Blogs

A Pledge for Lily Poole I'm an avid fan of Jack O'Donnell's writing and this is my small supportive pledge for the big man himself. As you know, Unbound is a brand new publishing concept – a crowdfunded publishing platform. At Unbound, authors pitch their ideas and the public choose which books get written. You can fund your favourite authors directly by pledging cash to their novel. Ewan is deliciously close to completion and needs your support...

A guest post by ABCtales Author Ewan Lawrie : The galloping mare that is Gibbous House 's campaign to be published is careering down the home straight. We are 87% of the way there. And to save this poor jockey from brandishing his whip, Unbound is holding a draw for Launch Party tickets: everyone who contributes from now until the target is reached is eligible. I'll buy the winner a drink too, when I meet them. Now that's an offer. Let nothing...

A Statement Of Truth And Consciousness: Humanity And The Reclamation Of Self Or A 1000 Year Manifesto For those of you who feel lost, we have a map For those of you who feel directionless, we have a compass For those of you who feel about to fall, we have a net to place between you and the abyss The history of man lacks any and all relevance. Discount it, for it is in-credible. What went before is as water that passed between unknown rocks, in...

Today, I drove a very long way to talk to some people for an hour. Then I drove a very long way back again. It was deemed a good thing to do. The people applauded spontaneously. I felt embarrassed and thanked them. I hired a car through work to get me there. It was almost new and as big as a bus. Tonight, I just drove my own car to a local garage and posted the keys through what I hope is the right letterbox. If not, the neighbour of the garage...

'If chance supplied a loaf of white bread, Two casks of wine and a leg of mutton, In the corner of a garden with a tulip-cheeked girl There'd be enjoyment that no Sultan can outdo. A rubai is a four-line lyric a,a,b,a, the third line adding variation of form. They were popular verse, anyone and everyone could write and share them. Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) was a distinguished Iranian philosopher. he wrote rubai for fun. Many variations on a few...

I admit to googling Michael Cannon to see if I knew him. He comes from the West of Scotland and has had a wide variety of jobs (snap), wasn’t very good at school (snap), has written a couple of novels (well I’ve kinda) and they’ve been published. Snap out of it. I don’t know the lucky bastard, but I have read his book. What attracted me to Articles of Faith wasn’t the author but the subject. The narrative setting in my hometown Clydebank, a...

Ex , a novel written on ABCtales by Laurie Avadis (or lavadis), has now reached 100% funding on Unbound, and the book will soon be going to press! This is in no small part thanks to you – the ABCtales readers and writers who got behind the project from the beginning and helped make it a reality by buying a copy of the book in advance. The macabre humour, the violence and the absurd scene-setting that make this book what it is will soon be on...

Shirley Jackson, The Lottery and Other Stories , is published by Penguin Classics. That can mean the book is quite old. It does seem to be, with the stories I’ve read so far being set in post-Second World War America, or it could mean a guarantee of quality. An imprint that says - this is really good. The book is in five sections, with short stories in each section. I’ve finished section one and started on section two. My feeling was of...

Jolono takes the story honours this week. His eponymous character Jack Winter is resurrected for a villainous Autumn return: http://www.abctales.com/story/jolono/who-jack-winter-part-6 Philip Sidney has consistently provided us with high quality prose and poetry and this latest poem is yet another example: http://www.abctales.com/story/philip-sidney/city-loving This weeks inspiration point: Poetry or prose that has some reference to 'change'...

Alvarez, A. (2005) The Writer’s Voice. London, Bloomsbury. Al Alvarez is British despite his Spanish surname. He was born in in London in 1929 and was privately educated; first at The Hall School in Hampstead and then at Oundle in Northamptonshire. Predictably, some might say, he went up to Oxford and gained a First in English at the end of his time as an undergraduate of Corpus Christi College. He worked as the poetry editor for The Observer...