marked with * are available from the author; for details view 'Items for Sale' page.

Unpublished Novels

Mai (the extended and revised version of Mai's Wedding)
SM and the Fabrication of Gold
Blanche


Reviews:

Of his novel, The Missing Moon, poet and critic Roger Garfitt wrote:
'Eloquent and uproarious, carrying a great deal of learning lightly, and conveying, almost incidentally, an intense awareness of nature....Out of timeless materials - friendship, the rhythms of nature, the obsessions of poetry - John Moat has made a book whose wisdom is ancient, grave, but imperturbably light of heart. Anyone who is becoming a little nervous of the 20th century should obtain a copy at once.'

From Nick Stimpson's foreword to Rain and other Short Stories:
'We find princesses, poets and painters, wandering monks and mystics, farmers and emperors in these pages. And what have they got in common? Transformation. We're so used to controlling art, framing it, naming it, writing it off. But these stories refuse to be pinned down. They burn bright and they are confident in their own telling. They know what a good tale is and they know they've got something worth saying. I hope, like me, you're lucky enough to read them and having read them, look up and realise that you and the world around you has shifted a little.'

Ted Hughes about Mai's Wedding:
'It's a great test of the writing, but in a narrative style where the movement is slow - shadow of Patrick White almost - and with a jungle profusion of atmospheric tendrils and wafts and odours, I never felt any page was too long. The very full accounts of moments and details and fleeting awarenesses somehow justify themselves. One's eye never lifts from what seems to be an actuality - very present and very urgent. Surely that's what good writing is.'

Naomi Lewis reviewing Bartonwood:
'What an interesting, fascinating, strange and magical book...People, adult or child who enjoy The River Boy and The Sword in the Stone and Kingsley (Westcountry ambiance), and The Crock of Gold and The Midnight Folk and T F Powys and Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard and many more in this thrilling line, are the ones to read this story.'