Blogs

Pat Black (2019) The Family

Posted by celticman on Fri, 12 Jul 2019

I read this book when it was first published. I’ve read some of Pat Black’s short stories. Some of them are outstanding. A novel is just a bigger story. It’s no great surprise that Black knows what he’s doing. The Family is an interesting title. A bit bland, unless you’re Charles Manson and his Family. And this is Charles Manson territory. There are evil people out there and more worryingly within us. We’ve got to channel them. Here’s a little...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 12 Jul 2019

What a week it's been for cherries - I've had to scroll through pages of them! My choice for Story of the Week is quite a long one but please don't let that put you off - it's one of the best things I've read on ABCTales for a while: 'All Architects Are Called Zach' by Mark Burrow. My Poem of the Week is the beautiful 'XIX' by john_silver. Big congratulations to both! https://www.abctales.com/story/johnsilver/xix https://www.abctales.com/story/...

Tear along dotted line – the Celtic season starts here.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 08 Jul 2019

Most Celtic supporters I’ve talked to would be happy another domestic treble, perhaps with a European Cup thrown in for good measure. In Lennie we trust (well kinda). Lennon got us over the line last year, winning the Scottish Cup and the treble. There was a minimum and maximum as there is this year. I’d guess the minimum is a domestic double, Scottish League and one other trophy. In terms of Europe, qualification for the group stage of the...

STORY AND POEM OF THE MONTH

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 07 Jul 2019

June's Story and Poem of the Month, very kindly chosen by Hudsonmoon: Picks of the month are never easy. And June proved difficult. So many tasty things out there. But the following two seemed to linger the most in my somewhat scattered mind. They're both pretty wonderful. Prose of the month honors go to celticman's Puddle Land celticman's tale haunted me a bit. Not in a scary sort of way, though. (Okay, the guillemot in the baby crib did freak...

Alison (2017) directed by Uga Carlini

Posted by celticman on Fri, 05 Jul 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=85&v=WIvFTrJGWCY This drama-documentary has a fairy-story feel, a story of good triumphing over evil, of before and after the fall. Rape and murder are commonplace. Currently, only four-percent of reported rapes in the United Kingdom, for example, are successfully prosecuted. When Alison Botha was abducted at knife-point in 1994, after dropping her friend off, near her home in South Africa, she...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 05 Jul 2019

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 05 Jul 2019 Amongst the riches on the site this week, two in particular stood out for me from the moment I read them. Story of the Week is Ball Bearing from ice rivers. A funny, reflective tale of a friendship, a fibre optic bear and the dynamics of the office Christmas Party: https://www.abctales.com/story/ice-rivers/ball-bearing Poem of the Week is the stunning Everyone Remembers Everything Eventually, by lavadis...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 05 Jul 2019

Amongst the riches on the site this week, two in particular stood out for me from the moment I read them. Story of the Week is Ball Bearing from ice rivers. A funny, reflective tale of a friendship, a fibre optic bear and the dynamics of the office Christmas Party: https://www.abctales.com/story/ice-rivers/ball-bearing Poem of the Week is the stunning Everyone Remembers Everything Eventually, by lavadis. Beautiful, complex, but so easy to just...

Doug Johnstone (2013) Gone Again.

Posted by celticman on Wed, 03 Jul 2019

I recently read Doug Johnstone’s The Jump . I enjoyed it, so had a look at his back catalogue. In many ways we all write the same story again and again. I liked the Godfather of Scottish noir, William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw series, more for the characters and the Glasgow landscape than his ramshackle plots in which Laidlaw didn’t so much solve the case but tilt the world off its axis, which made him slightly less miserable. That’s Glesgca fer you...

APOLOGIES FOR DOWNTIME

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Tue, 02 Jul 2019

Posted by airyfairy on Tue, 02 Jul 2019 Many apologies for the downtime on the site today. What was supposed to be a very brief bit of maintenance - literally minutes - got a bit more complicated and so we have been down for most of the day. Thank you for your patience. airyfairy's blog

Site Maintenance

Posted by airyfairy on Tue, 02 Jul 2019

Many apologies for the downtime on the site today. What was supposed to be a very brief bit of maintenance - literally, minutes - got a bit more complicated and so we have been down for most of the day. Thank you for your patience.

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