insertponceyfrenchnamehere's blog

Fashionably late this week, and with grateful thanks for all the wonderful pieces you've posted here are my choices for Story and Poem of the Week: Story of the Week goes to Sean McNulty for Plenilune which is a piece of magical brilliance: https://www.abctales.com/story/sean-mcnulty/plenilune Poem of the Week goes to Rhiannnonw for her beautiful and lyrical reminder of the circle of time, Circling: https://www.abctales.com/story/rhiannonw/...

These are the final Picks of the Week before Christmas so I've put some lights up to make things a bit festive! I'd also like to wish you a happy Christmas and to say a very big thank you to all ABCTalers, especially the lovely editors for giving up their time to help make ABCTales what it is. We have had such a wonderful selection of prose this week it's been exceptionally hard to choose one in particular. I have two honourable mentions:...

Posted by onemorething: This week's Story of the Week is beanzie's My Dinosaur Era - pick any chapter. It's great writing and am really enjoying reading along. https://www.abctales.com/story/beanzie/my-dinosaur-era-chapter-44 This week's Poem of the Week is VeraClark's brilliant Variable. https://www.abctales.com/story/veraclark/variable This week's Inspiration Point is here: https://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip Wishing you all winter...

With grateful thanks to Turlough, here are the ABCTales Picks of the Month for November: ABC Tales Story and Poem of the Month for November 2025 With such a wonderful array of excellent writing to choose from, November was a month in which our busy and talented writers maintained the usual high standard, so picking out a story and a poem of the month was quite a task but one that I enjoyed. I’ve always had good feelings from being part of this...

A dead bookmaker. A rushed verdict. Inspector Crowe isn’t buying it. When a celebrity bookie washes up on the Dublin coast, Garda Inspector P.J. Crowe is dragged into a violent world of dog fights, crypto crime, and powerful men who want the truth buried. The Payout Game is gritty Irish noir for fans of Stuart MacBride and Tana French — fast, atmospheric, and impossible to put down. The Payout Game is now available for pre-order on Amazon!...

Posted by airyfairy December certainly seems to be bringing out the creativity in ABC Talers! There's been some wonderful stuff on the site this week. It's always a joy to read Turlough's letters from Bulgaria, and this week's cracker of a missive,'Papa's Got a Brand New Chainsaw', is our Story of the Week. Note to author: when are we going to see these collected in a book?? Papa’s Got a Brand New Chainsaw | ABCtales When we're struggling with...

Posted by airyfairy. Thank you, everyone for some amazing stuff this week! Story of the Week goes to SoulFire77's opening part of 'Lily'. It brilliantly manages the complex and difficult task of being ever so quietly very disturbing.. You'll be glad to know, once you've been completely drawn into the story and you're hooked, that there are more parts posted on the site, and the promise of more to come! Lily (A Prologue) | ABCtales Poem of the...

Thank you all so much for your wonderful contributions to our site this week. My choices are as follows: Poem of the Week is Jane Hyphen's brilliant 'The World is Closed' which is particularly apt for this time of the year: https://www.abctales.com/story/jane-hyphen/world-closed Story of the Week goes to Sean McNulty for today's part from his work in progress 'The Discharge'. It reads perfectly well as a stand alone and has one of the best and...

Posted by onemorething: This week's Poem of the Week is the timely, astute and excellent poem from Ewan, Land of Hope and Fury. https://www.abctales.com/story/ewan/land-hope-and-fury This week's Story of the Week is Caldwell's unsettling and brilliantly written tale, The Second Shadow. https://www.abctales.com/story/caldwell/second-shadow There was an abundance of great prose on the site this week too. From Turlough - will happily read anything...

I'm very pleased to announce that Katherine Black (our very own Sooz Simpson) has just published Xion Island Zero, the sixth in her Inspector Nash series. Here's a review by celticman and a link to buy: Xion Island Zero is the sixth in the Inspector Nash series. You don’t need to know much about Nash as each book is a standalone. Five serial killers down. One to go. What remains consistent is place—Barrow (where the author lives). Nash also has...