Your favourite piece

Thanks Bosch, and Beswetherick. Im still happy with it too, trying to resist altering it all the time though!! The clickable links, you do by placing a < at the beginning of the link you put here, and then another, in the opposite direction at the end of the link. >

(but without spaces obviously)

Kenny's Christmas Grand Two-Bit Ballroom OK, so I'll try the link thingie.

Wooohoooo! Learn something new every day!

Very good Justyn. Soon, you’ll be able to do this

Oops. Im terribly sorry. *slinks away*

PAWPAW: JULY 1935 MIKE

LOL...no idea what that was all about, but bosch seems to have done something interesting here with the pink panel to the right----->>>> *now just watch; it will disappear as soon as I post this*

uh oh..... Now it's on MY post.... *slinks away*

Wolfgirl: Having trained unicorns, and grown love apples in imported Tibetan soil for lucrative sale to gypsies, I must say that I love your piece about Christian. The tone is just right, and the writing is transporting.

Mine's a short story called 'communication'. I like it because it's simple, short and entertaining. It seemed at the time I wrote it, and still now to lesser extent, as in important step in my writing. Liana, loved Glass too but also admit to not quite getting it, not that that bothers me. Tim, I've never read that story before. I liked it, it felt very tight and sure. Still prefer your other more 'spectacular' stories but that's just me. I'll go read some more...

Joe, I really enjoyed your story communication, it's true and quirky something I'm envious of because i can do one or the other but it's very hard to get the two together.

Ems loved your story Epiphany, and I probably won't tempt fate any time soon spack that was utterly brilliant will read the other recommends soon promise

What a great thread this has turned out to be... I knew you lot wouldnt let me down. Im going through this making a list now, and there will be *casts a glance at Mr. Brown* a front page based around it soon.

I must jump in here and say that this was a GREAT idea , Liana~!.....And, may I say what a wonderful presentation you gave us in "Glass".....Great read~! My favorite on this site is http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=39007 My trip to Cousin Beulah's....as it is as it really happened.... Now I have made notes on all the posts and am off to read~! Time does not allow me to read and comment as much as I should like....But, there is so much talent here, it is astounding...... The Bag Lady...

Drew, just read your story, really enjoyed it. I loved the framing of the story and the slightly ambiguous moments worked well. In honesty, I didn't quite get the measuring with odometer- what were they doing? Bosch - really liked Pawpaw, lovely steady rhythm and great last line.

Drew, just read your story, really enjoyed it. I loved the framing of the story and the slightly ambiguous moments worked well. In honesty, I didn't quite get the measuring with odometer- what were they doing? Bosch - really liked Pawpaw, lovely steady rhythm and great last line.

Joe, they were measuring a seaside town. That's it. Nothing to get. But it puzzled d. bes too.... don't you have them around your way - people measuring the streets? it's big here and a very popular job for students.

Justyn, just read your Grand Two-Bit Ballroom and I thought it was great. It had a really understated poignant sadness about it. I liked the conflict of thinking you're someone, the pride in yourself, and the probably realisation that you're nothing special. It was full of nice moments but I particularly liked where a coleague tells him he might meet a date on the way to the party and he thinks it's a great idea and also when he's on the wrong train and only then puts on his glasses. I've done that too many times to admit... oops.

Sorry, me again - from Justyn's piece I liked these two lines - the character's thinking about finding a date - 'The only people I knew were from work. They’d be there themselves.' Very simply this conveys a lot.

Thanks for the feedback, Drew.

Spack: "Communication" reads beautifully. It catches the reader and doesn't let go. And the idea of Morse code, and smoke signals, as a possibility for communication to one not apprised to be on the look-out for such, is wonderful, and probably speaks to what a long shot it is for two people to ever really connect. But yours do.

Boshe, Just read your pieces, you have a great use of Language and as i think is mentioned above a gift for rhythm and tone. Mike especially struch a chord with me.

Vicky: Thanks. I've just read "Solace." "I never realized that your heart breaking was such a quiet thing" is a great line, and stands so much for your moving story.

