Great ABCTalers

Joe is in India! If he were here, I am sure he would be extremely flattered (just so you did not think he was being rude by not replying) Ivoryfishbone is immensely enjoyable. I also enjoy Mcmanaman and Fergal. Cheers Span

Some of my abc favs... Pesky. http://www.abctales.com/node/543422 Enzo http://www.abctales.com/node/502666 Fuschia http://www.abctales.com/node/511738

Oh and this...one of the first things I ever read on here. http://www.abctales.com/node/501378

Ohh yes..almost forgot Fergal, I love this one... http://www.abctales.com/node/545442

I'm not sure what my favourite of Joe's is. Um. I think it's suficient praise to say that his style is distinctive, and enough under his control, to generally leave me in a position where I can enjoy whatever he writes without certain pieces sticking out in my memory. Was very, very taken with the same one Enzo highlighted though.

http://www.abctales.com/node/526529 http://www.abctales.com/node/540860 http://www.abctales.com/node/510375 http://www.abctales.com/node/502269 http://www.abctales.com/node/522947

Liana, you know we loves yer, but I've got to call bullshit on this one. Search previous threads if you must to read me - an ex-UEAer, no less! - raving about D. Beswetherick, Drew Gummerson and Nancy Am amongst many others. It's natural to read pieces put on by friends, and thus this influences the percentage of pieces you flag that are by people known to you. The fact that we all come from the most prestigous writing course in the country, and thus might be pretty nifty writers anyhow, is neither here nor there. I flag a piece if I love it and want other people to read it. Who it's by is neither here nor there. Nobody's criticised you for picking your chum Fish as a favourite writer - accusations of nepotism are a bit silly when most of us on here are friends anyway.

Sorry Liana, I didn't mean to sound hostile or prissy. It's true a lot of my favourites are also friends - I've been loving every single piece Span's posted lately Spack's stuff often makes me sick with envy McManaman is one of my favourite writers on the site Jack Cade has posted some entertaining (if somewhat slight) poems on the site recently, and I wish he posted more prose That's just the way it goes when you choose friends on the basis of writing ability rather than personality. They're all horrible people in real life, but I just can't stand to socialise with bad writers.

For what it's worth, one of the reasons I chose Spack's work to look at first was because I don't know Joe, and have never really commented on his stuff before. Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

It's worth 50p and a packet of Jammy Dodgers, Enzo, redeemable upon your writing a poem entitled 'The Day I Loved Backwards'.

Yah, Enzo's not an ex-UEAer. I can't not comment on a Spack-is-great thread, because it would look like a pointed silence. "Jack Cade has posted some entertaining (if somewhat slight) poems on the site recently, and I wish he posted more prose." *That* is damning with faint praise, sir! By the way, please can you write a couple more 'Dunthornes' and post them to me. I have a nefarious plan...

Och. Almost cruel. Span

Well, I'll take your original post as encouragement to seek out new, undiscovered gems amongst abctalers old and new, Liana. I love stumbling across brilliant new writers as much as the next bloke. 'remember the 'i love you fish oh i love you too liana' Tim?' Did we have a threesome? I was rather drunk that night...

Sorry - when I posted that last night, I'd not read through what came before it properly. Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

That's okay. Once in France I mistook this really weird lady for my mum. I clapped my hand over her shoulder while she was scooping a cooked breakfast onto her plate and said, 'Got anything nice?' She looked really scared. Actually, she wasn't really 'weird' so much as 'not my mum'. But anyway, you can't really say anything except sorry in those situations. If you say 'Don't worry, I'm not mentally ill,' that kind of makes things worse.

No, I meant to Jack Cade and was only joking. The stinking cold is a bad one. I have it too. Nearly skived off today, but for some reason I am still at work. I am a sick loser with a backwards L. cant even pull a sickie properly! Drink ginger and hot water. Span x

Whiskey and ginger? mmmm. My name is Hannah. Saying my name formally still makes me feel like I am leaping around the sitting room watching Sesame Street. I also like the letter S, the colour green and glasses of milk. Get well soon, Span

I didn't take offence. Span! You should write a Dunthorne as well. In his absence! The only rule is: your poem must end with the death of a cyclist, usually with long blond flowing locks, and often eating olives. Here are some examples: http://www.abctales.com/node/518530 http://www.abctales.com/story/jack-cade/kite There's a variant form where the protagonist of the poem dies instead, in a highly ambiguous and confusing manner. Examples: http://www.abctales.com/node/518470 http://www.abctales.com/node/518491

For some reason, the links to Rokkit's pieces are black and not hyperlinks. Why? Lord. Why?

