Moira McPartlin's Blog, page 2

Sun Song Trilogy Publication Day

Publication Day is always an exciting time for an author. Today marks the publication of the eBook of the Sun Song Trilogy. All three novels in the trilogy have had individual eBooks published in the past, but somehow, seeing the novels as one trilogy gives me a greater thrill.

eBook available from all good eBook sellers

Unlike the individual novels, the eBook trilogy is being marketed towards the adult, scifi reader. This is because we have found this is the audience most receptive to the story.

A fabulous new cover has been created by my publisher, Fledgling Press, and I have a fantastic video following the whole journey.

Have a look.

Most of the promotion has been done online but my local book seller, Guid Reads in Alva, has pulled out all the stops. The owner, Ruth Galloway has written quotes up on the windows and is promoting heavily through her own networks. Thank You!

I shared the video and cover through my newsletter way ahead of publication. If you would like sneak peeks at what’s coming up in future months you can sign up for the newsletter here.

Blog Extra Exclusive

Tomorrow I will be sharing my new book trailer in the Blog Extra Newsletter.

There is still time to sign up here.

The Joy of a Reading Challenge (or two or three!)

 

At the end of last year Goodreads reported that I had read 104 books in 2020. The fact that I was in lockdown for much of the year contributed to that high number but it wasn’t the only reason.

I love lists and at some time, early in 2020, someone posted the BBC Big Read list on Facebook. It was a thrill to tick all the books I had read. Then to help their readers cope in the early, anxious days of the first lockdown, my local library in Stirling began online book quizzes. They were great fun; I did OK but found that I had huge gaps in my book knowledge. The quizzes made me want to read some of the books they had featured. One of those books was I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith and thankfully my library had an ebook version I could borrow. It’s a fantastic book and after I’d finished reading, I went back to my Big Read list and found it there at number 82.

So what is Big Read?  In 2003 the BBC began a search to find the nations favourite books and asked the public for nominations. They then compiled the results, ranking them 1 to 200.

Big Read Book List

I decided that I would spend 2020 trying to complete all the books I hadn’t read in the 1 to 50 section. At first I didn’t think it was too big an ask, I only had about eighteen left to read. On closer inspection I realised that my ‘to read list’ included some biggies. Lord of the Rings, David Copperfield, two by Jane Austen and two by Thomas Hardy. Luckily included in my eighteen were some children’s books I could easily get through.

Next was the problem of accessing the books. My library was closed and they only had a few that I needed in their ebook catalogue. I had a couple already in the house waiting on the shelf.  

Oh dear, there was no other option left to me, I would need to buy more books!

Filling my reading gap

On examination of the whole list I decided to invest (99p each) in ebooks of The Complete Works of Thomas Hardy and The Complete Works of Charles Dickens. The rest I ordered from a local book seller, Portobello Book Shop, who were maintaining an online service during lockdown.  

That was my classics list sorted or so I thought. Halfway through the year a TV series Novels That Shaped Ours World was aired, and with it came another list, this time from 2019. The list of books were decided on by a selected panel of writers and was divided into categories like Identity, Adventure, Class and Society, Rule Breakers etc. I went through the same process, ticking the ones I had read. Thankfully, there is some cross over with the Big Read list but many on this new list are in series form; Disc World, Sandman, Harry Potter and The Twilight Series to name a few. I knew I wouldn’t be able to (or want to) read them all, but I keep the list by the other one and dip into it now and again. I also have a list of Muriel Spark’s books and The List of Best Scottish Books from 2005, but that needs updated.

Reading back this post it sounds as though I am obsessed with lists and I am up to a point.  I see this as a way of targeting my reading, but it is not the only reading I do. These lists contain fiction only.

I enjoy reading non-fiction, and poetry and, being a writer, I read for research.  I also have lots of writer friends whose books I love reading on release.  I am also a member of an online global reading group. It is curated by poet, Alice Jennings who resides in Santa Fe. This group is perfect for introducing me to unexpected novels, often from the US. And of course there’s the odd recommendation that comes out of nowhere.

