Insertponceyfrenchnamehere's blog

I'm very pleased to announce the publication of our very own celticman's new novel Beastie A gritty and hard hitting novel set in 1970's Scotland. Decimalization, dole queues and The Troubles in Northern Ireland brought home to a Clydebank tenement. Teenage swaggerer: Chaz Sweeney seizes the chance to get out and make a name for himself as a big man. Angela, aged four: Her mum can’t protect her. Her only friends Pizza Face (Chaz’s brother) and...

Our Story and Poem for the month of January, very kindly chosen by RJNewlyn: Pick of the month January 2024 I suspect most of us find January a hard month for inspiration, so well done to everyone who’s bucked the trend. For prose, strong commendations to hudsonmoon ( https://www.abctales.com/story/hudsonmoon/phone-booth-incident-neds-tavern-tale ), josiedog ( https://www.abctales.com/story/josiedog/cernunnos ) and Terrence Oblong ( https://www...

Now open for entries, the 18th Welsh International Poetry Competition will be judged by the Welsh poet, Cathy Miles. You don't have to be Welsh, the poetry doesn't have to be about Wales and it's a genuinely open competition The closing dates for entries is June 30th 2024 http://www.welshpoetry.co.uk/entries-poems/

We have so many talented writers and poets on ABCTales. I don't think a week goes by without someone announcing that they've got a book coming out. It's a long, hard journey from the original idea to the finished product though and really, really worth doing properly. Blighters Rock (Richard) emailed me the other day about his latest success and he particularly wanted to highlight his typesetter who had done an excellent job. Now, we don't do...

Posted by airyfairy. A hard job choosing this week's Picks, as ever. And the two pieces are very, very different, which is what is so lovely about the site. There's such a variety of work, truly something for everybody.

If you, like me, are a fan of Phil Whiteland's very funny Bring Out Your Dead stories, you'll also be very pleased to hear that he's publishing another collection. Here's what he says: Welcome, once more, to the rather odd world of Josiah Oakshott and Archibald Thurble, respectively owner and employee of Oakshott and Underwood, ‘understanding and sympathy at your time of need’. If you’re new to these two characters, where have you been? Their...

Posted by onemorething: Thanks to all, as always, for providing such a rich and varied wealth of writing. And whilst choosing Picks of the Week is never easy: This week's Poem of the Week is Rhiannon's wonderful and clever, riddle-like poem, Autobiography. https://www.abctales.com/story/rhiannonw/autobiography-not-mine This week's Story of the Week is Terrence Oblong's Austere Planet which is both brilliant and hilarious. https://www.abctales...

Our Story and Poem for December, very kindly chosen by Drew Gummerson: It’s always an honour to do this, to choose the Story and Poem of the Month. I’ve been looking over the past few days at December’s entries and once again I’m impressed by the quality and range of writing on the site. Story of Month First some notable mentions. It wouldn’t be December if I didn’t flag a Christmas story and Mac_Ashton’s Yuletide Loops is a brilliant one. A...

Happy New Year to all our wonderful writers and poets - I wish you inspiration in abundance for 2024 and a complete absence of writers block! For our very first picks of the week for 2024 I have two wonderful pieces. Our Poem of the Week goes to onemorething for her powerful folklore inspired 'Witches of Long Compton'. Our Story of the Week is the brilliant Cernunnos by josiedog which is excellent, and has some of the funniest and well written...