Blogs

Neal Ascherson (2017) The Death of the Fronsac.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 26 Dec 2022

Historians that buy into the great-man theory of history learn how to write fiction. Look no further than the moron’s moron and 45 th American President. That kind of stuff writes itself. Neal Ascherson isn’t that kind of historian or that kind of journalist. Wars are won by women and men doing their best while knowing that something bigger than them is happening. The story begins in Greenock on the banks of the Clyde. Gateway to the Atlantic,...

Ali Millar (2022) The Last Days. A memoir of faith, desire and freedom.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 25 Dec 2022

Memoirs are made-up stories based on a subjective version of truth. But if you are a Jehovah Witness the only truth worth knowing comes from the Bible. The literal words of God. Ali Millar’s mum was a Jehovah Witness in the same way I was brought up a Roman Catholic. She was brought up in the truth, but she couldn’t keep up the lie. Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit coming-of-age drama shone brightly. It illuminated the truth...

My Old School, BBC Scotland, BBC iPlayer, Animation Director Rory Lowe, Director Jono McLeod.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 24 Dec 2022

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001gf5s/my-old-school ‘The subject of this film does not want to show his face.’ But we’re shown it anyway, in animation, in media coverage of the aftermath of the event. Seventeen-year-old Brandon Lee enrolled in Bearsden Academy in 1993. He wanted to become a doctor. You get a lot of doctors in Bearsden and dentists and their middle-and-upper-middle class ilk. Brandon Lee’s father was apparently a doctor...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 23 Dec 2022

Happy Christmas all. May you be safe, warm and well-fed. Wonderful writing as always to make choices from. And though neither of my choices are at all seasonal, they are both excellent pieces of writing. Story of the Week is Leander42’s Jordan Gravette. This is Part 1, but Part 2 is also up on the site now too. https://www.abctales.com/story/leander42/jordan-gravette-part-1-6 Poem of the Week must be Ewan’s deeply moving poem, ‘Hereafter’. https...

Mark Burrows (2022) Coo

Posted by celticman on Tue, 20 Dec 2022

https://tinyurl.com/4a46jtek On page 5 of the foreword, author Mark Burrows tells the reader, ‘the following is a work of fiction’, and whatever Kafka was thinking, people don’t turn into pigeons, but Tories are still cunts. Realism begins with truth. He might not have used those exact words. I might be factional with his realities. Anger at the fuck-you world we’re forced to live in. Shit trickles down doctrines of Tory policy makers, you...

That Christmas Thing!

Posted by philwhiteland on Tue, 20 Dec 2022

There's definitely something about Christmas that encourages me to write stories a little more often than I would normally. I suppose it helps that the subject matter more or less suggests itself! That, and the fact that, by and large, people are generally in a good mood and looking to be entertained. With this in mind, I usually aim to publish at least a couple of Christmas-themed stories in the run-up to the main event. This year, I challenged...

November Spider Night

Posted by Ray Schaufeld on Mon, 19 Dec 2022

Christmas tinsel overhead I go for free food and questionprobes To the Minted Methodist Church. The to the scrag end of Denise Moulds Social worker ukulele group Where no one knows the trad tune 'four strong winds' I grab instrument tuning key of irony Singing turning to the main crowd in the bigger room 'we all love Denise'. I walk to the bus stop bussses all spent, homeward went so on ward to my peace shop in New Bridge Street Yankee folkie...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 16 Dec 2022

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 16 Dec 2022 Reading the week's new work on ABC is always a cheering antidote to the current 'cold snap' we're having in the UK. Thanks to all those who have posted such wonderful stuff over the last seven days. Story of the Week goes to ethancrane's brilliantly surreal and funny 'Your Mutual Aid Hourly Pay Insults My Intelligence'. Like all the best surreal writing, it has at least one toe firmly planted in reality,...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 16 Dec 2022

Reading the week's new work on ABC is always a cheering antidote to the current 'cold snap' we're having in the UK. Thanks to all those who have posted such wonderful stuff over the last seven days. Story of the Week goes to ethancrane's brilliantly surreal and funny 'Your Mutual Aid Hourly Pay Insults My Intelligence'. Like all the best surreal writing, it has at least one toe firmly planted in reality, and there is nothing in it that seems...

Coo by ABCTales' Mark Burrow - Available Now! Includes Review

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Wed, 14 Dec 2022

I am more than delighted to announce the publication of ABCTales' very own Mark Burrow's first novella, Coo. Here's a review from Airyfairy: Anyone anxious that Mark Burrow’s highly inventive ‘Pigeon Variations’ might have lost something in its restructuring to novella length for publication need not worry. The new version, ‘Coo’, is sharper, funnier and more insightful than ever. The book’s nameless narrator is trapped in several cycles of...

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