Blogs

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point 16 July 2021

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 16 Jul 2021

Chosen by Ewan. Story of the week, in an unusually strong field, goes to Rosalie Kempthorne whose apocalyptic narrative WebWorld (plus version no.s) continues to read like something publisher ready. If you’ve missed earlier parts, do go back to the beginning Today’s episode WebWorld (1.10) https://www.abctales.com/story/rosaliekempthorne/webworld-110 [Episode 1 WebWorld (1.1) is here] https://www.abctales.com/story/rosaliekempthorne/webworld-11...

South African Anarchy 13 July 2021

Posted by Shannan on Tue, 13 Jul 2021

Context – Third Wave of Covid Pandemic, now amidst the riots and looting of the KwaZuluNatal, South African, livelihoods. Gunshots have been ringing out beyond my window for 4 days now, with fewer shots starting on Saturday evening, to a more continuous stream this Tuesday morning. A WatsApp video showed police shooting at gatherers in my area to disperse them from a mall car park this morning. The government knew that this would be going down...

JACK OF SPADES

Posted by JP BROWN on Mon, 12 Jul 2021

LOCKDOWN - S.A. 2021.

The Investing Game

Posted by OtterMan on Mon, 12 Jul 2021

$5K - 52 Weeks - 20 Penny Stocks One Winner!! Current Status ( -$2,976.91 ) Week - 21 I can see the Future! Well, some of it anyway... It’s not that big a trick really, almost anyone can do it. I was reminded of this when the young couple next door moved in, replacing the slightly older but still young couple who had moved out. Seeing the future only requires reaching an age in life where a younger person’s future is your own past. Oh the...

England with the sound down.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 11 Jul 2021

England can beat Italy and win the Euros. They’re playing at home and favourites. Even I’ll admit that. I’m not anti-English, and I don’t mind them winning the odd game. Although I was never there, I’ve telly memories of Scotland going to Wembley on the fitba specials, beating England, tartan clad hordes of Bay City Roller fans stealing the goalposts and ripping up the turf and eating it to show how hard we were. Payback for all those invasions...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 09 Jul 2021

Two wonderful pieces for you today: Poem of the Week goes to skinner_jennifer's Daydreamer which seems to have touched a nerve with a lot of people - including me. As Jenny's success shows, daydreaming can get you places! Story of the Week goes to drew_gummerson's You which has kept me laughing all week Both wonderful reads and very much recommended! https://www.abctales.com/story/skinnerjennifer/daydreamer https://www.abctales.com/story/...

John Burrowes (2005) Irish: The Remarkable Saga of a Nation and a City.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 05 Jul 2021

I qualify for an Irish passport. My Da was born in Belfast, but lived his life in Glasgow, and fought in the second world war for Britain. When he married my mum, he moved to Clydebank. John Burrowes is telling us something we already know—many of us have much the same story. How many? Most folk find statistic boring. My Da was born in 1923. The Irish Free State was formed in 1921, with the six counties still part of Britain. Susan McKay 2021...

Story and Poem of the Month

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 04 Jul 2021

Story and Poem of the Month for June, very kindly chosen by Parson Thru: Prose elegantfowl ‘Sanctuary’ https://www.abctales.com/ story/elegantfowl/sanctuary My choice for prose pick of the month for June is elegantfowl’s ‘Sanctuary’. I found this a very intense and well-written piece. The atmosphere is claustrophobic, which suits the telling well. I felt drawn into the mind of the character and into their thoughts. The voice is matter of fact...

James Hunter (2019) Insurrection: Scotland’s Famine Winter.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 04 Jul 2021

Professor James Hunter revisits a student historical dissertation to remind us that it wasn’t just Ireland that suffered from famine, after potato crops failed year after year in the late 1840s, but most of Europe suffered from the fungal spores of Phytophthora infestans . The poor people of the Scottish Highlands and Islands did not experience to the same scale as the Irish Holocaust, but many of the structural problems were the same. The...

V.S. Naipaul (2011 [1969]) A House for Mr Biswas.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 03 Jul 2021

I’d heard of V.S. Naipaul and even watched a BBC Imagine programme in which the author and Noble Prize Winner for literature was interviewed by Alan Yentob. I like to think of myself as a reader, but until I’d read A House for Mr Biswas I had read none of Naipaul’s books. A House for Mr Biswas is described as an ‘epic’ which is just another way of saying it’s quite long. With an Introduction, Epilogue and Afterword, written by Naipaul in 2011...

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