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Our Story and Poem of the Month for July, very kindly chosen by Di_Hard. Here's what she says: It was a huge honour to be asked to do Poem and Story of the Month, till making the choice could not be put off any more, and now, it's so hard! How to compare such different treasures? Winding through all the writing gems of July is Celticman's Ugly Puggly. If you haven't read it yet, please do. Starting with three very different people, he has woven...

Every now and then a poem comes along and steals your heart and this week’s Poem of the Week immediately stole mine. Ewan’s ‘The Forest of Discarded Raiment’ is the Pick of the Week for poetry. Funny, clever, perfectly done. https://www.abctales.com/story/ewan/forest-discarded-raiment And for Story of the Week, it’s maddan’s The Brambles. I’ve read all of these when he’s posted them. All great, but this might be my favourite so far. https://www...

Even harder than it usually is to make my picks this week. Thank you to all our writers and poets for making ABCTales such a vibrant place Two absolutely outstanding stories have started this week and I'd urge you to read both. They're very different but equally brilliant. I can only choose one as Story of the Week so my vote goes to Drew Gummerson's very very funny Stick of Rock which I'm sure will be in print as soon as he's finished it, but...

Posted by Ewan on Fri, 22 Jul 2022 The weeks seem to be flying by. I hope you all survived the heat. No moaning about today’s rain, please. Story of the Week Story of the Week this week goes to not-so-cosy Cotswolds-set “The Bounds” by Charlie77. The start of something longer, this first part is gripping, chilling and blessed with a narrative voice that is very strong indeed. Do check out Rosalie Kempthorne’s latest, too. Discovery is as off-...

When you know your time is short, anything starts to feel like everything… Daisy Lowry is missing a dad…Gabriel Lowry is a dying illusionist seeking a daughter…as both look for a reunion, they tumble into new and magical experiences, Gabriel having it all on to perform the greatest trick of this life – slipping the noose a very bitter, overworked Death has for him…whilst Daisy finds solace in a mysterious group of strong, independent women… SJ...

Our Story and Poem of the Month for June, very kindly chosen for us by Mark Say: Here we go with Picks of the Month June 2022! I’m migrating from the written word to audio for my story of the month. Sheep Without a Shepherd by colin.b – an extract from an audiobook – is a great slice of working class memoir told in a Scottish vernacular that makes clear it comes from the heart. It’s a lethal piece of social commentary and carries a real...

It was a struggle this week to make my choices, especially with poetry - thank you all so much for posting such wonderful, thought-provoking work. It's always a pleasure to read it. Poem of the Week goes to lenchenelf for Otters' Child which I've found myself returning to more than once. It's wonderful https://www.abctales.com/story/lenchenelf/otters-child Story of the Week goes to JupiterMoon for 'The Kindness'. Jupiter usually posts poetry on...

It’s been a quiet week, but no drop off in quality has been discernible. Well done, all. Story of the Week Celticman’s Ugly Puggly continues to absorb, and Marandina’s three-parter The Horses of Wooldale Road written over a long period of time is also worth some of yours. Ugly Puggly pt 4 1 The Horses of Wooldale Road Pt 3 However, Story of the Week for me is Colin.b’s Audio-excerpt, Sheep Without a Shepherd taken from the audiobook version of...

Our Story and Poem of the Month for May have very kindly been chosen by Simon Barget. Here's what he picked: Story was easy with Sean McNulty’s Phantosmia head and shoulders above the rest -- there’s a pun in there somewhere. https://www.abctales.com/ story/sean-mcnulty/phantosmia The lack of stiff competition lends an honorary mention to one more of his Moloney/Elder flights/forays: The Eerie Nerve. https://www.abctales.com/ story/sean-mcnulty/...

It's a bank holiday so it's raining, but I hope you're enjoying it all the same. Lots of fine writing to choose from, but getting straight to the point: Story of the Week is maddan's 'The Munro Academy Poltergeist'. I've really enjoyed all of maddan's horror stories and this one is another excellent tale. You can read it here: https://www.abctales.com/story/maddan/munro-academy-poltergeist Poem of the Week is Jane Hyphen's brilliant 'If I can...