Blogs

Emile Zola (1876 [2003]) The Drinking Den, Penguin Classics, translated by Robin Buss.

I tackled Emile Zola’s The Drinking Den before, but gave up after reading the first couple of chapters. I stuck with it this time and finished all thirteen chapters. It wasn’t like War and Peace , where when I finished it I expected a librarian (in pre-Covid times) to rush up and pin a medal to my tracky top. Nor was it like Zola’s Germinal or The Earth which I ripped through. When I turned the final page I felt a sense of relief. Job done, but...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

A big thank you to everyone who's posted their work on ABCTales this week and to all the lovely editors who give up their time to wave their cherry wands - and there have been masses of cherries this week! If you have any spare time, just read anything with red fruit next to the title and you won't go wrong. Here are my choices for Story and Poem of the Week: Crow by onemorething - a complex, multi-layered poem about a beautiful bird You're...

100 Quatorzains by John Wilks

100 Quatorzains by John Wilks Review by Ewan Available in paperback from Amazon, priced at £10: 100 Quatorzain: Amazon.co.uk: Wilks, John: 9798746315168: Books or as an ebook downloadable from Cerasus's Ko-fi Shop for £5: https://ko-fi.com/s/d4ec01f463 If I had been presented with this collection anonymously, I would have guessed its author long before reading the last poem in it. John Wilks distinctive voice shines through. By turns bitter,...

Saved by a Stranger, BBC 2, BBC iPlayer, Presenter Anita Rani and Director Toby Trackman.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000vlpr/saved-by-a-stranger-series-1-1-karl-and-emina https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000vszb/saved-by-a-stranger-series-1-2-marc-and-peter The format for this serious is simple, and it’s in the title. People who have been caught up in some traumatic, life-changing event, and some stranger has stepped in to help them. I’m sure I watched the last series, but can’t remember if I did. It’s a feel-good...

The Investing Game

$5K - 52 Weeks - 20 Penny Stocks One Winner!! Current Status ( -$2,371.47 ) Week - 12 The Quarter Pole! Well this isn’t anything like they promised in the brochure… For the first time since starting this game, all twenty positions are in the negative! A hefty loss on the week overall as well. There was devastation, destruction, discontent, discord, disappointment, and woe! Oh the woe. Wow! The week wavered by almost $324. I’d have to check but...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 07 May 2021 I've greatly enjoyed another week of tremendous ABCTales writing, and this week's Picks are absolute stunners. Story of the Week is Mark Burrow's 'Council Estate Jesus'. Wonderful characters and dialogue that build tension so that the whole structure balances on a knife-edge. By the end, you feel you've glimpsed, and learned from, something very important: Council Estate Jesus | ABCtales Poem of the Week...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

I've greatly enjoyed another week of tremendous ABCTales writing, and this week's Picks are absolute stunners. Story of the Week is Mark Burrow's 'Council Estate Jesus'. Wonderful characters and dialogue that build tension so that the whole structure balances on a knife-edge. By the end, you feel you've glimpsed, and learned from, something very important: Council Estate Jesus | ABCtales Poem of the Week is Yutka's 'Impaired'. This finds beauty...

Story and Poem of the Month

Our Story and Poem for the month of April have very kindly been chosen by love_writing. Here's what she's written: What a treat it has been for me to catch up on the amazing work on abctales. It’s been joyful and moving [I’ve had a few watery eye moments!] to not only read your work, but also to see the support and acknowledgement you give to each other in the comments sections. As writers we are often plugging away on our own, and it takes...

Happiness is a warm keyboard=I live to and love to write

May flowers are blooming and the animals are coming out from the forest to enjoy the warmth of the sun. There was a beautiful rabbit in my yard chewing on the grass this morning and made my morning coffee all the more pleasurable to see it there. I know my husband wants to put back the fencing that was knocked down by the large tree that fell from the forested area behind out backyard, but I don’t want to. Since that fence fell, I have seen a...

The Investing Game

$5K - 52 Weeks - 20 Penny Stocks One Winner!! Current Status ( -$2,047.60 ) Week - 11 Fire! Our Window to the Past! I sat in the backyard with a beverage this past week. The wife and I are renovating a bedroom in our home. Took down a half ton of plaster from the walls, then began the process of removing the exposed wooden lath. Most of which will go out with the other trash later in the week. Some scraps however made for a cheery blaze and...

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