A carved wooden statue of Merlin in Carmarthen town centre. He’s a mysterious Celtic shaman who constantly popped up in British culture and folklore between the 5th and 15th centuries. There were reports of him in various guises up and down the west coast from Cornwall to Wales to Cumbria to Scotland. Strongest evidence suggests he originated from Carmarthenshire in Wales in the 5th century, where he was probably driven insane by war. Today, we...

I loved this book and read it in one breathy go, thankful for the nourishment. If you’re a scribbler like me that tries to pour himself into himself, writes something down and always comes up with less than a quart-measure, and that’s on a good day, read on. I loved this book so much I’m going to start standing beside the Jehovah’s at the bridge in the Shopping Centre in Clydebank and handing it out to would-be-writers like me and asking them to...

So, is it only because I have been in contact with the literature on “Existential Vacuums” that I am going through this? If I had no idea what this “Existential Vacuum” was, would I still have experienced it/be experiencing it? The kuck thing about being a human with one life and one perspective, is that I will actually never have any definite answer to my question, because I can’t live two lives at once, and I can’t see two perspectives when I...

ABC writers have approached the New Year with vigour, and there has been some truly exceptional writing on the site this week. After much thought, Story of the Week goes to 'Risky Business' by Tipp Hex. There's wonderful description, of people, events and scenery, and it poses thoughtful questions which really engage the reader: https://www.abctales.com/story/tipp-hex/risky-business Poem of the Week goes to Jane Hyphen for 'Somebody Sang And I...

John Nandy wrote for many years on ABCTales as well-wisher, and remains a much loved member of our community. His final collection, published posthumously, is available now on Amazon and his family have asked me if I could help publicise it which I do with great pleasure. You can read reviews by two lovely members below. Here's the link if you'd like to buy a copy - as you will see, we can all thoroughly recommend it!: https://www.amazon.co.uk/...

Golden Friendship, Jim McLaren and ‘Grab a Granny’. I know that all sounds a bit of a mouthful, but I’ll try and explain it to you. Golden Friendship is a club run in the 543 Club. What type of club? Jim McLaren explained it to me a long while ago. And I’m not really sure he knew himself. Like most folk, I said, ‘Aye, Jim,’ while waiting for it to fall on its arse. His mum said much the same thing today. That first day of the Golden Friendship...

Tara Westover’s Educated has a tag-line from Barack Obama on the cover, ‘a remarkable memoir’ and in terms of sales I doubt there was a bigger selling book in 2018. I’m a voracious reader but it’s been a long time since a book kept me up to the wee small hours. I’d nibbled at Educated online, reading the first few pages, before getting the paperback and devouring almost 400 pages in one large gulp. It’s the kind of book I like, because it’s...

Rudyard Kipling (1901 [2010]) Kim. What can I tell you about Rudyard Kipling and Kim , you don’t already know? I’ll start at the beginning. No, I’ll start at the end and try and explain my beginnings. Kim is a work of art, a classic text that captured me completely from the first to the last, 306 pages later and roams through India, some of Afghanistan (I think) and takes in Tibet and China. It looks at the world through a lens of mysticism and...

Hi everyone, happy new year and hope it's a good one! Last month's poetry monthly produced some lovely writing and here are two to go back to from Rhiannon and Luigi: https://www.abctales.com/story/luigipagano/dim-and-distant-star https://www.abctales.com/story/rhiannonw/gentleman ’s-word January's focus is Action! Take the word where it leads you, enjoy writing and post on ABCtales. I'm looking forward to reading your poems and see you next...

A by--product of this whole Photographs and Memories process has been rekindling 'sparks' of stories I hadn't got round to writing. This is one. SALVATION I have a bit of a 'sweet tooth' and managed to find a local outlet of a purveyor of old-fashioned and handmade sweets; Gobstoppers, Black Jacks and Fruit Salads - the 'four for a penny' sweets we fromused to buy in the way back from school. They also sold excellent chocolate! The shop was...