After his son is crushed to death by an unexpected giant helmet, Manfred attempts to marry the son's fiancée, Isabella – when a portrait interferes: '…he saw it quit its panel, and descend on the floor with a grave and melancholy air.' – H. Walpole, The Castle of Otranto 1764 #bookwormsat

Happy #Caturday from Perkins

What a beautiful day. Happy Friday folks 🍻

My lad not dancing with wolves in Bradford on Avon

New poem: 'Atoms' As posted earlied for #fragmentsfriday www.abctales.com/story/marand...

Morning all. Here's my contribution to #fragmentsfriday. Thank you to @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social and @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social for the platform. Really looking forward to reading all the wonderful poetry posted today.

My latest story: Prophesy: The Immortal Witch part 19 The Press call www.abctales.com/story/marand...

‪ Very happy to have my work picked by the wonderful @abctales.bsky.social last night 💙 Thank you! 🙏

A new poem. Previously posted for #TopTweetTuesday Title changed for this version: 'The Expanse' www.abctales.com/story/marand...

One last time this season. Maybe ⚽ #AstonVillavSunderland

My latest story: Prophesy: The Immortal Witch Part 18 The Book of Revelations www.abctales.com/story/marand...

'Penny's Pass the Story - Part 10' A writing challenge at @ABC_Tales The end and the beginning 3/3 www.abctales.com/story/marand...

'Penny's Pass the Story - Part 6' A writing challenge at @abctales.bsky.social Cops and robbers, donuts and desperados 2/3 www.abctales.com/story/marand...

I changed the titles on a couple of stories posted recently which broke the links to read them. This miffed my lovely daughter who wanted to read the latest one (for some strange reason but I'm very grateful for the interest). Here they are again with new links: 1/3

‘The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse, The howling dog by the door of the house, The bat that lies in bed at noon, All love to be out by the light of the moon.’ ~ Robert Louis Stevenson for #BookWormSat #NationalPetDay #Caturday

‘We lived beneath the mat, Warm and snug and fat, But one woe, and that Was the cat! To our joys a clog, In our eyes a fog, On our hearts a log Was the dog! When the cat's away, Then the mice will play…’ ~ Lewis Carroll. 1/2 #BookWormSat

Here we go again ⚽⚽⚽ #WSMvEnfield

Goodnight and a little post for #PhantomsFriday An early night for me as I have laryngitis and have completely lost my voice.

‘She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person who kept a parrot.’ ~ Mark Twain 🦜 #BookWormSat 🖼️ The Lady of the Tooti-Nameh or The Legend of the Parrot, Valentine Cameron Prinsep, c.1865.

My latest story: 'Penny's Pass the Parcel Part 10' www.abctales.com/story/marand... An ABCTales writing challenge. It's the best I could do...

Delighted that the latest chapter in my work-in-progress is a Pick of the Day at the wonderful @abctales.bsky.social 💙 Thank you 🙏

My latest story: 'Prophesy: The Immortal Witch' Chapter 17 Translation at the vicarage www.abctales.com/story/marand...

A poem of mine with my photo of Blackthorn blossom.

More Easter wishes.

‘One woman told me…she did not believe either in hell or in ghosts. Hell she thought was an invention got up by the priest and ghosts would not be permitted to go 'trapsin about the earth' at their own free will; 'but there are faeries.’ ~ Yeats’ Celtic Twilight. #BookWormSat

Happy #Caturday

Portishead

On the death of a mother. Or one in particular. Mine. open.substack.com/pub/drewgumm...

A night at the football ⚽ #WSMvHemel

A day at the zoo

‘Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, The dear repose for limbs with travel tired; But then begins a journey in my head… Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind, For thee and for myself no quiet find.’ ~ Sonnet XXVII. #BookWormSat #ShakespeareWeek

‘(F)or the poor wren, the most diminutive of birds, will fight, her young ones in her nest, against the owl.’ ~ Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Sc 2. #BookWormSat #ShakespeareWeek

My latest story: "Penny’s Pass the Parcel - Part 6" A writing challenge at @abctales.bsky.social Quite bonkers somehow.. www.abctales.com/story/marand...

My latest story: Prophesy: The Immortal Witch part 16 An incident in the library www.abctales.com/story/marand...

A poem of 18 words. @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social #fragmentsfriday

Morning all and happy Friday. Here's a reworked fragment from a poem I wrote a few years ago. Looking forward to reading everyone's work @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social #fragmentsfriday

Here we go again. Need 3 pts today!! 😀⚽⚽⚽ #AstonVillavWestHam

‘We all have forests in our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each one of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone.’ ~ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wind's Twelve Quarters. #BookWormSat #InternationalDayOfForests 🖼️ Woodland, Ivan Shishkin.

‘I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray…’ ~ Joyce Kilmer, Trees. #BookWormSat #InternationalDayOfForests #WorldPoetryDay

On #WorldPoetryDay, ‘Grey Heron’ from @racheldeering.bsky.social ‘In the Shadow of Gods’. www.blackboughpoetry.com/rachel-deering #poetrylovers

Happy #Caturday from Shelley and Perkins

My latest story - 'Prophesy: The Immortal Witch Part 15' The Beginning and the End www.abctales.com/story/marand...

A poem by me about a wren, the river, a birch tree and dawn light: www.blackboughpoetry.com/rachel-deering

Happy #Caturday

‘The world is full of ghosts, and some of them are still people.’ ~ Peter Straub @racheldeering.bsky.social here for the rest of a very supernatural #BookWormSat #GothicSpring 🖼️ Forest Ghost, Ladislav Mednyánszky, 1890.

‘Oh whence do you come, my dear friend, to me With your golden hair all fallen below your knee And your face as white as snowdrops on the lea And your voice as hollow as the hollow sea?’ The Poor Ghost, Christina Rossetti. #BookWormSat #GothicSpring 🖼️ Aksel Johannessen, c.1920.

A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, Katharine Mary Briggs, 1976. For #BookWormSat #GothicSpring

‘Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today I wish, I wish he'd go away...’ ~ Antigonish - William Hughes Mearns. #BookWormSat

My latest story - Prophesy: The Immortal Witch Part 14 An unholy bargain www.abctales.com/story/marand...