Blogs

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 24 May 2024

Firstly some rather sombre news. Yesterday we had to cancel the account of someone who continued to post AI assisted writing despite numerous warnings. We rarely ban users and it’s always a sad moment for us so if you’re thinking of trying AI please remember that this is an AI free site and it will result in you losing your account. We do check things very carefully and all the editors are consulted before such a decision is made. On a brighter...

Jonathan Haidt (2024) The Anxious Generation. How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 20 May 2024

When I was a kid, late sixties and early seventies, most of us watched the same programmes on telly . Jackanory when we were younger. Then Blue Peter . These were the kind of programmes parents would have approved. Educational and entertainment. It was part of the remit of BBC to provide for both. STV, later ITV, had Magpie . It tried to mimic Blue Peter , with the catchy tag: ‘Why Don’t You Go Outside and Do Something Far More Interesting...

Angela Carter (2006 [1979]) The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 19 May 2024

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Carter Angela Carter died at the relatively young age of 51 in 1992. I’ve been digging up her legacy. I started with Night at the Circus . Life is wonderful and horrific. And if you scratch the surface, magic happens. Heroes are heroines. As they are in the Bloody Chamber. I didn’t find out until later it was meant to be a retelling of The Bluebeard Story. Carter’s heroines are innocents abroad, crossing the...

READING EVENT - THANK YOU

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 19 May 2024

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to our reading event last night. The rest of the world may be going down the plughole but ABCTales reading events are still fabulous. No-one had a dodgy connection or any microphone malfunctions which I think was a first! We heard some old favourites and some new unpublished work and every single piece was a gem. It was a brilliant evening! Thank you to our exceptionally talented readers...

Clouds Sand Foam

Posted by memphis on Sat, 18 May 2024

Clouds Sand Foam The once invisible clouds now materialize. On, to a pristine deep blue sky now encroaching and threatening cloud sand floaters, imprint in consciousness with a mood that. Such omnipresence seems to move in slow motion. She reappears visibly as once seen to the unseen. Caught in a glimpse, then fades with attention, aimlessly taking new shapes and foams. How these clouds float with water in them, behind the half-quarter moon. At...

Teresa Henderson 27th September 1953—8th May 2024.

Posted by celticman on Tue, 14 May 2024

Recently, I said to Teresa that I had to keep correcting myself. It was no longer Jimmy and Teresa—Jimmy had died at the end of June 2023—it was just Teresa. A flicker of a smile, but she was quick to correct me. ‘It’ll always be Jimmy and Teresa,’ she said. ‘Always.’ I guess it is again. She’s buoyed herself up during his long illness. In and out of the chemists. Up and down Singers Road carrying messages. She’d carried him to the end. With...

Poem and Story of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 10 May 2024

Finally, sunshine. This week's Story of the Week is purplehaze's 'Sounds Like They're Saying Words' - it's wonderful and I heartily approve of all dawns and birdsong. https://www.abctales.com/story/purplehaze/sounds-theyre-saying-words This week's Poem of the Week is Ralph's poem, The Rower. Brilliant use of language and also the basis of our new Inspiration Point. https://www.abctales.com/story/ralph/rower-after-philip-larkin%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%...

Story and Poem of the Month

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 05 May 2024

Our Story and Poem of the Month for April, very kindly chosen by Drew Gummerson An honour, as always, and a pleasure, to be the one doing the Picks of the Month. I’ll be brief. So here we go. Story. I like it when people place their continuing stories here on ABCTales and we are blessed this month to have two by two of our outstanding talents. Jane Hyphen’s Parcel for You continues to impress. https://www.abctales.com/story/jane-hyphen/parcel-...

Dopesick (2021), BBC 2, BBC iPlayer, produced by Danny Strong based on the book by Beth Macy, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America.

Posted by celticman on Fri, 03 May 2024

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m001ys7b/dopesick?seriesId=m001ys7c I already knew the story of the Sackler family, having read and reviewed Patrick Reeden Keefe (2021) Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Family. https://odonnellgrunting.wordpress.com/2021/12/31/patrick-radden-keefe-2021-empire-of-pain-the-secret-history-of-the-sackler-dynasty/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackler_family Greed has consequences. This eight-...

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