It’s in the papers - so it must be true I read the papers on a Sunday, starting at the back with the sports’. It’s called haruspex, a bit like looking from omens that Celtic are getting better by examining a sacrificed animal’s liver, and I wear my green-tinted specs when looking over the evidence. If the portents are good, or sufficiently bad, I’ll read the real news. Two stories caught my interest. I’m prejudiced like everybody else, but not...

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...

No need to feel gloomy now the nights are drawing in - just sit down with our wonderful picks this week and let yourself be carried away. I promise you won't be disappointed with either! Big congratulations to johnshade for his breathtaking Autumn, and to love_writing for Fly Like Superman - a vividly authentic account of childhood: http://www.abctales.com/story/johnshade/autumn http://www.abctales.com/story/lovewriting/fly-superman Do also take...

'You could describe it in colors, red and dead like old blood, brown like dirt, clay or shit, white like soapy water... ghetto is a smell...sometimes sweet: baby powder women wear on their chests..the rawness of recently slaughtered goat.. sour chemicals in the detergent'. (Words of Alex, an American music journalist at the time of Bob Marley's death). Most of the multitude of narrators in Marlon James long book are Jamaican gangstas chatting...

Travelling from one place to another heightens the senses. In October we hit the road again and the quality of the journey was astounding – poetry that used memory in both the surreal and conventional. Your confidence in experimentation stood out and loudly. Some pieces have been selected for POTD and POTW which goes to show that Love-writing’s theme gave rise to great work - a big thanks. Detailed critiques are also emerging now, so do get...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06nrc0g/imagine-autumn-2015-2-anto... Like Antony Gormley, best known for Angel of the North, I can imagine being human. I can imagine lots of things. As a wee boy I imagined what it would be like to live in a sweet shop, to slay a dragon, or right every wrong. There were lots of things I wouldn’t admit to imagining. Like Antony Gormley I came from a big Catholic family, big on Catholicism, five kids and a...

In which your forgiveness and understanding is sought

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...