Blogs

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point 17 Mar 2023

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 17 Mar 2023

Posted by Ewan on Fri, 17 Mar 2023 An interesting week this one. The prose side of things was exceptionally difficult due to some fantastic writing by quite a few different people. Celticman’s Schmooze Control was a snarling, vivid piece that must have been as cathartic to write as it was to read . Mark Say’s A Man Called Malcolm was as good as any short story has a right to be. On any other week either of these could have been Story of the Week...

An Irish Goodbye, BBC 1, BBC iPlayer, Directors Ross White and Tom Berkeley.

Posted by celticman on Tue, 14 Mar 2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001k2z5/an-irish-goodbye An Irish Goodbye is an award-winning short film. The plot is simple. An Irish mammy dies and her two boys need to arrange her funeral. Turlough, the older brother, returns from London to sell the farm and to make sure Lorcan is taken care of. He assumes his younger brother will go and live with his Auntie because he’s got Down’s syndrome. An extra chromosome doesn’t stop Lorcan...

Gary Lineker’s Tweet and Match of the Day.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 13 Mar 2023

Tweet in response to the Tory government’s stop the boats propaganda: “immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”. The BBC back down, eventually. I’m a traditionalist, an old football-watching generation. We read the newspaper from the back pages to the front. The most important thing is my team, Celtic’s results. A Scottish team, built by Brother...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point (and a couple of other things!)

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 10 Mar 2023

Posted by airyfairy Firstly, just a reminder about the ABCTales Virtual Reading Night, hosted by Mark Burrow, on 1 April. If you haven't yet, please do email rachel@abctales.com (link sends e-mail) to reserve your place, with both your user name and real name. These events are always friendly, supportive and great fun, and it's lovely to see and hear new readers. Or just come along to be part of the audience! You can see the original...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point (and a couple of other things!)

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 10 Mar 2023

Firstly, just a reminder about the ABCTales Virtual Reading Night, hosted by Mark Burrow, on 1 April. If you haven't yet, please do email rachel@abctales.com to reserve your place, with both your user name and real name. These events are always friendly, supportive and great fun, and it's lovely to see and hear new readers. Or just come along to be part of the audience! There's always new challenges to running this kind of site, and the latest...

Kathy Burke: Growing Up, Channel 4, All4, Written, Presented and Produced by Kathy Burke.

Posted by celticman on Thu, 09 Mar 2023

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/kathy-burke-growing-up Kathy Burke and me are around the same age. We belong to the UB40 generation of Red, Red Wine and I am the 1 in 10 . Now we are the 1 in 5 growing like a cancerous cell. We belong to a vanguard army that plays a leading role in dementia and death, and most other things you’d rather not think about. Over 9 in 10 Covid deaths belonged to our age group. I didn’t vote for being old. I didn’t...

We Need To Talk About AI - Please Read

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Thu, 09 Mar 2023

It's come to our attention that AI is being used by some of our members. I've discussed this with our trustees, editors and directors and we are all in agreement that ABCTales isn't the place for it. We will be updating our Terms of Use to reflect this shortly, but in the meantime just don't! If anything is published on our site using AI we will require it to be removed within 24 hours. This is a creative writing site and we love reading what...

Betsy Lerner (2017) The Bridge Ladies.

Posted by celticman on Wed, 08 Mar 2023

Betsy Lerner (2017) The Bridge Ladies. A writer’s job is to remember. I’d a dream that I was staying in Betty Lerner’s house in New York, but it was Clydebank outside. I don’t know what she looks like. Nor does it matter. Most meetings I have are on the page. I write a blog with a handful of followers. I read one of her blogs and she asked a question about favourite books (that’s a hook so you’ll come back again). I typed in the classic, Growing...

We Need to Talk About Cosby, BBC 2, BBC iPlayer, Writer and Director W Kamau Bell.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 06 Mar 2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001jw7l/we-need-to-talk-about-cosby-series-1-episode-1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0f50h4m/we-need-to-talk-about-cosby-series-1-episode-2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0f50jqx/we-need-to-talk-about-cosby-series-1-episode-3 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0f50n4g/we-need-to-talk-about-cosby-series-1-episode-4 We Need to Talk About Cosby is a play on the title of Lionel Shriver’s...

Story and Poem of the Month

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 05 Mar 2023

Our Story and Poem of the Month for February have very kindly been chosen by marandina: Spring is in the air, winter now behind us after a tricky few months for many, what with the cost of living crisis, the ongoing war in Ukraine and other issues at home and abroad. A bright ball of sun in a blue sky remains the writing oasis at ABCTales.com. It was lovely to be asked back to choose the monthly picks for February. It meant I could masquerade as...

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