Spring!

Added on 02 April 2018

We declare it officially spring here when the first primroses open on the croft. Here they are, nestled in a crack in a south-facing rock face, down close to the shore of Loch Roe. It looks like they've been out for a few days, although there are hardly any others open, so these are the vanguard...

Walrus Muttering

Added on 27 March 2018

Yesterday was one of those glorious blue days that you can’t quite believe at this time of year, rewarding all of those people who came huge distances to join me in the launching of The Walrus Mutterer. Thanks to everyone who came! We had a day of genial conversation on which we sailed back i...

Acknowledgements

Added on 19 March 2018

My new novel is now published! (You can buy your copy here). This is a big thrill, after years of research and writing, and it could not have come about without the help of dozens of people. I'd like to acknowledge them all here, in public. It all began with Clachtoll broch, so my first thanks m...

Winter

Added on 11 March 2018

I’m teaching three courses (creative writing, poetry and nature writing) at the University of Highlands and Islands this semester, in Inverness, so I spend two days a week there, which means I’m having some amazing landscape experiences. Driving home this Friday night was particularly sp...

Ice

Added on 26 February 2018

What is it about frozen lochans? I am entranced by them. Yesterday we walked for hours out into the frozen hinterland of Assynt, crunching across bogs that would, in their normal state, swallow us up to at least our knees. This land is more water than solid earth, and the network of little lochs is...

Book Launch for The Walrus Mutterer

Added on 26 February 2018

My new historical novel, The Walrus Mutterer, the first of a trilogy called Stone Stories, will launch in March 2018 at an event in Lochinver. The novel is set in the Iron Age, 320 BC, and the blurb on the back says. 'A visceral evocation of ancient folklore and ritual, The Walrus Mutterer is an...