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Many thanks to Mark Say for taking the time to pick his favourite story and poem from December - and a Happy New Year to all! Here we go with the picks of the month. Poem - Have You Seen My Sister? by Jane Hyphen https://www.abctales.com/story/jane-hyphen/have-you-seen-my-sister An entertaining and moving combination of whimsy, clever alliteration and a sense of having lost a treasured relationship. It conveys a reflection on someone close who...

Such a horrible year for losses, not least among them two of our own lovely and very talented ABCtalers - Julia (overthetop1) and Deb (Bee). So I will light a candle to them both tonight with gratitude for all they did for our community. And then onto 2017 which I very much hope will be a good deal better than this one. Happy New Year to you all! xx

Story of the Week is something that's stayed with me since I first read it, so that was a no-brainer, however Poem of the Week has been really difficult, and if there were a method of splitting it three ways I definitely would. Big congratulations to Pingles for 'The invisible hand' and to Rosa Cruz for 'And Lie Beneath' - and two very honourable mentions for Bear's 'Thoughts From the Kitchen' and Philip Sidney's 'Boy in a Bedroom' https://www...

Two brilliant pieces get my pick this week - 'Five Go To Happy Island' by Jed and Alun (with a little help from Terrence Oblong) and 'I'm sure there used to be birdsong' by Ledru who is a very welcome new member: https://www.abctales.com/story/jed-and-alun/five-go-happy-island https://www.abctales.com/story/ledru/im-sure-there-used-be-birdsong Don't forget - if you have any recommendations for either our Inspiration Point or our daily picks,...

Huge thanks to Kevin Buckle (parsonthru) for this month's picks: I’ve enjoyed reading the picks of the week for November, which has produced an eclectic set of pieces. Please see my notes below. In terms of selection – always a subjective choice – it was difficult to choose from strong and memorable contenders. For Poem of the Month, it’s difficult to separate seashore’s “ Blue ” with its matter-of-factness in the face of grievous serial...

A message from Ewan: 'Just received Author's complimentary copies of Gibbous House, which began life on here many years ago. Thanks to all who encouraged me in those early days' You can pre-order your copy here (and ABCTales gets a cut from every copy!): http://tinyurl.com/zsyct3c

We have been inundated with wonderful pieces on ABCTales this week - poetry especially. Do please keep it up, it's such a pleasure to read it all. Big congratulations to seashore for 'Blue' (if you aren't one of the 327 people who've already read it, please do so), and the same to celticman for 'the war to end all wars' who incidentally is giving a reading in Dalmuir tomorrow from his brilliant first novel. Details here: http://tinyurl.com/...

These have been a bit erratic lately but should be all up and working now. If anyone's still having problems please let me know in a comment below - thanks!

Story and Poem of the Month for October, chosen by another of our lovely and generous editors: As always there was an awe-inspiring pool of great posts and talent to draw from. Many congratulations to everyone who has posted in October and made the choice so difficult. For poem of the month, I'm picking Branwell Clinic by Julia (Overthetop1), a very talented contributor to ABCtales, sadly no longer with us. The poem was posted by Julia's mother...

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