Yes.. have become quite addicted to this thread. Bloody good move Liana. Just what I find I need from this forum.. what with the vast influx of material flooding through the gates day in day out. Bosch: Loved these poems. Had a good mosey around this set a few weeks ago. Owl is still my particular favourite but these were great. Justyn: Read a print-out of Kenny's Christmas early this morning. Really didn't know what to make of it at first. Had a second read and became much more engrossed. Liked it a lot. Is this a rather eccentric parody on Catholocism/Christianity by any chance? Would love to hear your thoughts on it ..since I may be way off the mark. Vicky: Absolutely raw. But great. Will send this to a friend of mine. Think she'll really appreciate what you had to say about the situation. A few more links to go. Aurore Lenoir. Spack. Baglady. Justyn's other one. And keep posting new links lurking writers! This is all very inspiring.

Yeah, Justyn.. just went and re-read yr comments on Kenny.. er so yeah. It's getting clearer(!) Had a problem with Wolfgirl's ..what I could read seemed interesting but it was riddled with Korean script. Now I think of it this has happened with me and UKA before. AND on Laura Hird's site. Oh well. Think I'll have to make a list too. Anyway. Work beckons.

Our Man in Alexandria http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=15661 This is similar in theme to Kenny's Christmas. I personally like it a lot, but I guess it is a bit obscure. I've received many blank stares from peope reading Our Man in Alexandria, though much of it is intended to be humurous. I'll be interested in what anyone here thinks, since were on a roll with this thread.

Andrew O'donnell: "Hotel" is an odd story. It takes its time, remains low-key, and presents the reader with the displacement at the end in such a way that we can't but accept it, now realize we almost expected it. You've written a good piece. I liked it, and so would Franz K.

Thanks for the comments bosch.. much appreciated. The hotel is real btw. Very reasonable rates. Pension Lixus, Lower Medina, Tangier, Morocco.

Mine is the Unusual World of Mister Glass, which Liana very kindly popped on the front page for me once. I think because it is the only time I have ever used any of my life in a story, and because it sums up everything I feel with my heart about the world being a lesser place because magic doesn't work the way you believed it did when you were six. Can't remember the link, sorry. (And the Grand-Two-Bit Ballroom is one of my top ten on this site Justyn - and you know how many thousands of pieces I've read in my time here. Andy Barratt's Noodles is still my absolute fave, because it is elegant, self-contained, smart, vivid and funny. )

Andrews unorthodox world of mister glass. Fantastic.

Cheers Bosch for your comments, Owl is my favourite too from your set ,so i agree with Andrew O on that. Too be honest i prefer others from the sets of Drew(Tim and Sue?) and Rokkit's(Eggs Benedict?). I also enjoyed Ems very much, i was just a bit worried that i could see how it was going to end relatively early. I have just read Andrew Packs selection, and that too was very good.

My computer is bust (I dropped it!) and I've only just seen this brilliant thread. Tim and Sue is also my favourite piece by Drew. My favourite piece by me is Fermata because it just takes me back there. Now for some reading... The printer at work is working overtime today.

Bosch (sorry for my spelling before) and andrew thanks for your words. Drew I enjoyed the curve... but you've left me wanting more... one day he wasn't there? Where did he go? Was he the narators dad? Sigh...brilliant stuff

This one's relatively unread as it didn't get cherried but it's one of my early stories and still a favourite; I enjoy writing with a female lead character and also building up to a "surprise" ending and this story has both.

Been reading some of these; many to go yet. I enjoyed Uppercase's memoir "Southern Comfort - Not hardly" (no link provided): True American realism - straightforward and honest. This struck me as writing that had to be written rather than writing for publication or kudos. From an arty point of view, maybe it would have been better split into two pieces: one about the work in the fields and one about the writer's mother - but that's probably beside the point. * Two pieces influenced by the East: Rokkitnite's and Mia's. Rokkit's very concise and sharp, but mysterious and deep like the Zen stories or the Tao Te Ching. I wonder if pieces like this could do service interwoven into a larger narrative, as with the El-ehrairah tales in "Watership Down"? Mia's poem was very seductive. Perhaps at first it was a little too illustrative, but the last verse (section/stanza) was gorgeous, in my opinion, in both imagery and rhythm. d.beswetherick.

