ABCtales: The Book Some of the best writing from ABCtales is now available to buy in hard copy as a quality paperback. Featuring the authors: Laurie Avadis, Holly Fisher, Alex Graves, Deborah Hambrook, Joe Lawrence, Ewan Lawrie, Richard McDonough, Ian McLachlan, Rhona Millar, ‘Noo’, Jack O’Donnell, Luigi Pagano, Richard Penny, Roy Raubenheimer, Moya Rooke, Stephen Thom and Sam Thornley. Including a chapter from Laurie Avadis’s novel ‘Ex’ with an...

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all from us at ABCtales.com. It's been a good year for us with the three Unbound books reaching their funding targets due to the enormous efforts of the authors. Laurie Avadis's 'Ex' is selling well and it deserves to do so. It's an orginal and brilliant book so if you haven't bought it, then do so now! Ewan Laurie's 'Gibbous House' and Jack O'Donnell's 'Lily Poole' are due out early in the New Year...

Someone gave me this book, perhaps knowing I’m never happier than when unhappy and wallowing in the worst of humanity, and it makes a pleasant change from Nazi death camps. Erving Goffman defined a total institution as a place that is isolated and enclosed as Carstairs Hospital obviously is, but a wider reading also acknowledges the secrecy that such places engender. My first attempt at novel writing, Huts , written around eight years ago takes...

My husband died the day before yesterday. I am walking on Saturn in some heavy ass gas having to hold onto the furniture when crossing the room. He is not upstairs sleeping or working in his study. He won't be home at nine. He isnt up in London working or having a curry with his friends. He wont turn over in bed and put a big hand on my hip. I'm going to be a slow learner of "gone" and in between memories of "gone" there will be sattelite moons...

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A really great story and poem for you this week - and an Inspiration Point that could have you scratching your head! Story of the Week is this belter from the ever wonderful Vera Clark. She captures the time and place of the Holiday Camp and gives us a tale with a wicked twist: http://www.abctales.com/story/veraclark/souvenirs The Poem of the Week is one that really made me think. This is an orginal and really quite profound notion: http://www...

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of long term ABCtales member Lisa Hinsley. She was a wonderful writer and a fine member of our community - giving freely of her time and opinions in order to help hundreds of others. Lisa was a fine writer with a number of published books. Her most famous, Plague, is strongly recommended to you. She fought cancer with bravery and stoicisim for three years. Lisa leaves a husband and...

We're just about to begin the difficult task of reading through all the wonderful prose and poetry to find the Picks of the Year, but in the meantime here are this week's picks: Story of the Week goes to Lord of the Flies by Stephen Thom - a fabulously unsettling, disturbing, other-worldly nightmare: http://www.abctales.com/story/stephen-thom/lord-flies Poem of the Week is Elliot C. Mason's For a Son - a finely constructed piece which has struck...

So, where from here? I have a plan. So far, the plan is on track – it has optimism-bias (pessimism) and R&R built in. But the emotional bit can’t be planned for – only dealt with. It’s over two months since I last did any work, and that was a course. The plan says: R&R; socialising; birthdays; improving Spanish to a point where I can understand colleagues, students and speak to them; develop a working knowledge of English grammar (thanks...

Thank you to Bee for her fabulous performance poetry idea last month. It was really successful and a luxury to watch and listen to lots of superb poetry with a cup of tea and a packet of chocolate covered nutty biscuits. Here are three cracking performance pieces, do follow the links to hear the sound bites: londoncalling brings home to life. Dark and brooding with unmistakeable fondness: http://www.abctales.com/story/londoncalling79/home-poetry...