Blogs

Bring Out Your Dead: A Josiah and Archibald Novel (The Undertakers Book 4). Available for Pre-order Now!

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Mon, 25 Mar 2024

I'm delighted to annouce to Josiah and Archibald's many fans on ABCTales that you can now pre-order Book 4 in Phil Whiteland's Bring Out Your Dead series All Josiah and Archibald had to do was collect the late Sir Lewisham Carnock from his resting place in Alicante and escort him back to the U.K. Nothing could be simpler, could it? Well, yes, with Josiah and Archibald it could, particularly when an unfortunate turn of phrase leaves them marooned...

Graham Swift (2020) Here We Are.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 24 Mar 2024

Here We Are or Here We Are again. Graham Swift won the Booker Prize for (I think) Last Orders . I checked to see if I’d reviewed it. I haven’t. But I have read it. But what sticks in my mind is the film version. Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren as the wife of the Caine character. Why am I going on about this? Well, Here We Are has much the same plot and tagline. Brighton, 1959. Punters are sick of war and rationing. They demand...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 22 Mar 2024

Story and Poem of the Week, and Inspiration Point 22 March 2024 Posted by Ewan Some very good writing indeed this week. Give yourselves a pat on the back for making this job as difficult as ever. Story of the Week I very much liked Starfish Girl’s The Spa . Equally good were Parts 1 & 2 of Blighter’s Rock’s The Plan. But in the end Celticman was in competition with himself – and not for the first time – with The Little Lady and the eventual...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Ewan on Fri, 22 Mar 2024

Story and Poem of the Week, and Inspiration Point 22 March 2024 Some very good writing indeed this week. Give yourselves a pat on the back for making this job as difficult as ever. Story of the Week I very much liked Starfish Girl’s The Spa . Equally good were Parts 1 & 2 of Blighter’s Rock’s The Plan. But in the end Celticman was in competition with himself – and not for the first time – with The Little Lady and the eventual winner. So with...

Muriel Spark (1992 [2009]) Curriculum Vitae.

Posted by celticman on Thu, 21 Mar 2024

If you’re like me, you’ll associate Muriel Spark with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie . I don’t think I’ve read the book. I’ve seen two television versions. Miss Jean Brodie really is a gift to any actress with our Dames playing the lead roles. Muriel Spark reminds us teachers in the James Gillespie’s Girls’ School in 1930s Edinburgh were also actors that had to instruct their audience: ‘ the creme de la creme’ . Not just be teaching, but by...

ALCS UK

Posted by Ewan on Tue, 19 Mar 2024

I'm sure if you have any writing in print, you will have already have done this. However, if not, joining ALCS UK ensures you receive payment if any of your work has been photocopied/reproduced for use in schools/colleges/work seminars etc. I got a significant payment this year. Join ALCS, it is worth it. As you can see from the image, it comes at what - for me - is the worst month every year, March (no idea why). Oh, and join PLR too, which...

Happiness is a warm keyboard=I live to and love to write

Posted by Penny4athought on Sun, 17 Mar 2024

Writers have a need to understand words, to gather them like flowers in a literary garden of colorful, pungent, blooming, budding words. They carefully pick them to tell a story, structure a tale, by placing those words in a way that brings the reader in. Characters light up with specific details and become dimensional. Some writers tell you that characters, once fully formed, can take on a life of their own. When you know your character, you'll...

Frank Warren (2005) PostSecret.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 17 Mar 2024

PostSecret is a collection of anonymous postcards people sent to Frank Warren, who in 2004 printed 3000 postcards with his address on them, inviting strangers to fill them in and tell him their secrets. The response was so great, he didn’t have to print any more postcards. People sent their own, in various languages, including Braille. ‘Like fingerprints, no two secrets are identical.’ Reading is a kind of voyeurism. We always want to know more...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 15 Mar 2024

Posted by airyfairy. Thank you to all our writers, as ever, for the marvellous work on the site this week. Our Story of the Week is a thank you to someone who has been at the very heart of ABC Tales. Jean D has been generous enough to share her journey through cancer with us, with her customary wit, warmth and talent. All of these things are in evidence in what, sadly, she has told us will be her final posting here. We shall miss you, Jean. The...

Sebastian Barry (2009) The Secret Scripture.

Posted by celticman on Thu, 14 Mar 2024

Sebastian Barry (2009) The Secret Scripture. You should never step into the book you’ve read before (or something like that). Sebastian Barry is a terrific writer. This book won the Costa Book of the Year 2008. The Secret Scripture is in many ways the story of Ireland after the Famine, with a centurion Roseanne McNulty providing the handwritten shape of her life played out against the Civil War years in Ireland and the world wars that also came...

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