I'm slowing up a bit. Agree with sheepshank.. printer also working overtime here too. Have a wad of stories waiting for me at home. Must get to this uppercase one soon. Sounds interesting. Rokkitnite's actually reminds me a little bit of a chapter in David Mitchell's 'Ghostwritten' Joe: Loved Communication for just a great idea of a story. I actually like your more, perhaps, throwaway lines.. let me get this right ..'he got drunk with an alcoholic train driver named Des' (do I remember rightly?) F.ucking brilliant. Wanted a lot more from the ending though. There seemed to be far too much closure for me to deal with. Maybe that's just me. That's why I prefer the story you linked to a while back- Spokes. That's also well worth a read if anyone gets the chance. Found myself stupidly re-reading (already!) Drew, I've read about five or six of your stories but am starting to think The Curve is my personal fave. I like it BECAUSE it's personal and yet still keeps the quirkiness of your other stories. The Mandrake character is great. I think I've understood it correctly (?) The man with the deckchairs is the narrators Dad, yeah? It's basically about dealing with grief, if I'm correct. Glass works well on so many levels, Liana. Can feel this thread sagging with the weight of reading. Anyhow. Work beckons.

Just read 'Wicked games' by spack i preferred this to his own choice here.

hello, erm, i'm always hugely late for these things so i'm sorry if i've missed the boat - i've just read the thing on the front page tho and have decided not to be the shy retiring type anymore. This is my favourite thing by me - http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=11755 although i still have no idea what i was thinking when i wrote the razor blade bit

My personal favourite is a poem i titled Apathy. It took a lot of time and thinking, and i wrote it during my math exam. Take a look and tell me: http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=36497 But people seem to find Fleeing from Destiny Best: http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=36496

Yay - it's a self lovin' thread!!! ;-) Not that I've got all that much to love.... Oh well.... I've only got 5 up... pick your favourite (I mean, most tolerable)... http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewuser.cgi?u=grahamtriggs

Alright then. Interesting to see how people view their own stuff. It can rarely be objective though, since I think you can form attachments to the content of what you write, which may be unclear to others. My favourite poem is unquestionably 'Desolate', because of the situation ongoing when I wrote it, and like Muz, I spent time on it. Plus I think it came out well, for a sonnet. My favourite short story is 'Me and Adolf' because it was fun to write and just sort of fell out very quickly.

It is strangely difficult to pick the best piece, I certainly wouldn't choose any of the few that have been cherried, but perhaps I am too close to judge. Favourites on the other hand, are easy. The Story 'Reckoning' because it ended up exactly how I intended it to (the first time that happened). And the poem 'Song' because it was the first real poem I wrote and it was so much fun to write, I sat down one evening, dimmed the lights, put the music on low, and with the help of a bottle of whisky wrote it all in one sitting. Plus it's got a Nick Cave line in it.

Skeeter's 'Desolate':

Skeeters Desolate:

My word! been away for a few days so missed this, I can see its going to cost me lots in internet bills to even get half way through this list, I personally dont have anything of note on here that I actually like when I look at them objectively and not just "ooh this reminds me of that" but... http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=31049 this is the first of an amazing 2 I got up on this theme I find it amusing because its got rough edges which only get in there when you do extract directly from your own diary.- but then it reminds me specificly of things and not you so there you go. For now this is my favourite, should be somehting else but I have sever block/laziness at the moment and cant quite shape the story the way I want it to sound, if you see what I mean. Maybe I just lack the language skills necessary to write something that doesn't suck! http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=27048 and thats my favourite of my poems I'm liking Martin_t's storage by the way, andrew_pak's unorthoddox world of mister glass, spack's communication.... kinda outs me to shame really.

and I really should learn to type/check what I write

Flash and Sheepshank, thanks for your comments - hmmm.... tim and sue was something that I ever really finished and yeah andrew the curve is about grief. it's been accepted for a short story collection and may be out next year.

btw Sheepshank, Big Faced Gloria was my favourite thing by you

I have confidence with all the pieces I've submitted I guess thats why there's. Seems to take me so long to be happy with a final draft. Even then I still find myself revising one word here and there.