Blogs

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point.

Posted by Philip Sidney on Sat, 20 Jun 2020

One thing about this glitch in our history is that it's given us tme to reflect. The two picks for this week are excellent aids to our own mullings. Story of the week goes to Error_404's deeply poignant, Memory Lake: https://www.abctales.com/story/error404/memory-lake Poem of the week goes to littleditty's inventive prose poem, This Year's Walk: https://www.abctales.com/story/littleditty/years-walk08 Here's the Inspiration Point: https://www...

The Salisbury Poisonings, BBC 1, BBC iPlayer, written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, director, Saul Dibb.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 14 Jun 2020

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08dqp3w/the-salisbury-poisonings-... Before Covid-19, the coronavirus, Salisbury was briefly in lockdown in the winter of 2018 after two Russian agents poisoned former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal (Wayne Swann) who worked for MI6 (allegedly) and his daughter, Yulia Skripal (Jill Winternitz) with polonium, a highly toxic and deadly nerve agent. This might have been a hard sell. Now we’re au...

Kenny (Keemo) Bannatyne: 1/6/1974 to 12/6/2020

Posted by celticman on Fri, 12 Jun 2020

fiona and kenny (keemo) bannatyne Shakespeare’s Caesar : The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves… I briefly thought about Keemo when lockdown began. Needing, in effect, new lungs, he was the highest-risk category. Then I forgot about him. Life gets in the way. Now I’ve found out he’s dead. I’ll remember him for his kindness. After Robert’s death he brought Mary flowers. He attended the funeral with his wife and we had a...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 12 Jun 2020

Big congratulations to our two winners today: Poem of the Week - Iriecat by Lavadis Story of the Week - Tales from the Psych Ward - Part 1 Do read both - they're wonderful! https://www.abctales.com/story/lavadis/iriecat https://www.abctales.com/story/lem/tales-psych-ward-part-1 Here's the Inspiration Point: inspiration-point-ip I hope you all have a great weekend

Annest Gwilym (2020) What the Owl Taught Me

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Thu, 11 Jun 2020

Annest Gwilym (2020) What the Owl Taught Me. I'm very pleased to put Annest's new book on our front page. Writing as Rosa Cruz, many of these poems were published on ABCTales. Below is a wonderful review by our own celticman, followed by a link to her page where you can order. If you pay with Paypal, your address will be added automatically. 'I don’t usually review poetry. I’ll tackle pretty much anything else—fiction, factual biography, drama,...

Story and Poem of the Month

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 07 Jun 2020

Story and Poem of the Month for May very kindly chosen by Mark Say: Story of the month Top choice this month is After Gyles’ Quay by Sean McNulty, vivid portrayal of how a group of boys react to the death of an old friend. It comes with humour and sadness, and provides a strong portrayal of how children begin to grope their way towards adulthood. https://www.abctales.com/ story/sean-mcnulty/after- gyles-quay Two others I greatly enjoyed: the two...

Annest Gwilym (2020) What the Owl Taught Me.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 06 Jun 2020

Annest Gwilym (2020) What the Owl Taught Me. I don’t usually review poetry. I’ll tackle pretty much anything else—fiction, factual biography, drama, documentaries, comedy, by which I mean politics and economics— with an insouciant swagger and the hope nobody will ask too many searching questions. Poetry leaves me too exposed as a fuck-wit. No-nothing. One of those dreams where you running around your old school naked and everyone else is...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 05 Jun 2020

Thank you again for so much wonderful writing this week. There's been some intensely personal pieces, some commentary on the world, some beautiful pieces of nature writing, some marvellous escapism. Welcome to all those who have just joined us, and to old friends who have returned.

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 05 Jun 2020

Thank you again for so much wonderful writing this week. There's been some intensely personal pieces, some commentary on the world, some beautiful pieces of nature writing, some marvellous escapism. Welcome to all those who have just joined us, and to old friends who have returned. Our Story of the Week is the latest chapter of Sooz006's 'Break The Child'. This stands alone brilliantly, but if you haven't read the preceding chapters, please...

Opening the Casket

Posted by philwhiteland on Sat, 30 May 2020

For some time now I've been posting stories about my two hapless undertakers, Josiah and Archibald, to ABCtales and I'm delighted to say that they seem to have proven quite popular. Therefore, filled with a (doubtless misplaced) confidence, I've collected all of these stories together and published them in a Kindle book that rejoices under the title ' A Dubious Undertaking and other stories '. In addition, I've included another series of stories...

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