Philip Sidney's blog

Autumn is off to a crackling start on ABCtales. Dark tales with a whiff of sulphur tumble towards the dark side of the year. Celticman manges to keep humour in the darkness with his story all cat owners will recognise, who knows what they will drag in next: https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/wmd#comment-692656 Autumn is also the season of reflection and there have been a number of poems that lift the wraps on personal trauma. One that will...

It's been back to school for many this week - but at last it's the weekend! Put your feet up and have a bumper read of all of the great pieces this week. Kick start your reading binge with our emotional story of the week from Jewel Serpent. It will keep you gripped to its perfect end. https://www.abctales.com/story/jewel-serpent/little-longer Then follow-up with another gripping piece from Ralph. Here we see how poetry can be the perfect form...

There have been so many wonderful pieces this week, the IP really struck a chord and resulted in much insightful and touching writing. In the end I've gone for the dreamy and surreal with Poem of the Week being Sean Mcnulty's Poetry Monthly piece: https://www.abctales.com/story/sean-mcnulty/treetops Story of the Week is rosaliekempthorne's warm hug of a tale: https://www.abctales.com/story/rosaliekempthorne/burning-bright I do hope this week's...

well-wisher is putting YouTube to good poetic use - you might want to do something similar! Here's what he's said and how to find it: Using a free movie making app and free speech synthesiser app and some public domain pictures I have put some of my poems on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9nJHmXzixYhPHXZEk9y6sw

Our weather's been a bit up and down but the writing on ABCtales has been consistently good. A touch of romance - or unrequited love - in our picks for this week: story of the week is a lovely piece of nostalgia from KiriKit: https://www.abctales.com/story/kirikit/perfect-day And from snow to the heat of the night, our poem of the week is 'Wonder' from Sam Hennig https://www.abctales.com/story/samhennig/wonder I don't know about you, but I've...

It's been wonderful to see so many new writers and such a range of writing this week. I've chosen pieces that take an unusual perspective on the natural world. Markle's beautifully described, 'The Gardens', takes us somewhere slightly unsettling, I dare you to take the garden walk: https://www.abctales.com/story/markle/gardens Rosa Cruz's, 'Today birdsong is turned up loud', is full of verve, a gift to the senses, so yours a favour and take this...

There's been a flurry of wonderful peices inspired by May's Poetry Monthly theme - out of the blue, I've even written one myself...but it's Parson Thru's touching poem that takes to the skies this week as Poem of the Week. https://www.abctales.com/story/parson-thru/4-group-raf-bomber-command Noo chose the Poetry Monthly theme, and wrote a prose piece on a similar theme - I dare you not to get teary when you read it. It's our story of the week...

A touch of light and dark in our poem and story of the week this week. Thanks to catherine poarch for a glittering poem: https://www.abctales.com/story/catherine-poarch/only-one-song Also to Terrence Oblong for a brilliant piece of satire: https://www.abctales.com/story/terrence-oblong/civil-war The media circus comes to town again in the run-up to the June elections - so our inspiration point for this week is: circus. https://www.abctales.com/...

Lots of great reads this week but the two pieces that captured my attention were: 1. A chapter from scriptwriterm, a lovely piece of armchair travel. https://www.abctales.com/story/scriptwriterm/between-lines-chapter-10 2. The poetry pick is a moving piece about a cat - and so much more. Well done YaseminB! https://www.abctales.com/story/yaseminb/yumak-and-arisha Spring has sprung! And that's this week's inspiration point - SPRING (at last :))...

It may be cold outside but abctales' writers are on fire this week; there are so many wonderful pieces to choose from. Poem of the week is Rosa Cruz's, At the Hotel for the off-Kilter, an insightful poem using the most exquisite language: https://www.abctales.com/story/rosa-cruz/hotel-kilter The story of the week goes to celticman's deeply touching: Grimms5: https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/grimms5 It's Friday the 13th, so this week's IP...