airyfairy's blog

Castle Pillock is quiet again. I am more blessed than I deserve to be by the fact that both my kids choose to come home for Christmas, and one of them now brings his other half. I am glad of heart to have had the Princess home from Uni for the entire vacation. I am delighted beyond measure that the four of us will be together in New York next Christmas. ​ (Did I mention we’re going to New York next Christmas? I may have done. Only fair to warn...

Yet again we've had lots of really good writing on the site this week - wonderful to read and difficult to choose between. Story of the Week goes to 'Afternoon Angel' by ice rivers, a combination of memoir, tribute, and mystery, beautifully written: https://www.abctales.com/story/ice-rivers/afternoon-angel Poem of the week is 'Buttershaw, South Bradford' by ralph, which skilfully merges the everyday with a dream of a different place and a...

Maybe because it's January, the gateway of the year, looking forward and back, that we have had a particularly rich lot of contributions involving life writing and/or the construction of memory. They've been a joy to read. Story of the Week goes to Stephen Thom's 'Where The Good Things Go'. It's a complex and rewarding read or, indeed, several reads, exploring the construction of memory and reality: https://www.abctales.com/story/stephen-thom/...

It's been a brilliant week for some hard-hitting pieces. After much thought and re-reading, Story of the Week goes to well-wisher for 'A Typical Friday Night'. The quality of the writing makes every word of this story break your heart: https://www.abctales.com/story/well-wisher/typical-friday-night In complete contrast, Poem of the Week is Penny4athought's 'Sounds From The Heart'. Though not specifically about Christmas, this lovely piece sums...

Our Story of the Week is Richard Dobbs's 'The Stacks of Llandarcy', which combines social commentary with a moving account of a father and son relationship: https://www.abctales.com/story/richard-dobbs/stacks-llandarcy Poem of the Week is Well-Wisher's 'School', a piece of automatic poetry that has stayed with me since the first moment I read it: https://www.abctales.com/story/well-wisher/school%C2%A0-automatic-poem This week's Inspiration Point...

A really exciting new opportunity for ABC poets, being run by one of our most long-standing and talented contributors! Posted by Cerasus Poetry on Wed, 22 Nov 2017 Cerasus Poetry is a joint venture in association with ABCtales to assist selected members to collate, edit and publish their poetry collections as quality paperbacks and e-books, which will be available to buy from major online retailers as well as directly from Cerasus. Successful...

Poem of the Week goes to what one commenter rightly called a tour de force - Ralph's wonderful 'If I Could Take A Day'. Heartbreaking, uplifting and defiant, it really is a fantastic piece of writing: https://www.abctales.com/story/ralph/if-i-could-take-day Story of the Week is Jane Hyphen's 'Silva in Lisbon'. Part travel writing, part memoir, part meditation, it's a masterclass on how to weave a story together: https://www.abctales.com/story/...

Two very different pieces for this week's picks. Poem of the Week is PoetonaHill's 'In Cardiff Jail'. Undoubtedly bleak, it's brilliantly written and makes the reader go on to think about all sorts of things other than the original subject: https://www.abctales.com/story/poetonahill/cardiff-jail Story of the Week is 'The St Trinian's Problem', by The Other Terrence Oblong. Those already acquainted with Happy Island will know that its residents...