Blogs

ABCtales Critiquing Service - good reports!

Posted by tcook on Mon, 26 Mar 2012

Over the years many of you have asked for a critiquing service and it has taken a long time to find (a) someone good enough to do it well and (b) someone who will charge what we regard as a reasonable fee. Finally, we've done it! Lorraine Mace is a freelance writer, columnist and tutor for the Writers Bureau. Winner of the Petra Kenney International Poetry Competition (comic verse category), Lorraine's fiction, features and humour have appeared...

Sara Trevelyan (2017) freedom found: a memoir.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 23 Jun 2018

The spiel on the cover page, a kiss and tell from Jimmy Boyle: ‘She absolutely taught me how to love’. Em, as my old da would say, fanny wash. Sara in contrast has a whole book to tell the reader how it is or was. ‘At the end of the 1970s, I met and fell in love with one of Scotland’s best-known prisoners, Jimmy Boyle. Our two very different worlds collided in an unexpected way…’ I love books, but gave Trevelyan’s away after reading the first...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 22 Jun 2018

A fresh eye is a wonderful thing, and for this week's Story and Poem of the Week we have a guest appearance from the brilliant london_calling79: On this week of fine weather I’ve been most fortunate to be able to sit back and read in the garden to my heart’s content. What I’ve found myself coming back to again and again is lavadis’ ‘I have an imaginary daughter’. The deftness of touch and pungent word choices make it clank along with all the...

CERASUS POETRY LAUNCHES!

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Mon, 18 Jun 2018

Posted by Cerasus Poetry on Sun, 17 Jun 2018 Finally! ’painting for lemonade’ by sj howarth (Jupiter Moon) is now ready to launch. Please visit our brand new dedicated website: www.cerasuspoetry.com

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 15 Jun 2018

Big congratulations this week to ralph for 'This Beeston Morning' and The Other Terrence Oblong for 'Operation March Hare' - do read them both, they're wonderful! https://www.abctales.com/story/ralph/beeston-morning https://www.abctales.com/story/other-terrence-oblong/operation-march-hare-0 Here's this week's Inspiration Point: https://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip .. and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Leggings - Extravagance!

Posted by maisie on Thu, 14 Jun 2018

Extravagance! for direct link: https://www.debenhams.com/home/soft-furnishings As I said before, I had an idyllic lifestyle wandering the world, visiting people who said they were my relations – and some of them were. I was considered spoilt by some, however I managed fairly well given the Bentley, the pink rolls, and Parker or Mr. Payne for company, and protection. I had not grown since the war and had stayed about the size of a regular six-...

Blue Dahlia, Black Gold a journey into Angola by Daniel Metcalfe

Posted by elsie katz on Mon, 11 Jun 2018

Good but not good enough. Daniel is a resilient young Englishman who is interested in Angola and organises a budget travel journalism trip. Starting with the 'easy bit' a stay on the laid back isle of San Tomeo he then travels Angola from end to end, meets lots of snapshot people, has a lot of experiences cf Laurie Lee, Patrick Leigh Fermor and comes back to Blighty and writes all about it. Daniel is strong on information. I now know a lot more...

Leggings - Past 2 a.m.

Posted by maisie on Mon, 11 Jun 2018

Past 2 a.m. The night explodes into action. A loud motor, loud voices, thudding footsteps and people downstairs – it’s the fallout time for returners from the factories come home to roost. What are they doing here? Have we another Italian family who cannot live apart – and have formed their own warren to live safely in their pile of bodies. As their history predicts, they have sentries posted throughout the building, read mind and actions for...

Hidden 9pm BBC 4, BBCiPlayer, directed by Gareth Bryn

Posted by celticman on Sun, 10 Jun 2018

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p066svr5/hidden-series-1-episode-1?ns_mchannel=email&ns_source=&ns_campaign=PANUK_DIV_23_IPL_Recommends_D&ns_linkname=bbcone_hiddendrama_dramathriller&ns_fee=0 As any of my long-term blog readers knows (which numbers about two and a bit) the embourgeoisement thesis that was used to determine whether working class folk can become middle class by becoming Luton car workers or continually...

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