insertponceyfrenchnamehere's blog

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...

Our Story and Poem for the month of July, very kindly chosen by Ewan: This month's increase in membership has provided a surge in quantity and a significant "up-tick" in quality. There is a great deal of quality prose and poetry available. July's Story of the Month is Pins (2020), by Stephen Thom. an atmospheric and disturbing longer multi-part piece that could easily turn out to be the next published novel from an ABC writer, if publishing ever...

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 31 Jul 2020 Just as we thought it was safe to come out a little bit more...it seems as though some of us at least are going to have to retreat again. I do hope everyone out there is keeping safe and well. Don't forget our Virtual ABC Reading Night on August 27th - all details and instructions are here: https://www.abctales.com/blog/insertponceyfrenchnamehere/virtual-reading-night Our Story of the Week is this episode...

Very excited to announce ABCTales' very first virtual reading night! It will be taking place via Zoom on August 27th at 7pm BST and we would love to see as many of you as possible, either as readers or members of the audience. You must register or you won't be allowed in, and obviously we only have limited space for readers so please let us know ASAP if you want a place. All instructions here: tZAlde2grjkiHtc1Y5U4C-2goW5MmyWi5O26 Huge thanks to...

Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 17 Jul 2020 It's been a happily productive week on the site annd we're fortunate to have a number of new writers joining us - welcome one and all! I don't know about you, but I'm yearning for pastures new. The evocative poem from Coolhermit takes us on some armmchair travel that may satisfy that itch - with a trip back in time and 'in Nepal' - it's our poem of the week: https://www.abctales.com/story/coolhermit/...

Well, first of all I have to tell you that the editors had a virtual reading event last night over Zoom. Very kindly suggested, and organised by Mark Burrow, it was a wild success with readers from all over the world. In fact, it was so good that we are definitely going to go ahead with a Main Event for everyone, so keep your eyes peeled for the announcement! It should be sometime next month and will be especially good for all the lovely...

Our Story and Poem for the Month of June have very kindly been chosen by Philip Sidney: I thought I knew exactly which two pieces I would pick for this month – but thought I’d better have a proper read through of the month’s offering - and dug up a treasure trove. Thank you so much to all of our contributors for a wonderful few hours of reading! I have remained with my original choices but I have so many additional recommendations too! Poem of...

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 03 Jul 2020 No apologies for the fact that Story of the Week is actually a series. Stephen Thom's marvellous 'Pins' goes from strength to strength. The first beautifully written part will draw you in to the story - follow the links to the subsequent parts and you'll find yourself somewhere you never expected to be: https://www.abctales.com/story/stephen-thom/pins-1-0 Poem of the Week is Ralph's 'Nineteen and the...

Posted by Philip Sidney on Sat, 20 Jun 2020 One thing about this glitch in our history is that it's given us tme to reflect. The two picks for this week are excellent aids to our own mullings. Story of the week goes to Error_404's deeply poignant, Memory Lake: https://www.abctales.com/story/error404/memory-lake Poem of the week goes to littleditty's inventive prose poem, This Year's Walk: https://www.abctales.com/story/littleditty/years-walk08...