Poetry Monthly – October Hello all and hope your transition between summer and autumn is a peaceful one. Last month’s theme was Back and it produced some marvellous writing. Here are three to go back to (I’ll avoid saying, see what I did there, as that would be awful): https://www.abctales.com/story/parson-thru/golden-hour https://www.abctales.com/story/pencilflake/back https://www.abctales.com/story/ewan/back-catalogue So, on to October – I...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0991fsb/louis-theroux-dark-states-1-heroin-town There’s a funereal feel to most things Louis Theroux is in. He’s like the Stephen King of documentaries and with a title like Dark State – Heroin Town you expect the residents to rise up from their crypt and stab you with a used syringe and make you part of the problem. The fortunate thing about Louis is he’s already undead. He’s like the actor that plays Steve...

*The new meds are making me hungry. whoops!

I got to page 41 of this book, Chapter 6. You might get further. I had a quick look because the author Laura Lam is coming to do a reading in Duntocher Library soon. Shattered Minds is a dystopian novel set in the near future. The setting is San Francisco, California, Pacifica. I guess that’s the place Laura Lam grew up, but there’s no such place as Pacifica. That’s a hint. The world is not as it seems. Near the Pacific, but no longer in broken...

I heard about this book in a kind of roundabout way. Richard Holloway had given a reading at Dalmuir Library and this was one of the books he said he re-read every few years. Well, that was good enough for me. I finally got around to reading The Last of the Just and was not disappointed. Where is God? That is the question this book asks. In the final chapter, the narrator of the biography of Ernie Levy, the last of the just men, is in a sealed...

We've been inundated with masses of really high quality writing this week (especially poetry) which has made for a difficult but very enjoyable search for the best of the best. Story of the Week is Noo's spectacular 'Vampire', and Poem of the Week is Hudsonmoon's brilliant "Shots fired''. Congratulations to both: https://www.abctales.com/story/noo/vampire https://www.abctales.com/story/hudsonmoon/shots-fired Here's this week's Inspiration Point...

What is it about a crisp fall day that sets the creative thoughts to warp speed? Every year, for as far back as I can remember, the first crisp days of autumn have always affected me this way. I want to change things...do things...discover or re-discover the world at large in my neighborhood... and beyond. The feeling is irrepressible…and I need to walk…not drive…to be surrounded by this cool fresh air… I want to sit outside with my morning cup...

What's in a kiss? Love test don't remiss? How he trailed her down her waist to the corner, the heat exploded eternal cave. Oceanic abyss she has the perfect waves. Love poem forming heart balancing weight​ Titanic heavy gold of freight. His kiss what was told Lovely mapped being sold. Waiting for the big wish? Love sometimes goes and pain visits The kiss went way up in digits

I’ve tried to stay with one story until the ending is done but mid-way through…I’ll get another spark of a story idea and have to write it out before I lose it…. Then half way between writing stories one and two…I will be inspired again and start a third … I know this is probably not the best way to write but it seems to be how my muse works for me. Of course, every time I jump back and forth between plot lines I have to go back and read the...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b096k8wz/the-vietnam-war-series-1-1-deja-vu-18581961 Déjà vu 1858-1961 The Vietnam War, in ten parts, is the best thing on television. Déjà vu seems quite apt, with the United States divided in a way not seen since those for and against the War and those that voted for the moron’s moron as President and those that hate everything he stands for. I’m not a citizen of the United States, but I’m in the latter...