Where's the one that rhymed 'like a man in a jig' with 'Heero's Steam-Powered Whirlygig'?

Remember this one? Brilliant. http://www.abctales.com/node/544125 Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

Yeah, I remember that one Enzo. Really great, vivid stuff. I get a whole visual world even though very little is described in the actual poem. And Liana, you're a meany. I thumb my nose at you, flu-girl.

What was you? You wrote 'good girl'? Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

Bugger. But it's still a great poem.

Wow. It's weird, when I changed names (and back) I cleared all my bookmarks except 'Good girl' and 'Advance'. You two rule. Proof: Enzo's bookmarks AdvanceGood Girlquick link | manage Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

True, but you've been mentored by a selection of their best graduates, so hardly surprising you've excelled.

The second link is the one that takes you to the 'man in a jig/whirligig' poem. Incidentally, I wrote six more on Saturday, one of which involves a retired militaryman murdering the cyclist via a lethal bj. I will be uploading them shortly. I've decided that I'm going to get as many people as I can to write them, then produce a small booklet. Liana's second identity is revealed! I had a similar "Yes! You do like me!" experience with a pseudonym, but it was probably because I pretended to be a girl.

Would you like to fly in my beautiful buffoooooon?

Isn't it a little narcissistic posting links to your own work on a thread entitled great abctalers. My favs have already been posted, so I don't need to bother copy and pasting, will just add that another poem I really loved (and is no longer there) was 'Titch' by BBF.

It isn't narcissistic if it's in the spirit of encouraging contributions to a wicked genre that celebrates the work of the ABCTaler the thread is about.

Ah...now I see why, is because not both links worked..along with the fact I skipped over your comment that Rokkits links were black. Consider my wrists duly slapped.

Unfortunately, myself and Rokkit are the only ones to have written Dunthornes so far, so I only had our work to use as examples.

"Ferg herself is a friend of mine - I think I was the first person here to comment on her work anyway" Tis true - Pesky's comments on the first thing I ever put on abc, a story called 'Colour Central' were my first intro into this site. Her obvious wit and charm made me click on here again, and the rest is, as they say, history. (I'm not sure whether to say 'thanks' or 'thanks a *lot*') And it's true she's my friend too. When I first came on here the writers I enjoyed most were: Drew Gummerson Dotty Beswetherick Stormy_petrel Ivoryfishbone Liana Andrew Pack I thought the standards of their work were all very high, and enjoyed working my way through their sets a lot. Funnily enough I can now count some of them as friends, and I still love their work. That's not nepotism. That's me reading people's work, liking it, then realising that we'd probably have things in common. Since then I've loved writing by Spack, Span and Enzo particularly, but there are always little gems by writers who don't get mentioned and that's why it's good to flag them up as we go along. I am a Norwich writer in as much as I did the MA (Tim what were you going on about 'prestigious'... ha ha) at UEA but I don't really know the group of Norwich writers that well because, um, they met on the BA I think, and our paths don't cross often. I've never met Jon Stone for example, and have spoken to spack about three times. I've got to know span through this site - we liked each other's work and meet up sometimes - and oddly, even though Rokkit was on the MA the same year as me, I've probably interacted with him more on here than in real life. The internet is Kerrrazy, non?

I had a feeling many of you knew each other. Most of you write poetry and until I read your work, I had no idea I liked poetry so much. I realize I don't get much of it, but its fun trying to figure out what's really being said, at least for the lesser obvious pieces.

Hey foster - the only people I know on here are people I've got to know since being on here... that's the kind of place abctales is.

Errrm...Rita as in Ritawrites???

