Insertponceyfrenchnamehere's blog

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,...

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...

And even more good news for ABCTalers! Two of our poets, marandina and onemorething have had their work included in the Black Bough Winter and Christmas Poetry Anthology The editor of the anthology is Matthew MC Smith who is a tireless promoter of new and emerging poets. This annual offering is a labour of love that he spends most of the year compiling. The final product is a thing of beauty. There are over 125 poets who have contributed with...

Some lovely news to share with you! Our very own onemorething has been nominated TWICE for the prestigious Pushcart Prize which you can read about in the link below. The two poems are Hoar Frost and :Dutch Elm Disease which I believe were both first published on ABCTales. http://pushcartprize.com/index.html Big congratulations to her!

I am very pleased to announce that Phil Whiteland who posts his brilliant Bring Out Your Dead stories on ABCTales and has more cherries than an actual cherry tree, has a podcast out! You can listen to an episode of A Dubious Legacy here: https://yorickradioproductions.com/listen-to-our-latest-episodes/ Philip is very pleased with the way they've interpreted his characters so I am sure we will be too and if you haven't read any of his work I can...

Posted by onemorething: Another week of great writing on the site. Some wonderful stories; I especially loved monodemo's sweet tale of mice, but also Jane's ongoing brilliant, Parcel for You. I should mention celticman's Love Story too. Overall, however, my favourite story and Story of the Week is the very gentle tale from Monodemo. You can read it here if you haven't already. https://www.abctales.com/story/monodemo/party As for poetry, it was...

We have some brilliant works in progress running at the moment. I'd especially like to higlight Love Story by celticman, Parcel For You by Jane Hyphen and Murmuration by Vincent Burgess. If, like me, it's cold and wintery where you live, then I can thoroughly recommend them all: https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/love-story-17 https://www.abctales.com/story/vincent-burgess/murmuration-chapter-21-part-1-1992 https://www.abctales.com/story/...

Our Story and Poem of the Month for October have very kindly been chosen by Turlough. Here's what he says: ABC Tales Story and Poem of the Month for October I was delighted to be picked from a membership of thousands as the person to choose our Poem of the Month and Story of the Month for October. In a normal month I usually read most of the work that members post on our site but this month I think I can say I have read just about everything...

Posted by airyfairy As the days get shorter and the nights get longer and Storm Whatever-It-Is-This-Week rages outside, it's great to have some wonderful stories and poems to read, and ABC never disappoints. Story of the Week is another of celticman's brilliant slices of life, with vivd characters and an acutely observed setting. You'll be standing in this kitchen and smelling those chips: Love Story 12 | ABCtales Poem of the Week is Di Hard's...

Posted by onemorething: Some incredible poetry and prose on the site this week again which always makes these choices difficult. There are some great tales this week and such variety, from Sim's The Hall of Glass Coffins to the very evocative latest chapter of Vincent Burgess' Alien Murmuration. https://www.abctales.com/story/sim/hall-glass-coffins https://www.abctales.com/story/vincent-burgess/alien-murmuration-chapter-20-summer-1992 However,...