insertponceyfrenchnamehere's blog

Really, really difficult to make the choices this week. There's been humour, horror, brilliant character studies and beautiful descriptions. Thank you to everyone for some amazing stories and poems.

I'm extremely pleased to announce that our very own celticman will be appearing at Bloody Scotland, Scotland's International Crime Writing Festival! Appearing just before the world famous Irvine Welsh who wrote Trainspotting, (no pressure there!) Jack has been chosen as the Crime in Spotlight reader on September 14th in Stirling. You can buy tickets, including digital, and find out more information here: https://bloodyscotland.com/ Jack is one...

Our Story and Poem of the Month for July, very kindly chosen by Mark Say: Poem of the month It’s been a tough call to make, with a handful of poems impressing for their clever delivery of words combined with intelligent ideas. As the top pick, I feel it was shaded by In the Silence of Circuits ( https://www.abctales.com/ story/yutka/silence-my- circuits ) by Yutka, an intriguing stream of images that takes the reader into a hard-to-define space...

Very grateful thanks to all of our ABCTalers for the wonderful pieces you continue to post on our website - it's a great pleasure to read them My choices for this week are as follows: Story of the Week goes to Alexander Moore for The Man with the Camera - a brilliant and, to quote Sean McNulty, 'splendidly unsettling' story. I hope he writes more of it! Poem of the Week is Ralph's 'Cleethorpes', which packs so much into so few words...

I'm very pleased to announce that Ewan Lawrie's new novel, Mr Martinez has just been published! You can order it here on Amazon: B0D5MM5JFQ Here's what he says: Do spies retire? Mister Martínez, some might call him Mysterious Martínez. Who is he? Where is he from? He's no gringo, guiri or even a blow in from Granada. He's been living in Andalucia, trying not to be noticed, though he's made friends with the local Guardia Civil Chief. Someone is...

Story and Poem of the Week, and Inspiration Point chosen by Di_Hard What a privilege to read the brilliant work this week, from all you greatly talented writers who contribute to ABCTales. Thank You. The choice for Picks of the Week is always so hard! Here are some reasons why - if you have not read any of these, I highly recommend you do - Jenny's poems always bring feelings of joy and comfort, and this is the case for this wonderful and brave...

Posted by airyfairy. Thank you once again for all the lovely contributions to the site. It's been a really tough Pick this week!

Our Story and Poem for the month of June, very kindly chosen by hudsonmoon: June Picks of the Month 2024 Political climate got you down? Me, too. But let’s not stay down too long. Sometimes a good rant will stir up those emotions one needs to keep yourself feeling empowered. I try to keep that in mind every time I reach for the remote or the phone in search of some mindless entertainment. A good rant can help you keep in touch with your civic-...

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful poems and stories you've posted this week - it's been a pleasure to read them all My choices for our Story and Poem of the week are as follows: Story of the Week goes to hudsonmoon for his clever and extremely funny sideways take on elections, A View From the Cab - The Debate 1948 Poem of the Week goes to Luigi for 'A Matter of Regret' - another very funny piece, and I hope the accolade makes up a little...

Posted by airyfairy. As always, many thanks to everyone for the wonderful contributions this week.