scratch's blog

A few members have been keen to find out which pieces have taken the September accolades so without any messing about this news just in: The picks of the month for September were “challenging” to say the least… But there have to be winners. For Poetry, Bee, Pat G, Vadislav32 and Celticman treated us to some wonderful imagery. All brilliant yet each one different in content and form. But the POTM goes to a newcomer to Abctales. Mackatoof’s “...

Good evening everyone, That I've said this before doesn't make it any less true, the number and quality of the submissions that have been posted this week has once again been amazing. That's wonderful and long may it continue but it makes the weeky responsibility of picking the two stand-out poem and prose pieces very very difficult indeed. But decisions have to be made so here we go... This week's winning poem is from new member mackatoof for...

Following on from the roaring success in Nottingham (tha nks, VeraClark) the next ABCtales R eading E vent has been organised. Here are the details: Date: Wednesday 11th November, 2015 Venue: The Wheatsheaf Address: 25, Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 1JB Time: 18:30 for a 19:00 start Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road Link to the venue: The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London ... The Wheatsheaf is a wonderfully atmospheric...

Well, for a welcome change there was a little less agonising to do in order to select this week's winners. Two stand-out pieces. First the winning story, it's noo's wonderfully rich and deep Game : Game and the winning poem is Vladislas32's astonishing Homage to Mr Ginsberg which was a pick of the day but now gets a thoroughly deserved promotion: Homage to Mr. Ginsberg The list of honourable mentions that I'd compiled for this week's process is...

Our next ABCtales reading event is bound for Nottingham... tomorrow night! Do join us on Saturday 5 th September at 7pm, The Cross Keys, 15 Byard Lane, Nottingham, NG1 2GJ for prose and poetry in a splendid city. It’s a vibrant reading line up, including Blackjack Davey, Johnshade, Philip Sidney, airy fairy, Bear, Scratch, London Calling, Luigi Pagano, Denzella, Lisa H. If you’d like to read, there are still a couple of slots, so drop me an...

It is such a pleasure to read all the new submissions that appear on ABCtales each week. Long-standing members still provide a plethora of top-flight writing but it's true that they have to constantly strive to keep up with the steady influx of all the many new talented members that the site has aquired over the last 12 months. One of the 'newbies' takes this week's story slot. It's David Martin with his artistically drawn Relic. It really is...

One of our most dedicated and talented writer/editors contacted me earlier this evening and it is with great pleasure that I can share the following announcement on their behalf. Poem of the Month, 'running in the rain' by Accidentallyexisting: running in the rain This poem has a wonderful sense of rejuvenation. It is refreshing and energising, a celebration of the physical that still tingles as a memory or, as in my case, the imagined. Story of...

Announcement due soon.

This week there was a shortlist, which wasn't that short, for those poets in the running for the weekly winner accolade. The list found another name added to it today and it is with pleasure that I can announce Chant's Slave is our poem of the week: Slave There are some really top class serialised prose pieces running at the moment and a new one that turned up was jolono's Please Leave The Light On. It's a two-parter so do please remember to...

This week's winning story is told from the perspective of a young girl and the narrator's voice is utterly convincing. Fantastic sentiments on show but never sentimental. Well done love_writing for: Bottle Johnny The contributions from the poets this week has made picking a winning submission nigh on impossible. In the end I had to settle on a tie between Last Request by EB: Last Request it's a poem that at once touches on minute details and...