Blogs

I was at a Requiem Mass for Rose Anne Winn today. It was great. I don’t mean the religious service. I can take them or leave them. Apart from funerals, usually it’s the latter. Auntie Rose was my godmother. The last remaining matriarch of the Connelly family, which included my mum Jean, and her sisters Auntie Phyllis and Auntie Cathy. Only Uncle Ben, in Canada, of the patriarchal line remains. Uncle Tom and Uncle Terry are dead. What I mean by...

Story of the Week goes to ajhoward for his ghostly prose 'curious-one-under' and Poem of the Week to lovewriting for her poem 'auchtertyre.' Big congratulations to both. Breathtaking landscapes and a sift through the soul makes a deeply restorative read: https://www.abctales.com/story/lovewriting/auchtertyre Richly compelling, this first installment of a ghost story switches us confidently between digital and urban setting to distort perceptions...

Tulip Siddiq is one of our best Labour MPs. She recently voted against Brexit, and always follows the wishes of her constituency. She has the hard job of filling Glenda Jackson's boots in Hampstead and Kilburn, England's most marginal constituency where she won her seat in Westminster by 44 votes. As well as being little and cute and very sharp witted and switched on, Tulip is from a family that has lived politics the hard way. Her grandfather...

Book links: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hollow-Point-wartime-adventures-Molenaar-ebook/... https://www.amazon.com/Hollow-Point-wartime-adventures-Molenaar-ebook/dp... HOLLOW POINT - Robert Craven I think some books are too long. That the writer's voice is somehow lost in the padding. I have just released HOLLOW POINT ; the fourth WW2 novel featuring my character, Eva. It is a short novel, just above the size of a novella, that has allowed me to...

Money is worthless. Join every mob at banks and shops, cash in. Arm yourself Bring the family home, with a chimney, you can cook by firelight. Bring the bike in from the garden shed. Plan your meals. Starve slowly. With much love You won’t hear from me again.

Big congratulations this week to Rosa Cruz for 'Forever-Home' and to blackjack-davey for 'Me and My Shadow' - our brilliant Story and Poem of the Week! https://www.abctales.com/story/rosa-cruz/forever-home https://www.abctales.com/story/blackjack-davey/me-and-my-shadow .. and here's this week's Inspiration Point (it's a great one): https://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip

It's really nice to be able to share a bit of good news from one of our lovely poets: Rosa Cruz has won first prize in a poetry competition with 'Last Night I dreamt I became an Emperor Moth' which was posted here on ABCTales.com. Big congratulations to her from all of us! https://www.firstwriter.com/competitions/poetry_competition/winners/15th...

It was wonderful! From Thursday to Sunday I was one of about 50 retreatants at the beautiful Gaia House in West Ogwell (10 miles beyond Newton Abbot in Devon). All new to me and 'first time for everything.' The beauty of the winter oak silhouttes, the chatter and song of the blackbirds, robins and blue tits. The mosaic bordering the little pond. Walking meditation in the grounds was a treat. We all did one hour of 'working meditation', each day...

This is a seriously good book, make no mistake about it. I’ve followed the gestation of Gibbous House on ABCtales and read it in various incarnations over the past three years but this final, published version is another step on. It’s a triumph and I highly recommend it to you. This is a modern gothic novel. It is steeped in the 19 th century tradition and draws heavily on the works of Poe, the Brontes, Thackeray et al but be assured that you do...

This week from airyfairy: As usual, lots of wonderful stuff on the site this week, and really hard to make choices. Poem of the week goes to Hudsonmoon's beautiful, heartwarming celebration of love, Our Feet Don't Run: https://www.abctales.com/story/hudsonmoon/our-feet-dont-run Story of the week is Rosaliekempthorne's Breeder of Black Cats, which manages to be both unsettling and comforting all at the same time: https://www.abctales.com/story/...