Blogs

Visiting Time. Poems, essays and stories from behind the walls of HMP Shotts (2019) various authors.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 23 Nov 2019

I’m well-disposed to liking this book, as Pat McDaid will tell you. The judge said I was ‘an educated man’ but a ‘danger to society’. I’d never been called educated before. I was pretty chuffed and my mind jumped to that Tobias Wolff short story when the guy laughs at the bank robbers with guns because they keep talking in clichés. Snobbish, I know. I admitted I was a danger because I kept losing my sobriety and finding my car keys. The judge...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 22 Nov 2019

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 22 Nov 2019 Once again a big thank-you this week to all those who came to the Reading Event last Saturday. It was splendid, there was so much good stuff to listen to, and some highly enjoyable socialising afterwards. Here's to the next one! Our Poem of the Week was one of the pieces that was read out, 'Mars' by lavadis. It was a treat to hear the author read it, and it's as much of a treat to see it on the page: https...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 22 Nov 2019

Once again a big thank-you this week to all those who came to the Reading Event last Saturday. It was splendid, there was so much good stuff to listen to, and some highly enjoyable socialising afterwards. Here's to the next one! Our Poem of the Week was one of the pieces that was read out, 'Mars' by lavadis. It was a treat to hear the author read it, and it's as much of a treat to see it on the page: https://www.abctales.com/story/lavadis/mars...

Writing is a waste of time? Discuss.

Posted by celticman on Fri, 22 Nov 2019

Photo by Jeremy Avery on Unsplash The networker, John Naughton, Observer, Artificial Intelligence is making literary leaps. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/02/ai-artificial-intelligence-language-openai-cpt2-release I write stuff nobody much reads. Think of a number below ten and don’t multiply it. There’s a large hole in my idea of normality. I imagine someday, someone, somewhere will pay for my writing and I’ll be in the...

Donations to ABC Tales

Posted by airyfairy on Thu, 21 Nov 2019

Many, many thanks to everyone who has contributed to ABC Tales via Just Giving this year. We literally wouldn't be here without you! Just Giving no longer provide us with names of donors unless they leave a message with their donation. We could obtain the list of names but we would have to pay a monthly fee of £15 for that, and it would eat into ABC's funds. So, if you donate, please do leave a message on our Just Giving site, or email jane@...

Storyville: One Child Nation, BBC 4, BBC iPlayer, director Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang.

Posted by celticman on Wed, 20 Nov 2019

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000bh0j/storyville-one-child-nation I’ve been pondering the difference between affect and effect. The former is a verb. The latter is a noun and verb. The etymology of affect suggests it has its roots in ‘a little like love’. The effect of China’s implementation of a one-child policy for couples, men and women, in the early 1980s was nothing like love. It was a top-down, Communist Party, misogynistic policy...

Book Week Scotland, Karen Campbell (2019) The Sounds of the Hours, presented in Parkhall library.

Posted by celticman on Tue, 19 Nov 2019

Long story. I was in Dalmuir library yesterday. For some reason I wanted to check out Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Diaries . As you know Gramsci was leader of the Italian Communist Party. Gramsci writes about how capitalism mutates and appropriates art and literature to establish a cultural hegemony. If that sounds pretty long-winded it’s probably because I don’t understand it either. Gramsci did. And it’s increasingly relevant today. The working...

Climategate: Science of a Scandal, BBC 4, BBC iPlayer, producer and director Steve O’Hagan.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 18 Nov 2019

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000b8p2/climategate-science-of-a-scandal Our ancestors believed that the sky was round and the earth was square, the sun and all the planets circled the earth. All these things were self-evident. When emails from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of Cambridge were hacked in 2009 the theory that global warming was a hoax gained credence and the sky really was round and the earth square...

Reading Event Thank You!

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 17 Nov 2019

A huge thank you to all who came to our Reading Event yesterday in Soho - it was wonderful to hear you read and lovely to meet you! Next up (hoperfully) - something in the Midlands next year. Watch this space! Visit our Facebook page to see all the pics: https://www.facebook.com/ABCtalescom-230195591928/

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