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Tom & Jacques Domestics

Posted by Tom Brown on Tue, 14 Apr 2026

Jacques was responsible for domestics including groceries and shopping, as well as dealings with lawyers and Mr Johan Loots. We have been almost completely isolated. I was more active in our homely affairs and internet. And little as there was too, I see to social matters and visiting with family and friends and internet, and then my chores, including all my own cleaning and washing. We saw the Lootse, other family as Rina de Klerk mostly, but...

Anna Brown's Estate

Posted by Tom Brown on Tue, 14 Apr 2026

Tom & Jacques Jacques was responsible for all the legal matters and domestics I had very little to do with it I did the social side. Mr Loots has been dodging and diving for years postponing a settlement at any cost with any possible excuse and only making promises without substantiating anything. He and other family are becoming less and less reliable. It has also become all the more difficult for us to cover other rightful personal costs...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 10 Apr 2026

Before the Picks of the Week I'd like to say a very big thank you to Penny4athought for her wonderful writing challenge which is now entering its final stretch. It's been a spectacular success and I've really enjoyed all the fabulous entries. Thanks also to the exceptional talents of all who participated: https://www.abctales.com/blog/insertponceyfrenchnamehere/new-writing-challenge-alert-pennys-pass-story Watch this space for our next challenge...

Ben Creed (2022) A Traitor’s Heart.

Posted by celticman on Tue, 07 Apr 2026

A Traitor’s Heart is the second in a trilogy of books featuring Revol Rossel, a former militia lieutenant in Stalinist Leningrad. His nemesis, Major Nitkin, who literally cut short his career as a prodigiously talented violinist in the Leningrad Conservatory by cutting off two of his fingers and mutilating others, but also has the top-level connections in the Kremlin to protect him. At the beginning of the A Traitor’s Heart , Rossel is so far...

Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Show, BBC iPlayer, directed by Jessica Dimmock,

Posted by celticman on Mon, 06 Apr 2026

Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Show, BBC iPlayer, directed by Jessica Dimmock, https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002rvt0/captive-audience-a-real-american-horror-story-series-1-episode-1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002rvt1/captive-audience-a-real-american-horror-story-series-1-episode-2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002rvt3/captive-audience-a-real-american-horror-story-series-1-episode-3 Wikipedia ‘My father was...

If You Want Joy, Real Joy, Wonderful Joy

Posted by mallisle on Mon, 06 Apr 2026

For most people, their level of happiness will depend on the things happening to them. As Christians, we have an inner happiness and peace which is there all the time, independent of our circumstances. Many Christians endured years of suffering in communist prisons. They forgot what bright colours looked like. One of them said Dante's poems and all the medieval paintings about Hell could not compare to the horrors of a communist prison...

Story and Poem of the Month

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 05 Apr 2026

Our Story and Poem of the Month for March, very kindly chosen by Di-Hard: One great thing about this month has been Penny4athought's challenge. I highly recommend each of its brilliant parts, and there are still two more opportunities to join in! https://www.abctales.com/blog/insertponceyfrenchnamehere/new-writing-cha... All of Lille Dante's pieces this month are fabulous, too many to list. Try : https://www.abctales.com/story/lille-dante/%E2%80...

Dead Letters: "The Double"

Posted by SoulFire77 on Sun, 05 Apr 2026

Filed by Fletcher Moody — Literary Correspondent In the spring of 1944, I was in Los Angeles on an assignment I have mercifully forgotten and found myself, as one does in that city, drinking alone in a restaurant I could not afford. The restaurant was Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard, which was and remains the place where screenwriters go to feel sorry for themselves in a dignified setting. I was at the bar. It was a Tuesday. The...

Roberto Saviano (2018) The Piranhas: The Boy Bosses of Naples.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 04 Apr 2026

‘The word paranaza comes from the sea’. Learning the trade. In Neapolitan dialect, paranza originally refers to a small fishing boat. Very young boys as crew, who go out at night with bright lamps to lure fish to the surface and catch them quickly. The small stuff in the bottom of the nets is thrown together and cooked in a local much- loved and cheap dish. Little fisherman become big fisherman by staying close to the shore. They are both...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 03 Apr 2026

Posted by airyfairy. Longer days at last, and slightly warmer weather, although Storm Dave can take his leave as soon as he likes. It's been a joy to read the wonderful contributions to our current writing challenge, and there's still an opportunity for you to get involved in the final two parts! This really has been a cracker of a challenge, and many thanks to Penny4athought for such a brilliant idea, and for her generosity: New Writing...

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