Insertponceyfrenchnamehere's blog

Delighted to say that our very own Coolhermit (Rick Gammon) has made the Poetry Shortlist for the King Lear Prizes! Read all about it here:

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 11 Sep 2020 Really enjoyed reading the many wonderful and interesting pieces on ABC Tales this week! Story of the Week is the first chapter of Kilb50's brilliant four-parter 'Brewster's Way', the tale of an only child who decides to take on God. Immensely readable and witty, the story as a whole has been one of the highlights of my week. Do follow the links to all the parts! https://www.abctales.com/story/kilb50/...

Our Story and Poem for the month of August have very kindly been chosen by hudsonmoon: August proved itself difficult—as usual. Hot and sticky and sprinkled with a most uncomfortable political climate. Throw Covid-19 into the mix, shake vigorously, then pour yourself a tall glass of Why Did I Even Get Out of Bed this Morning? But I have to say that the writers around here never fail to pump a lot of heart and soul back into the atmosphere. That...

It's always great to share good news, so when I saw this today I thought it definitely deserved a place on our front page. Our very own Ewan has just found out he's made it to the long list for the 2020 Poetry Book Awards! You can read about it here: http://www.poetrybookawards.co.uk/winners-2020/ Published by Cerasus Press, 'Last night I Met John Adcock' can be bought here: https://tinyurl.com/y3qu9oaa (Amazon link) Big congratulations to Ewan...

Gaia's Angry Daughter is a new collection by Sylvia Clare - sylviec on ABCTales. Here's what she says about it: 'My new volume of poetry focusses on nature and the politics of unkindness to humans and climate alike, ecocide. But as well i celebrate the beauty of nature and how it influences me through the year, how important it is to us all and how much love is at the heart of everything, or should be. When it is not then things go wrong and...

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 28 Aug 2020 Lots of marvellous writing on the site again this week and, of course, our first Zoom reading event! Many, many thanks to all the wonderful writers who came to read and listen - the variety of voices and material was a complete joy. And a special thank-you to Mark Burrow, who organised it all and compered on the night. One comment referred to our Poem of the Week as 'stonkingly good', and I can think of no...

You can never have too much brilliance on show and that's why we've taken the decision to extend our Virtual Reading Night by thirty minutes. We want to ensure we give you the opportunity to hear and see the fabulous poets and writers who have put themselves forward to share their work. So, we’ll now be running from 7:00pm to 9:00pm GMT+1 (There will be a short break in the middle). It’s been so great to have you come forward and we don’t want...

News just in from Mark Burrow: I’m delighted to say the list of readers is building up for our Virtual Reading Night on the 27 th – 19:00 to 20:30 (GMT+1). We have brilliance on display in the form of Onemorething, Drew Gummerson, Sean McNulty, Rhiannonw, Mark Say, lavadis, hudsonmoon, Philip Sidney, noo, airyfairy and Simon Barget. More to be confirmed shortly. Yes, we’re doing it by Zoom. Yes, that means it’s a video call and yes that means we...

Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 14 Aug 2020 We're having a heatwave - a tropical heatwave and it seems to be doing wonders for your writing if not the garden. Story of the week goes to a wonderfully wry, dry safety warning on modern living - Simon Barget's suitably hot: The Flames, The Flames: https://www.abctales.com/story/simon-barget/flames-flames Poem of the week goes to something more cooling, the gorgeous Departure of Nightjars by...

I'm taking a short break from melting in the heat to bring you this week's picks: Big congratulations to onemorething for 'to my imaginary child' which has stayed with me ever since I first read it, and the same to drew_gummerson for his wonderful three parter 'Artur and Guillaume' - and if the words three and parter put you off, don't let them - it's an immersive read which hums along at a snappy pace. Conversely, if the idea of three parts...