You can see the shell of the La Scala from Second Avenue. I can’t remember the first X-rated movie I went to see there, but you can bet the fear on my face was real enough as I got to the turn at the top of the stairs and I expected the woman taking the tickes to eye me up and say, ‘Nah, son you look about fifteen’. Which would be about right, even though I did have a proper suit jacket on and open-necked collar to somehow make me look older,...

Huge thanks this month to Coral (seashore) who very kindly took the time to select July's Poem and Story of the Month. Congratulations to the worthy winners! Whilst reading through so many wonderful pieces for this month's picks, I had a strong sense that my late daughter Julia (Overthetop1 on Abc) was with me, and maybe influencing my final choices. I’d like to think this was the case, so my shortlist consisted of pieces that I could relate to...

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Debut novel. Lily Poole. Set in Dalmuir. (Well, actually, the house I stayed in Dickens Avenue, if we're being specific). Got a lot of support here for this novel. Have a read and tell me what you think. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lily-Poole-Jack-ODonnell/dp/1783522356 One reviewer said was a 'compelling read'. And he'd 'demolished it in two days.' He made a comparison. 'Opened my eyes to issues of mental health and its perceptions in the same way...

Two great pieces this week. Poem of the Week goes to Philip Sidney for the pitch-perfect Daguerreotype, and Story of the Week to proudwing for Witnesses - his first piece (of many I hope!) on the site. Congratulations to both: http://www.abctales.com/story/philip-sidney/daguerreotype http://www.abctales.com/story/proudwing/witnesses Good luck with this week's Inspiration Point: http://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip .. and finally don't...

hi late at night, yes it is late. but i was thinking i start my blog on here. i have been away for a while not able to write for a few months. sad events took a hold of my family. my brother passaway in may and due to the time people have to wait until you can say goodbye to a person, we did not have that until June. so no poem from me or are there song lyrics i write never very sure on that point. this a wonderfully site, we all come here to...

I can hear my partner, Mary, yakking on the phone downstairs, talking to her Auntie Mary about another Auntie- Eleanor who is dying. ‘She did have a bit of fear…’ she’s talking about her Granny, not her Auntie Eleanor, but the story is familiar, the same one. The Big C. ‘Apparently one in three people get cancer,’ Philip Wright, the thirteen-year old narrator tells the reader. That’s a 50/50 chance. That’s a joke. Jokes don’t have to be funny,...

I’ve been thinking a lot about the passage of time this week or so. Since I last put pen to paper, or rather hand to keyboard, so much has happened in a short space of time; where to start? The Monday after my charity sponsored walk seems good, being the beginning of the end (of term and one big part of my life). Still sore of foot and heavy of head I made my way with my daughter to watch her son’s assembly about saving the planet and the...

A good week for me. I’ve moved up the alphabet from arsehole to author. There was brouhaha over the other side of the Atlantic over plagiarism. You may not have noticed, but I’m attuned to these social markers. Donald Trump’s second or third wife (who is doing the counting and who really cares) in a speech supporting her husband’s suitability to lead not just the Republican party, but the American nation as President, began her speech with...