Crowvus Book Blog

 Today's blog is a bit of a challenge... Next week, there is an exhibition in Thurso Art Gallery (it's the back room of the library, for any people in the area who are are interested in going along!) entitled Caithness Connections . I've had a little sneak peek on social media and been amazed by the variety of ideas the artists have used to consider the theme. It set me thinking about how differently people see their home, and how greatly it differs to how other people see it. Caithness is not a well-explored area, either in tourism (although this has improved since the NC500 route became popular) or in the arts, as its near neighbour Orkney. This is not always a bad thing - the Orkney which exists now is a far cry from the one I knew as home in my childhood thanks to the insane amount of cruise ship traffic, but when you say Caithness to most people from outwith Northern Scotland, most of them have no idea where it is if they've even heard of it. A few years ago, I wro...

 I once answered a call for submissions based on ghost stories of my local area. Now, the funny thing with Caithness is: most people seem to believe in - and many people will share stories about how they've witnessed - supernatural happenings around the county. However, there aren't many well-known stories. Of course, there's the standard young-maiden-falling-out-of-castle-window story for at least two of the castles up here, and there's the eerie story of the man whose brother locked him up in Castle Sinclair Girnigoe with no food. Both characters feature in Caithness ghost stories. But it's high time someone actually explored the individual's ghost stories. In fact, that's something I might do, if I ever actually get sufficient time on my hands! Where are the stories which are connected to the "ordinary" buildings? We've been sharing our Stempster Spectres in our monthly newsletters and, believe me, there are plenty of those! A little further...

 During November, the Scottish reading and writing community come together for Book Week Scotland . This week-long, themed event is designed to break barriers and promote a love of books and reading for all. This year's theme is Hope , and I encourage all of you - whether you are in Scotland or not - to keep up with and enjoy the events which are happening (quite a few are online). This year, Book Week Scotland is 18th-24th November. So, in the spirit of community and hope, here is a little poem I wrote about a mother rocking her child to sleep. It embodies the fears and hopes of the historical communities of Orkney, where I grew up, and Caithness, where I live now. In a time before mobile phones or satellite weather forecasting, hope  was the only connection those on land had with their loved ones on the sea. The Fishwife’s Lullaby Hush… Father’s boat will soon be mooring. You shall see him in the morning When tide returns him home. Sleep… Time for thoughts and dreams of glor...

 Happy New Year, Readers! Because we're in a new year, I'm trying to be super-organised. There are so many things going on, I have to keep tabs on everything! So here's what is planned... This year for #HistFicThursdays, I am opening up a space every month for a fellow Historical Fiction writer to share a guest post. This opportunity is open on a first-come-first-serve basis, so please get in touch if you are interested in having a guest post. Each month, there will also be a free historical short story or poem, across a broad range of times and genres. There'll be one or two book tour posts, too, and I'm also aiming to write a post about the inspirations for aspects of different books. So, if it all goes according to plan, it will be a very busy year of #HistFicThursdays! To start off the inspirational posts, here's a quick introduction to my new release. It's not Historical Fiction, but it is all about the inspiration for the story I wrote in NaNoWriMo las...

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog about drawing inspiration from your local area. Two years on and here I am with a blog post about my latest published story, Proof of the Old Faith , which is one of the short stories in the Masterworks  antholgy (which you can get here !). The story is based around the creation of the Maeshowe Dragon, a work of viking grafitti in Orkney, and it is one of the reliably documented outings of Harald Maddadsson [assuming the dragon dates from the second set of runes]. In Proof of the Old Faith , Harald in portrayed as a fearsome figure who the main character believes is the embodiment of the dragon Níðhöggr. In truth, Harald was certainly as frightening as a dragon, with the same fiery temper, and an equal tendency towards destruction. The Maeshowe Dragon Harald had a mixed lineage, both Norse and Gaelic, and it was his mother's involvement with politics in Orkney which led him to claim a right to the jarldom. He had the longest tenure as Jarl of O...

We at Crowvus are delighted to bring our newest story to the market! Honour's Rest is a young adult magical realism, filled with danger and adventure, with a good dollop of self-sacrifice on the side. We were lucky enough to persuade the main character of the book, Pendragon Devon, to come and answer some of our questions. Perhaps, after you've read the book yourself, you have a question for him too. Feel free to write your questions in the comments below. Here's a bit of background on the Rite, for those who are unsure: The Rite is definitely not  magic (but really, it is, just don't tell Napier we said that). There are 2 ways of channelling the Rite, each having their own pros and cons, and it's not so clear-cut as to be good vs bad. But that's enough from us...let's hand over to Pendragon. What is a Rendelf, and why is the job so important? Because there are two different forms of the Rite, I think the Rendelf was set up to make sure peace was kept betwee...

Thank you Judith Crow for writing this book review. Mysteries and Misadventure - Tales from the Highlands by Aaron Mullins I do like short stories. There’s just something about having the option to dive into a book for five minutes and emerge having completed an entire story. Aaron Mullins' Mysteries and Misadventures is a collection of short stories which are inspired by the area we live in. It always helps when you can put yourself in the place where the stories are set but, never fear, Aaron has a genuine gift for descriptive writing which allows people from any place to put themselves in the settings he skilfully creates. I regularly do the “first read” of the Crowvus Christmas Ghost Story competition, meaning that I can be reading over a hundred supernatural stories in a very short space of time. That makes me choosy and means I come at any such stories with a very critical eye. Mysteries and Misadventures does stand up well in this light. Again, that descriptive writing is wh...

Crowvus has published a new book this week: "Child of the Earth" by Susan Crow. This book is nature writing at its best, that beautiful mix between poetry and prose. To celebrate the launch, Susan is writing a series of blog posts, and creating some videos, to help others wanting to follow in the narrative non-fiction footsteps. Collating Information for Narrative Non-Fiction When I started this book, I wanted to include a number of pieces I had written in the past. I rummaged through old briefcases, folders and box files. I tried to find stories and accounts which I'd sent online. It took me a while and, at the end of it, I had a motley mix of might-be-useful  stuff. Then I had to sort it all out. I realised I couldn't do that until I had the structure of the book well in place. Another nature book. How do I make this one different? It seemed the easiest option was to use the calendar from January through to December. But it had been done many times ...

What a weekend it has been! The 1st John o' Groats Book Festival has been in the pipeline for a long time, and it certainly lived up to expectations. It started with a bang on Friday. A cartographer was launching her new set of Northern Scotland maps. Sadly, I was at work during this event but I've heard great things about it from people who were there. The cartographer's name is Val Fry and the publisher is Nicolson. The first event I could attend was on the Friday evening when the authors were introduced, including 8 fabulous local authors who each had a 10 minute slot. It was great to see one of the organisers, Ian Leith , start the evening by showing his books. The next author was Virginia Crow, published by Crowvus, who started her talk by showing the Day's Dying Glory book trailer which had people sitting on the edge of their seats. Virginia Crow, author of Day's Dying Glory It was super to hear so many local authors talk about their books, an...