So how did I do last year with my personal reading challenge?  I read all my gaps in the 1-50 Big Read list except for Lord of the Rings, although I did read Fellowship of the Rings; I just couldn’t face reading the whole thing, but I will finish it over the next few years. I even read some of the Novels That Shaped Our World.

This year I plan to fill my reading gaps in the Big Read 51-100 list. Twenty three books this time and although there are again lots of kids books to whizz through there are some heavies, including James Joyce’s Ulysses. This is a book I should have read years ago and have resisted but I can’t put if off any longer. Hopefully the library will be open in the near future -until then, I’ll just need to buy more books!

To hear more about my writing process and my reading journey why not sign up to Blog Extra, my newsletter here?

I’m going in!

 

Time to Shake off the 2020 Doldrum

When I wrote my last blog post the UK had just entered another lockdown. During the first lockdown in April, May, June, I ran every day and spent lots of time in my garden. This time it’s different. We are in deep winter and in Scotland that means dark days and icy roads which makes spending long periods outside difficult. Luckily, this time my fallow writing period has come to an end. My attitude is, if I am to be locked up, I’m going to make the most of that time.

During 2020 I reworked a short novel I have been working on for a couple of years. And I completed a 12,000 word mini read.

But that’s not all. I want to learn another new skill. Because both the short novel and mini read are difficult to place with a traditional publisher, I have decided to begin a self-publishing journey.

I have engaged the services of Lumphanan Press to help with the editing and design work. I’ve created my own brand (to be revealed shortly). The short novel should be ready for publication in April.

This means there will be lots of exciting announcements around new projects and I’ll be eager to share them with you.

It’s time to shake off the doldrums of 2020 and reconnect with readers through regular blog posts.  But I want to do more. For the first time I am going to create a mailing list which will give me the opportunity of offering added value to loyal fans. I won’t bombard you with newsletters, but I will give you sneak previews of work in progress, exclusive news about giveaways and cover reveals.

As well as talking about my new projects I’ll be revisiting some of the highlight from my other novels, The Incomers and The Sun Song Trilogy.

You can sign up to my mailing list here.

I hope you will join me in this exciting new journey.

My Goalbook

Nine Months Later

It’s hard to believe that the last post I wrote on this blog was nine months ago when I had just returned from The Sahara Desert. I did try to write a blog in those last nine months, but each time I sat down to write about what I had been doing; future plans, projects I’d started, something stopped me writing. It may have been the fact that I was anxious about the health and well being of my family or maybe I felt guilty that I was creating while knowing other writers were stuck – either due to home schooling or writer’s block.

When I say I was creating I don’t mean working in my usual writing routine. I too suffered from writer’s block for a while. How do you write dystopian fiction when the world you live in is dystopian? I found new ways to be creative.

I knitted for Scotland. I made a blanket, a rug and many garments for myself and my family.

I kept a lockdown diary to record the bizarre and frightening time we were living through.

I researched how to write a comic book and completed a fifty page comic script.

I wrote bad poetry.

When the DIY stores opened again I painted and decorated my study.

And eventually, after things eased off in the lockdown I returned to some of my works in progress and completed them as final manuscripts.

I had hoped to start 2021 with a bright new blog post for the future. I do have exciting plans but as we find ourselves in lockdown once again I find that those plans may need to be adapted with each new twist this virus chooses to throw at us.

I can share that this week I have been working on a video. I’ve been invited to appear in an online book festival in March. It is great fun to learn a new skill yet again and I plan to share part of the finished video on here in the near future.

Lockdown Knitting

Five go to the Sahara

I have been on writing retreats before but nothing like the one I have just returned from.

When I received the email last August from author Linda Cracknell asking if I would be interested in joining her on a writing retreat at Café Tissardmine, in the Sahara desert, I didn’t have to consider too long. In fact I replied within the hour.

[image error]Sunrise the first morning

Extreme environments intrigue me and I always knew one day I would visit a desert.

The retreat group gathered in Marrakesh before we headed east. Five women writers all approaching or just passing sixty years of age. Two I knew already, two I’d only just met, but we quickly bonded as we sat sipping mint tea on a balcony above Place Jemaa el-Fna, watching the sun go down and swapping our plans for the retreat.

Our driver, Mohammed, picked us up at 9.00am next day and we set off on a ten hour road trip that took us through the Atlas Mountains, past the vast movie studio at Ouarzazate, and skirting the Draa Valley. We were almost at the Algerian border before we drew off the asphalt road and stopped.

‘You transfer now,’ Mohammed informed us. Like something out of an action movie being shot back at the studio up the road, the dust kicked up on the horizon, a white Landrover emerged and sped towards us. This was Youssef, who transferred our bags and took us the thirty minute off road section to Café Tissardmine.

[image error]The settlement of Tissardmine with the huge sand dune Erg Chebbi in the background

It was almost dark when we arrived.

The first thing that strikes you about founder and director, Karen Hadfield is her height. She is 6ft 1in tall. Her sun bleached hair was roughly pushed behind her ears and she was well wrapped up against the chill of the night air in traditional clothes .

She welcomed us with tea and peanuts and showed us our individual tents set in a cosy enclosure.  The tents are traditional Berber with the added comfort of an en-suite toilet and shower.

After choosing our tents and dumping our luggage we were served a delicious meal prepared by cook Hadijah. This was the beginning of our gastronomic delight of tagines, stews, daals, soups, eggy breakfasts and fresh baked cakes for tea times.  Every meal Hadijah cooked was delicious, traditional and very filling. She needs to write her own cookbook.

[image error]A night under the stars

There is no internet or phone signal at Tissardmine so we all had to adjust to being out of contact with our loved ones and the world for a while. It didn’t take long.

We had been warned that it grows cold in the desert when the sun is down. The first morning I rose early to catch the sunrise and was glad I’d brought my duvet jacket with me.

After breakfast Karen gave us a tour of the café compound and adjoining settlement. She laid out the schedule for meals which were regular and worked well with our writing day.  Because this was a retreat we were free to do as we wished. There were no workshops planned and no need to share our work although we did do a couple of shared exercises which were great fun.

I very soon settled into a good writing routine and was delighted that my fellow writers had a similar discipline. The retreat space offers lots of sunny and shady areas to work in.

We were welcome to walk around the village without being hassled by local kids because Karen had organised a local market for us to buy the crafted goods they had to sell. One morning I went for a run. I had expected the desert to be quiet but from the high point of my run I noticed quite a lot of activity from nearly Erg Chebbi, a large dune that attracts lots of tourist. On the way back from my run I was overtaken by a passing car rally.

[image error]Sunset at Erg Chebbi

Karen had arranged a camel ride and overnight camping trip which was the highlight of my stay. We were looked after by the chameliers, who served the food prepared in advance by Hadijah and made us breakfast in the morning. We had sleeping bags and blankets and were able to sleep under the magnificent starry sky. Our early morning walk to watch the sunrise was an experience I will never forget.

Before we left we were given another treat. A ride out to Erg Chebbi to join the tourists in watching the sunset. Despite the tourism around the dunes they are spectacular and unspoiled. I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit.

[image error]Enjoying good food and good company under the stars

Karen was a wonderful host and being a writer herself, joined us in many activities. She became one of the group.

This retreat made a big impact on me. Karen is a unique individual who has chosen a different (some would say difficult) life to most women her age, but Tissardmine is her passion and I can see why. The value of older women seems to be increasingly overlooked in our society. As I grow older I feel myself becoming more invisible every day. To spend time in such a special place with strong, talented and accomplished women was a privileged. By the time I left Café Tissardmine to rejoin the world of everyday worries I felt empowered not just as a writer but as a woman.

[image error]My favourite scene from the trip. Local children playing football at sunset.

 

 

 

Sources and Transformations – The Sun Song Trilogy

My Sun Song Trilogy is set in 2089 in an altered world; a world divided between the small Privileged class and their native slaves.  The main characters in the novels are Sorlie, a sixteen year old Privileged boy and Ishbel, his 21 year old native slave.  Sorlie has a normal teenager’s life until one day something happens to his parents and Ishbel takes him to live with his tyrant grandfather, Davie, on the penitentiary island of Black Rock. Most of the action for the first novel takes place on Black Rock Island but before Sorlie’s father disappeared he told the boy of Freedom, an island in the Atlantic archipelago from where Sorlie’s grandmother, Vanora, leads her Revolutionary Army.

The idea for the original story came to me in a dream but as soon as I began writing I realised that the story would need to be set in the future but reflect what was happening in today’s world. I took two things that worry me, climate change and the rise of right wing politics. I asked myself ‘what if we continued on this path, what would my world look like in 2089?’

The main setting, Black Rock Penitentiary, could have been anywhere but while on holiday, as I stood on the western shores of North Uist and looked across at the mysterious islands of St Kilda, I knew this would be a perfect setting. The inhabitants of St Kilda, cut off from civilisation, were almost totally self-sufficient. Most of their food, heating and lighting came from the seabirds they caught on their cliffs. In 1930 the inhabitants were permanently evacuated because their resources had become depleted and they suffered great hardship. Archive photos of the St Kilda inhabitants show people obviously miserable with their lot. The main island became a military base in 1957. I saw many parallels between St Kilda and the world of diminishing resources I created for my trilogy.

[image error]St Kilda Residents

I have never visited St Kilda, but the landscape I imagined outside the walls of the prison can also be found in the ruined croft sites from the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th century, when wealthy landowners cleared crofters from the land and burned their homes to make way for sporting estates and sheep. ‘Ruin’ is said to be the most commonly used word on the Ordnance Survey maps of Scotland so there are plenty of sites to choose from particularly around the west coast and the island of Skye and Mull. The Highland Clearance is a perfect example of the history of oppression on one section of society by another.

 

[image error]Ruined Croft

I believe that in any society, in any age, there will be always be one group who is oppressed.  In my 2089 world the Privileged class rule over the natives who are Celts. Celts were one of the first immigrants to Scotland, in fact my own family came from Ireland during the potato famine of 1800s and at the time the Irish were treated very badly.

 

[image error]Ruined Croft

 

To fully prepare for writing of this oppressed society I had invented I read many history books. A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn lists atrocity after atrocity from when Columbus first landed in the Bahamas in 1492 to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

 

Probably the most heart-breaking book I’ve ever read is Dee Brown’s Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee about the treatment of the Native American at the hands of white settlers and the US government.   I also read The Diary of David Sierakowiak – Five notebooks from the Łódź Ghetto. The Łódź Ghetto was established by the Germans in 1939 after their invasion of Poland to house Polish Jews and Roma. The conditions of deprivation and starvation described in these history books gave me a background into genuine community suffering.

 

[image error] [image error]

Another WWII story I drew on for my novels was the story of The Shetland Bus. The Shetland Bus was a clandestine operation managed out of the Shetland Islands form 1941 to 1945 to create a permanent link between Shetland and German occupied Norway. Small fishing boats and sometimes submarines were used to drop spies behind enemy lines or aide people escaping occupied territory. After I visited the Shetland Islands I realised that its remote location is why it was chosen as a secret station and I decided to base my fictional revolutionary army there and call it Freedom.

[image error]Lunna House, Shetland

The Native Freedom Fighters of my novels are led by main protagonist Sorlie’s grandmother, Vanora. Her base, Freedom, features in all three novels.  Boats called Moorloggers and decommissioned nuclear submarines carry out the transport to and from Freedom. Vanora’s command centre is a house under which a huge subterranean bunker houses all operations.  She has a panopticon room with a ticker wall in the middle managing her communications network and a warren of other rooms to accommodate her engineers. While on Shetland I visited Lunna House, where the real operations were coordinated by the British army.  I took a photo of it and used it as my image to help me visualise where Vanora’s command centre lay.

I believe that to create an authentic future world it is essential to examine history. I would like to think that we can learn from history but based on my own studies for this trilogy, it seems that is hopeful thinking.

About The Sun Song Trilogy

Book #1 Ways of the Doomed

It’s the year 2089 and everything is altered. The revolutions of the early 21st century have created a world divided – between the Privileged few and the Native (Celtic) underclass. Sorlie is enjoying a typical carefree Privileged teenage life until it is smashed apart by the cruel death of his parents and he is spirited away to live with his ice-cold grandfather at a mysterious island penal colony. Sorlie’s discovery that the captives are being genetically altered to remove all trace of their Native origins triggers a chain of shocking events that reveal his grandfather’s terrible secrets and, ultimately, the truth about himself.

Book #2 Wants of the Silent

The second thrilling volume of the Sun Song trilogy takes Sorlie to the floodlands of southern Esperaneo to discover that family, love and resilience can triumph against even the harshest regime. Escaping from the penal colony on Black Rock, Sorlie joins his grandmother Vanora’s revolutionary army, expecting to find freedom. Instead he finds murder and mayhem. With her army in disarray and her network of supporters disappearing, Vanora chooses Sorlie to become her warrior. When Vanora is kidnapped, Sorlie becomes injured and marooned in the strange reservation of Steadie where old people and specials are hidden and protected from The State. But these outcasts are not the only secrets Steadie keeps. Why is Sorlie kept drugged for over a week? What are their links to The Blue Pearl Society? Why are they so wary of the Noiri black marketeers? And who is The Prince everyone is whispering about?

Book #3 Star of Hope

The third and final exciting volume of The Sun Song Trilogy finds Sorlie and Ishbel working together in one last attempt to save Esperaneo. As The Prince’s health deteriorates he hands over leadership of the Star of Hope’s mission to Sorlie and Ishbel. But what is the Star of Hope? All they know is that it will free the native race from slavery. On mainland Esperaneo Major, Ishbel travels north through a hostile artic forest while Sorlie, Reinya and Dawdle head for the southern dry lands. On the way both parties battle extreme weather and betrayal, but it is only when the two missions meet that the frightening truth of their world is revealed. And one final betrayal decides the fate of the mission and their fight for freedom. The Sun Song trilogy explores life in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic Britain where society’s norms have broken down and life has to be lived differently.

This blog post originally appeared in Serendipity Reviews April 2019

Open The Door 2019

Glasgow Women’s Library’s mission is to celebrate the lives and achievements of women, champion their historical, cultural and political contributions and act as a catalyst to eradicate the gender gap that contributes to widespread inequalities in Scotland. The Open the Door festival, now in its third year and held over the weekend 17th to 19th May 2019, certainly meets that mission.

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This new literary festival, which takes its name from Catherine Carswells’ 1920s ground breaking novel, is not in the style of most festivals where speaker and audience are seperated by time slots, podiums and green room areas. Open the Door has a relaxed format where everyone mingles and shares.

I attended the Saturday daytime event which ran from 10.30am until 4.30pm.  There were six sessions runnng in the morning from which to choose two. The sessions were: A Manifesto for Women with Elizabeth Reeder from Scottish PEN; Language as Activism with young peot laureate Momtaza Mehri; Start-up Publishing delivered by Lauren Nickodemus of Monstrous Regiment; An Equal Education led by singer songwriter Linda Jackson. And the two I attended.

