Blogs

How Late it Was, How Late won the Booker Prize on its publication in 1994. It was a controversial verdict. Rabbi Julia Neauberger one of the judges is quoted as saying, ‘Frankly, it’s crap’ and threatened to resign from the panel if it won. Written in Glasgow dialect and telling the story of Sammy who did a bit of stealing, did a bit of time and has become blind after taking a hammering from the cops that arrest him, I don’t think it’s crap, but...

It’s great to see the football back on telly. The best part is it’s on normal telly and you don’t need a special box or to pay a subscription because then I just wouldn’t bother. That’s a bit of a shame because I watched almost every match in the Euros and World Cup since Scotland humbled Brazil in 1974, never lost a game in the tournament and still got sent home to think again. 1978 was good as well. Mario Kempes sticks in the mind. Argentina...

There was some great work on the site this week. However, Story of the Week had to go to Celticman for his beautifully crafted and devastating story 'Most folk called her pet'. Poem of the Week goes to Gabzgirl for 'Letters to Herself', a dreamy poem with a vivid depiction of the mind and all its vulnerability. Congratulations to both. http://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/most-folk-called-her-pet http://www.abctales.com/story/gabzgrl/letters-...

‘Writing makes me feel I was really living.’ There’s irony in when Erwin James writes that he’s a Category-A prisoner and banged up for killing two people. He doesn’t dwell on that. No excuses of how it was a robbery that went wrong –twice- and turned a thief and his mates into murderers. I’m not usually criminal, although sense of humour border on it, but I also write to make sense of the world and there is a lot of Ewin James I recognise in...

Today Maria Sharapova, the winner of five grand-slam tennis tournaments, received a two -year ban for failing a drugs test. It’s an old story, from hero to villain quicker than Honk Kong Phooey could do a karate chop. And he really was a super guy. What do I know about cycling? Not a lot. If I cycle along the cycle path to Clydebank, which is about a mile, I expect people to stand aside and applaud as I pass and to hold out bottles of water (or...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03j49l6/storyville-20132014-12-blackfish-the-whale-that-killed We all know the story of Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick . Man versus whale and neither wins. Score draw on the coupon. I’ve started the books a few times and never got beyond the first pages. Wooden ships used to go away for a year or more and come back loaded down with whale blubber and oil. Prototype factory ships. Boiled down whale oil...

There was such a range of gorgeous surreal poetry in May! Elements of surprise were carefully weaved in to your slant and unexpected creations. Here’s a trio that shone: Three Shakespearian witches (or was it siblings?) A fiery, spitting paced piece: http://www.abctales.com/story/linda-wigzell-cress/blasted-heath-poetry-monthly A surreal wander through a dreamscape: http://www.abctales.com/story/pat-g/imperative-poetry-monthly The footprints of...

Congratulations this week to Lavadis for 'Cannibal' and blighters rock for 'Result!' - two fabulous pieces. I hope you both come back and post more soon. http://www.abctales.com/story/lavadis/cannibal http://www.abctales.com/story/blighters-rock/result This week's Inspiration Point is to write something around the theme of 'letters to myself'. Good luck!

So I’ve taken today to rewrite those pesky chapters that have been crowding my mind with alternate pathways. I knew the first three or four were solid but then the murky waters began. So many…too many ways to turn the tides so to speak and I know there will only be one that will feel right… but getting there can be a major trial and error. I always see both sides to stories, arguments, questions. Maybe that is the curse of a writer, seeing all...

Our Picks of the Month for May have been chosen by blackjack-davey (who's also got a very good idea for a competition in the near future!). Here they are: Honourable mentions this month go to Yvonne Anderson’s It was Our Home where we experience the writer’s displacement and dawning recognition that the traffic and bustle and soup kitchen serving the homeless is where she now lives and by extension this is who she is... the Edwardian villa has...