Story and Poem of the Month

Our Story and Poem of the Month for December have very kindly been chosen by rjnewlyn:

Pick of the Month – December 2022

Well, many congratulations to all of you – an excellent month’s writing and as spoilt for choice as ever. 

Prose first and a wholly arbitrary decision for Pick of the Month from such a range of styles and subjects. Particular recommendations include a really-quite-strange pandemic-type story from ethancrane that you’ll probably have to read a few times over (https://www.abctales.com/story/csquirrel/your-mutual-aid-hourly-pay-insults-my-intelligence), a finely written two-part child’s-eye slice of life from josephkolasa (https://www.abctales.com/story/josephkolasa/vulture-pt1;https://www.abctales.com/story/josephkolasa/vulture-pt2), a rather touching romantic encounter between two witches (is that a genre yet?) from Magnolia Fay (https://www.abctales.com/story/magnolia-fay/im-tired-talking-cecilia), and a wry and cautionary account of online dating by Truth42 (https://www.abctales.com/story/truth42/tinder-date-tinder-night). Plus, congratulations to monodemo on finishing off Runaway Mother, which has always been a pleasure to dip into (https://www.abctales.com/story/monodemo/runaway-mother-epilogue). But I’m going to go for a ghost story and well done to maddan for a couple of excellent December offerings. Glitch was a great Christmas Eve post (https://www.abctales.com/story/maddan/glitch) but The Flat on Ashburn Hill earlier in the month (https://www.abctales.com/story/maddan/flat-ashburn-hill) had the edge for me with its oddness, slow build, and very effective twist at the end (don’t peek; oh, and do try to avoid renting flats that estate agents can’t get rid of because of bumps in the night). 

Midwinter does have a habit of bringing the best out in poetry and there are some highly recommended season-orientated offerings from onemorething (https://www.abctales.com/story/onemorething/december-ravens), marandina (https://www.abctales.com/story/marandina/mid-winter) and samhennig (https://www.abctales.com/story/samhennig/cold), each of which will chill you as you read (in case you need to feel any colder), plus a rather fine micro-macro meditation on such things from Ed Crane (https://www.abctales.com/story/ed-crane/magic-dust). Also very beautiful and touching were a couple of personal poems on loss from jennifer (https://www.abctales.com/story/jennifer/stars-fire) and Ewan (https://www.abctales.com/story/ewan/hereafter). But I’m going to go with spirits again, although plant-based this time, with Angusfolklore’s Barley Ghosts (https://www.abctales.com/story/angusfolklore/barley-ghosts) which I think is as suitable as anything else to accompany the turning of the year. Happy 2023 everyone!