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House Anthems Ralph Dartford Published by Valley Press I know some of Ralph’s work from what he has shared on ABCTales.com. Always thoughtful, with significant depth of feeling and honesty, his poems are sculpted from blocks of language until what is left is poetry that is both striking and meaningful. I am particularly impressed with ‘House Anthems’, the final collection in his ‘Recovery Trilogy’. The playlist Ralph has curated to accompany...

I wore my drinking like a badge of honour. Somehow, the fact that I could keep it together—without my wife or kids ever really knowing—felt like an achievement. This was mine. My secret. I hid bottles everywhere: in coat pockets, hanging shopping bags, the tops of kitchen cabinets, under the car seat, even in the bushes by our gate. I was an adult, yet I treated this like some kind of game. Could I make it through a conversation without slurring...

About twenty minutes into my shift my phone rang. Sir. Had to take all my gear off and by the time I had the call had ended. Voice mail. Which I never check. Called back. "Hello?" "Sir?" "Hello, son. I just thought you'd want to know that sis died this morning." "Aunt Betty?" "Yes, just thought you'd want to know." Aunty Betty, eldest of seven children and the sister of six brothers - dead. She'd always called me heartbreaker. Hey, heartbreaker...

Notes on nostalgia. Adolescence, when neurons exploded and rearranged themselves into them or us. Your senses discombobulated by girls. Everything tasted better. We scattered ourselves on a sea of faces. Some familiar. Some not familiar enough. Our voices thin as scratch-marks. Snod’s hair, flame-red as the hottest summer of 1976, but soon to be eclipsed and forgotten. We knew we were indestructible. All answers copied from the back of an old...

Every Friday, I try to publish another episode in my 'Dead Reckoning' series about my two Undertakers, Josiah and Archibald. There are always weeks when I'm not in the right frame of mind or events overtake me and make it difficult. And then, there's this week... I hope there will be a new episode, tomorrow, but right now, I'm not so sure.

"Jack." - - - - - "Jack . . . hey, I'm recording you." Looking up from my book, "Why?" "I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and I want proof of your reaction." "Ummm..." "One of them is kind of, uh, dirty - " "Yeah? Alright, go ahead." "Would you rather have unlimited threesomes for a year or one night with the woman of your dreams?" "What do you mean? " "So, you have a choice of - " "No, I understand that. I mean you said 'unlimited' and...

Given the date, I thought it would be appropriate to revive this short story: https://www.abctales.com/story/philwhiteland/trick-or-treat