I'm going to dig deep in the sub conscious and see what I can remember - there are some truly wonderful pieces from way back down the years. But. for me, who is a prose lover and not a poet, the most moving and classy pieces on here are in this set of poetry by nancy-am (who I have never met!): http://www.abctales.com/node/539882

There';s so many more but I'll try and drag them out over the coming few days. Here's another very special favourite - arv_d's 'Her London Bed': http://www.abctales.com/story/arv_d/her-london-bed

I have to agree with leftboy: I like ritawrites' writing. Hell, I even liked some of her mad, scatological insults, although they clearly got on lots of people's tits (and she did go OTT). There are so many good writers on here; there are those who get constantly flagged (and so need not even bother with mentioning), but there are little gems that get lost in the glitter of the more prodigious writers, too. I like purplehaze's journals, and I laughed a good deal at Missi's 'Essex Girl' ditty, though maybe he didn't mean it to be funny....erp!

Can't really compete with UEA Massive and the others. Anyone in from Thames Valley University? Eng Lit Tutor From Hell: Dr. Elaine Ross - and I quote - trust the tale, not the teller.

Hey, I'm in Calcutta and yet the pull of ABCtales is still strong. Thanks Enzo - you've made an old man very happy. Ritawrites, it's true, has written some good poems. My instinct is to shout 'plagiarism!' but I think that might be unfair. I can't remember the name but it used a kind of flood of very specific details to create a world. It was actually good. I have to admit that I'm not the widest reader but I do check out other people's work. It's not terribly surprising that the same names are mentioned again and again... there are plenty of hidden gems but there are also plenty of flagged pieces which leave me cold as gaspatchio soup. In the real non-cyber world, I only 'know' - jack, rokkit and span - and I try and only flag one of their pieces when I am feel certain that it is going to be flagged/cherried anyway but it does not get any attention. Old faves: D. Beswetherick, Drew Gummerson, Liana, Rokkit, Beef, Jack... Recent faves: Chant, Fergal, Span, Enzo There are plenty more individual pieces that I like but I'm not going to search them out because this internet cafe smells of wee. Thanks for the comments! Joe

Fellow scribes, please forgive my ignorance, but what is a "uea"er?

has anybody read? What do u think Enzo? http://www.abctales.com/node/545315

UEA'ers are people who went to UEA, the University of East Anglia. There's a bunch of creative writing courses there. Some of us liked to share resources and stuff, so news of ABC got round and we've been infesting the site for years. I've more than once suffered from the problem of not knowing that someone on this site is actually someone I know in real life, which has led to me inadvertently layering praise on UEA'ers in the past (brighteyes, when she used the site more,) exchanging angry words with nice people (span, who's 'post more stuff' thread I took umbrage to, because I was in a bad mood,) and being, presently, confused as to the identity of McManaman...

I met Mcmanaman on Saturday, ever such a nice chap. I had met him before on the Great Yarmouth trip but been too boozed to remember. If this site were not anonymous I would gladly tell you his name but what if he does not want anyone to know! I doubt it, but it is a possibility. Ach, it werent angry words. More cyber grouchness. I want to write a Dunthorne. What do I have to do? Span Span

Whatever you like, as long as you fulfil one of these conditions. Either: a) the poem must end with the sudden arrival (either a literal arrival, or the narrative introduction,) of a cyclist, usually blond (I've been told to spell the male 'blonde' without an 'e') and occasionally, if more detail is called for, eating olives while cycling. This cyclist must meet an untimely and unpleasant end. The more out of step it is with the tone of the rest of the poem, the better. In the best kind of Dunthorne, the cyclist's demise will completely ruin an otherwise lovely poem. It should at least end it on a rum note. Or: b) the lesser used form, where the narrator of the poem is the one who dies at the end, but in a bewildering manner, and as ambiguously as possible. The best tactic is to end on a strange set of images that suggest something dramatic has happened. We got this from the fact that neither Tim nor I realised that Joe had been hit by a car at the end of 'Olives' until it was pointed out to us. Tim thought I was joking at first, and had to be assured by Joe, that yes, this is what had happened. This is no slur on the poem though, as it seems most people had no problem understanding that the cyclist had died. That's one of the marvellous things about poetry - what is clear as anything to one person can be a mystery to another.

I could tease you with the identity of Mcmanaman, tease you with clues alluding to who I am. But it is simply me, john osborne. I enjoyed debating with span over whether we were 'ueaers', as the two of us didn't study writing there, we just tagged along. End of confusion.