scratch's blog

I’m delighted to be able to pass on the news concerning the Poem and Story of the Month award for November 2015: Poem of the Month goes to Johnshade for ‘Autumn.’ A love affair told with startling and visceral beauty, a truly poetic insight into desire, the words arranged with such care and precision that it breathes a life on the page. http://www.abctales.com/story/johnshade/autumn Story of the Month goes to Culturehero for ‘into the grey...

Lisa Hinsley is a prodigiously talented writer and an inspirational woman. I'm delighted to announce that her piece Child is our story of the week: http://www.abctales.com/story/lisa-h/child Pat G has written a memorable poem packed with spirituality. There are so many ways to interpret this piece. It's a beauty: Muse This week's inspiration point is "Look beneath the surface". The loosest interpretation is encouraged. Good luck! Have a great...

Whilst Elliot’s Prufrock might have measured out his life in coffee spoons it sometimes feels like I’m measuring mine out in story and poem of the week announcements. Thankfully stories and poems are far better and more beautiful things to measure ones temporality by than coffee spoons – especially when they’re as good as this week's winners, so I’m certainly not complaining. The poem of the week belongs to Bee for her brilliant Poetry Monthly...

The gate's unlocked!!!

The reading list is now closed ABCtales R eading E vent Date: Wednesday 11th November 2015 Venue: The Wheatsheaf Address: 25, Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 1JB Time: 18:30 for a 19:00 start Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road Link to the venue: The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London ... The reading list is now closed The countdown to Wednesday has now officially begun. This is shaping up to be a fantastic evening if the...

There's one reading slot left. First-come, first-served. Following on from the roaring success in Nottingham (tha nks, VeraClark) the next ABCtales R eading E vent has been organised. Here are the details: Date: Wednesday 11th November, 2015 Venue: The Wheatsheaf Address: 25, Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 1JB Time: 18:30 for a 19:00 start Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road Link to the venue: The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia...

ABCtales editor, Mark Say contacted me earlier in the day to pass on some much anticipated news about who and what has been awarded the story and poem of the month for October. Here's what he had to say. Story of the Month Remembering Molly by Michael SR Valentine http://www.abctales.com/story/michael-s-r-valentine/remembering-molly An evocation of two people making an emotional connection amid desperate lives in a shabby world. It provides the...

The responses to last week's inspiration point have been absolutely superb. The weekly inspiration point feature seems to be going from strength to strength which is thrilling. Please do join in with it if you haven't done so already, it really can be an awful lot of fun and definitely frees the muse. If you have any suggestions of your own for a possible IP please don't be shy and let us know what you have in mind. More on the coming week's...

Still a couple of slots left so if you'd like to read please let me know ASAP! Following on from the roaring success in Nottingham (tha nks, VeraClark) the next ABCtales R eading E vent has been organised. Here are the details: Date: Wednesday 11th November, 2015 Venue: The Wheatsheaf Address: 25, Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 1JB Time: 18:30 for a 19:00 start Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road Link to the venue: The Wheatsheaf, 25...

There has been marvelous poetry and prose submitted by so many people this week and what a pleasure it has been once again to have the privilege to read them. Thank you everyone. This week's winner of the the story of the week award goes to celticman for his gritty and wickedly funny throwpack piece: 10 Near Death Experiences (but there's only 5 NDEs because I'm still alive). The poem of the week award goes to Jane Hyphen for her gorgeous poem:...