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Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 04 Jun 2021 Two more wonderful pieces for our Picks this week. Story of the Week goes to Terrence Oblong's 'The Word Police'. Funny, surreal, and yet so very, very familiar to those of us attempting to extract inspiration from our little grey cells and get something, anything, on the page: The Word Police | ABCtales Poem of the Week is bhi's beautiful 'In the shadow of geraniums'. A vivid, thought-provoking piece full...

I've been sent this by Leamington Books which is run by an old ABCTaler who's very kindly agreed to do a little question and answer session for us as a fundraiser soon. They seem like a really lovely company, so if anyone has a novella knocking around, get submitting! Submissions of Novellas From June 1st 2021 we are accepting submissions of novellas. Our minimum length for this submission is 7,000 words, although ideally a novella will be 20,...

Once again, It's my pleasure to announce the publication of ABCTales writer Colin Burnett's debut short story collection. Here's a review by Celticman: I bought a copy of A Working Class State of Mind because I like Colin Burnett’s writing. I’m an editor on ABCtales and some of his fiction appeared online. Most of the other editors are English. Whisper it, we’ve even got an American. But he recognised the moron’s moron Trump as the narcissistic...

I'm delighted to announce the publication of yet another ABCTaler's debut novel: The Blue Hour by M.J. Greenwood, who writes on ABCTales as MJG Here's a review by airyfairy: The Blue Hour by M J Greenwood M J Greenwood’s debut novel contains many elements of a traditional romance, but it isn’t simply a ‘love story’. This is a story about love, and that’s a very different thing. In 1944 Tilly Barwise, a feisty and beautiful working-class teenager...

Call for Entries: New Talent Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2021 We are looking for new writing talent and we want to make sure as many writers know about the opportunities with the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award as possible. The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is an outlet for expression and just one way to keep connected with the world. We are looking for Poetry and Short Fiction entries. The award is supported by some of the biggest...

This weeks picks are from Ewan. I find this task gets harder and harder over time. The standard is set ever higher by all of you. That’s what makes it difficult. This week’s Story of the Week is Rosalie Kempthorne’s “Bobby-Joe-George”. Always adept at allowing the reader to fill in the blanks, the spaces between the lines and the story that isn’t on the page or screen, but is in the writer’s mind. If that sounds pretentious, I haven’t expressed...

A big thank you to everyone who's posted their work on ABCTales this week and to all the lovely editors who give up their time to wave their cherry wands - and there have been masses of cherries this week! If you have any spare time, just read anything with red fruit next to the title and you won't go wrong. Here are my choices for Story and Poem of the Week: Crow by onemorething - a complex, multi-layered poem about a beautiful bird You're...

100 Quatorzains by John Wilks Review by Ewan Available in paperback from Amazon, priced at £10: 100 Quatorzain: Amazon.co.uk: Wilks, John: 9798746315168: Books or as an ebook downloadable from Cerasus's Ko-fi Shop for £5: https://ko-fi.com/s/d4ec01f463 If I had been presented with this collection anonymously, I would have guessed its author long before reading the last poem in it. John Wilks distinctive voice shines through. By turns bitter,...

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 07 May 2021 I've greatly enjoyed another week of tremendous ABCTales writing, and this week's Picks are absolute stunners. Story of the Week is Mark Burrow's 'Council Estate Jesus'. Wonderful characters and dialogue that build tension so that the whole structure balances on a knife-edge. By the end, you feel you've glimpsed, and learned from, something very important: Council Estate Jesus | ABCtales Poem of the Week...

Our Story and Poem for the month of April have very kindly been chosen by love_writing. Here's what she's written: What a treat it has been for me to catch up on the amazing work on abctales. It’s been joyful and moving [I’ve had a few watery eye moments!] to not only read your work, but also to see the support and acknowledgement you give to each other in the comments sections. As writers we are often plugging away on our own, and it takes...