28.02.14 Story, Poem and Inspiration Point of the Week

It's the last day of February, and we're already sliding into something like spring - although it's still wetter and colder and darker than any kind of spring I want any part of. But it keeps bringing us stories and poems, more and more of them. There's enough good writing on ABCtales, I realise, to keep a man happily reading all day every day, like old Prince Carlos of Viana.  

We have some good news, as ABCer Akanbi - Samuel Aina - publishes his first collection of short stories, all of which debuted here on ABCtales. The book is now available on amazon, and Sam's let me know that he'll be bringing some copies to our next get-together, at the Wheatsheaf in London on the 26th of March. Book the night off, if you haven't already!

And on to the picks of the week - this week we've seen the end of Jolono's 'Who Is Jack Winter?' series - a delightfully irreverential piss-take on politics. They're hilarious and the kind of reading you gulp down like a good pint, so our story of the week is the first in the series - start with this one and don't stop till you're done!

http://www.abctales.com/story/jolono/who-jack-winter

Our poem of the week is Bear's 'November 1918'. This piece is beautiful, gentle and ineffable. It cuts open a moment and cores the trauma of those returning from war - and evokes the fragility they bring back, their uncertainties and the beauty shimmering at the end of each possibility. An utterly captivating work:

http://www.abctales.com/story/bear/november-1918

As always, be sure to have a gander at this week's inspiration point if you're not sure what to write about:

http://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip