Blogs

Something wonderful happens today. At thirty minutes past one this afternoon, a massive spine - tingling roar will be heard throughout the country. Yep, it's the start of the Cheltenham Festival. Now I can hear some of you thinking, it’s just horse racing, it’s just another meeting, what’s so important? In the next few hundred words, I will do my best to explain. Whatever sport you follow, there are always the big events. In Athletics you have...

So, ABCers – as of today I am a published author! My book B is for Breast Cancer is actually in the shops today and it started right here… I wrote the book when I was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Five years ago, aged 45, I found myself diagnosed with the disease and my first thought was for my ten-year-old son. Then I worried about how my poor old mother would cope with the news. And then, and I’m not kidding, I thought – what about...

A weekend of unseasonably warm weather is upon us lucky few down in the England's southern portion, and not a moment too soon. I hope you all get a chance to enjoy some of it, to take in a little nature and maybe follow in the footsteps of the romantics (that’s what this week’s IP is about: http://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip ), but even if you’re stuck somewhere that's still obeying traditional seasonal rules, take a moment to breathe...

This is one of the few films that trump the book, in this case Ken Kessey’s, and was a critical and box office success. I’ve seen it a few times and the script and the performances still shine. It’s a simple premise: Randle Patrick (Mac)McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) takes on the world, which is quite a mouthful, but he’s got quite a mouth. He’s inside for the statutory rape of a fifteen-year-old girl and other offenses, none of which he found...

It's the last day of February, and we're already sliding into something like spring - although it's still wetter and colder and darker than any kind of spring I want any part of. But it keeps bringing us stories and poems, more and more of them. There's enough good writing on ABCtales, I realise, to keep a man happily reading all day every day, like old Prince Carlos of Viana. We have some good news, as ABCer Akanbi - Samuel Aina - publishes his...

The problem with autobiographical books is the writer appears before the procurator fiscal of memory and cheerfully admits to everything. Oh, that was me. Oh, that was me too. Yep, I was guilty of that. Convenient fictions become facts. Galloway uses old photos to ground her memories. She grew up in postwar Saltcoats a seaside town popular with holidaymakers in 1950s Scotland. Her mother thought it was the menopause, but it was Janice. Her...

Well we have some fantastic picks for you this week! Our story of the week is an ABC debut, from new author TFH. ‘The Late Bus’ is a sophisticated and psychologically charged story about a middle-aged autistic man taking his aging mother on a trip to Lancaster. When she dies he is unable to feel any emotion – and the work that results is a fascinated window into a different kind of mind. An outstanding debut and the first, I hope of many: http...

Kate Millett wrote The Loony Bin Trip at the rue de Seine between 1982 and 1985. She questioned whether ‘they were right after all. My own mind was too dangerous.’ They are the medical establishment, the pharmaceutical companies, the police, the government, all the outsiders. But what makes it tragic was the collusion of all the insiders too. She follows in the path of R.D Laing Madness comes from the family and Thomas Szasz, madness is...

Exciting news this week, as another ABCtales member publishes her work! Christine Hamill's 'B is for Breast Cancer' is now out with Hachette - have a look, like the page, share it with your friends and buy a copy: https://www.hachette.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9780349401348 Christine's promised to share her story in a special guest blog that won't be long in coming - so watch this space for more about her work. But for now I'll turn to picks...

Away from Her (2006) on BBC iPlayer, written and directed by Sarah Polley, based on the short story by Alice Munro ‘The Bear Came over the Mountain’. As a writing exercise we were once asked to think about adapting a short story into a potential script. I chose a little known Turgnev story as a jumping off point. You could say if it was a currant bun it still had half of a currant in it. Polley keeps most of the currants and most of the bun. She...