Blogs

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 08 Dec 2023

As we lurch towards Christmas and the music whenever you step into a shop becomes more and more raucous, ABCTales is such an oasis of creativity in which to take a pause. Thank you all so much for being a part of it I have a couple of very honourable mentions for you first this week - Turlough's 100 words a day This Sort of Thing is an absolute pleasure to read, and Rhiannonw's walk Up to the Hoar Frost an icy delight. Do read them: https://www...

Walrussey by Bex Hainsworth (ABCTales Poet Mistaken Magic)

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Wed, 06 Dec 2023

Well this definitely deserves a place on our front page: Bex Hainsworth who wrote on ABCTales as Mistaken Magic has published her first poetry anthology. Not only that, but one of the poems in the collection, ‘An Octopus Picks Litter at the End of the World’ has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize by her publisher, The Black Cat Poetry Press. Very big congratulations to her! I'm sure most of you won't remember me, but this site was such an...

Three Faces, BBC 4, BBC iPlayer, written, directed and produced by Jafar Panahi

Posted by celticman on Tue, 05 Dec 2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001swt5/three-faces https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001swt5#credits This is one of those films I watched which I didn’t really enjoy. For some reason I believed it would be cartoonish. I was thinking of something or somebody else. But it was a conventional film. I’m not sure certain why it was called Three Faces? Perhaps three faces of Iran (I’m not sure what they are either). I’ll do what I usually do...

Who's Aldo by Colin Burnett - Out Now!

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Tue, 05 Dec 2023

Who's Aldo? by ABCTales writer Colin Burnett is published by Tippermuir Books and avaiable now! Link to order and wonderful review by Ewan Lawrie below: Who’s Aldo? By Colin Burnett I first came across Colin Burnett on the writing site ABCTales.com, where an early draft of Aldo’s first outing. ‘A Working Class State of Mind’ was available to read for a while. As I recall many members were stunned by the authentic, vibrant voice(s) in the writing...

Story and Poem of the Month

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 03 Dec 2023

Our Story and Poem for the month of November, very kindly chosen by Sean McNulty: STORY AND POEM OF THE MONTH As we reach the foot of the year, it falls on me to choose work from the month of November, a task which is always difficult, no matter how clichéd a line that is. Poem of the Month goes to rhyme-master Luigi Pagano for Total Quality Management. Even with serious subjects such as climate change or in this case the plight of the worker,...

Newcastle Noir 2023 - December. One week to go when I meet up with my tribe

Posted by Robert Craven on Sat, 02 Dec 2023

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/84d0324158.html?fbclid=IwAR3dWB7JCVQnTbz9L... One week to go! Normally, I wouldn't post anything about an author event, but this appearance, flying in from Dublin to this event is literally three years in the making. I met the festival director, Dr Jacky Collins in 2019 at the Bloody Scotland Festival in Stirling. I was part of the final group of authors selected to pitch to a panel of editors and industry...

Christmas Present

Posted by philwhiteland on Fri, 01 Dec 2023

As today (1st December) marks the start of the official countdown to Christmas, I'm making my Christmas book (Kindle version), 'A Christmas Cracker' FREE for one day only. Apart from an alternative version of the Nativity and a wry take on those 'round robin' Christmas cards we all get, you'll also find some tales of my Christmas Past and the first ever Josiah and Archibald Christmas story. Grab it while you can, ho, ho, ho! https://getbook.at/...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 01 Dec 2023

Posted by airyfairy As always, some wonderful writing on the site this week, a very welcome antidote to the winter weather. Story of the Week is Simon Barget's 'Us and Them'. There's a lot of snappy answers being offered to things going on in the world at the moment, but this piece offers thoughts on the heartbreaking complexity, nuances and stumbling humanity of it all. The deep sadness of the final paragraph stayed with me for a long time...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 01 Dec 2023

As always, some wonderful writing on the site this week, a very welcome antidote to the winter weather. Story of the Week is Simon Barget's 'Us and Them'. There's a lot of snappy answers being offered to things going on in the world at the moment, but this piece offers thoughts on the heartbreaking complexity, nuances and stumbling humanity of it all. The deep sadness of the final paragraph stayed with me for a long time. Thanks to Simon for...

Megan Nolan (2023) Ordinary Human Failings.

Posted by celticman on Thu, 30 Nov 2023

Write what you know. Megan Nolan writes about Waterford, where she was brought up. And London where she moved to. But it’s London 1990. Nolan would be a toddler. A child has been reported missing and later found dead. ‘Down below in Skyler Square the trouble was passing quickly from door to door, mothers telling mothers, not speaking aloud but somehow saying : baby gone, bad man, wild animal. ’ James Bulger 1993 is the classic case. But google...

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