[image error]Helen Fitzgerald

My first session was Adapting for Screen with The Cry author, Helen Fitzgerald in conversation with author and journalist Lesley McDowell. This was a round table discussion where Helen explained her journey into novel and screen writing and told us many of the highs and lows of the industry. Helen, like her novels, is very funny but through the wit and candour I could feel her frustration at the process. One thing that struck me about her story was of the difficulty in finding the right people to push your novel to a production company and how in this male dominated industry it seems the only road in is through face to face conversations and bull shit – an approach that doesn’t come naturally to most women.

[image error]Kerry Hudson

The next session was Unheard Voices, Untold Stories led by Lowborn author Kerry Hudson. I found this session particularly moving because many women, including myself, were given the space to discuss the barriers we felt when trying to tell our own stories. Kerry told us about her difficult life and career path. She was open, encouraging and very inspiring. I had the impression many women left the session with determination under their belts.

Lunch was held in the events space which allowed more time for networking, reconnection and a summation of the morning sessions.

[image error]Elizabeth Reeder feeding back on her session

 

The afternoon session was again two choices. The first half contained a Story Café led by GWL’s librarian Wendy Kirk and Feminist Zine-Making with comic artist Olivia Hicks.

 

 

 

The one I chose was Researching Historical Fiction, a workshop delivered by Lesley McDowell who has spent years delving into archives. The hour was well spent with Lesley giving us examples of doorstop novel vs small novel, real person v fictional person, and two novels written about the same person. This was an excellent way into the subject. I know that the teachings from the examples will stay with me.

[image error]Lesley McDowell

The final sessions were a Creative Writing workshop guided by author Catherine Simpson whose recently published memoir, When I had a Little Sister, is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year; Drama Queens, exploring the plays of Janet Paisley led by GWL’s Donna Moore and the one I attended – Making it Count, an exploration of the gender imbalance in Scottish Literature delivered by Stirling University’s Christina Neuwirth and Prof Claire Squires.

[image error]Christina Neuwirth and Claire Squires

Christina has carried out research into the subject and asked the group to guess some statistics from the world of reviews, festivals and publishing. The figures were depressingly in favour of male authors, but most depressing was the fact that all the women in the room guessed correctly. This presentation was followed by hands on exercises of analysis and feedback to the group.

[image error]Penguin at the heart of a Publishing model

I believe I would have enjoyed this format no matter who was delivering the workshops but what made it extra special for me was that I knew most of the authors and academics. It was fantastic just to reconnect with writerly pals from the days when I was just starting out on my own writing journey.

The Glasgow Women’s Library and the organising committee have been triumphant in this festival. Long may it run.

 

 

Book Blog Tour and Blitz

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Star of Hope, the third novel in my Sun Song Trilogy was published in February. As usual there was the flurry of promotion: events, review copies sent out, radio interviews.

This time around my publisher organised a Love Books Group blog tour for the new publication but because this was the third in a series it was agreed that a Book Blitz for each of the other two books would work best.

Most writers know what a Book Blog Tour is but a Blog Blitz is different. There are the same number of bloggers as a normal tour but rather than a week of blogging it happnes over only three days.

What I didn’t realise at the time of agreeing was that I was required to provide nearly all the content.

Before the tours I had to prepare ten blog posts (min 300 words), two interviews and ten excerpts.

The excerpts were easy, I picked pieces I use for readings.

The Q & As were OK to do too becasue the bloggers asked different questions and I enjoyed the diversity.

The hardest thing was to write ten blog posts about three different books from the same trilogy. I was very concious of repeating myself and becoming a bit stale.  I worked hard to keep them fresh.

The subjects suggested for all three books were, location, inspiration, favourite character to write or something different. The inspiration and location for all three books are very different but the main characters carry the story the whole way, so I had to be inventive to mix and match it.

Once the content was delivered I has a couple of weeks wait before the Twitter storm.

I am a reguler user of Twitter but, unlike some writers, I don’t have a huge following. Imagine my suprise when I woke up on Monday morning to find 50 plus notifications waiting.  The first blitz blog had gone out, and throughout the day more were posted. Each time a blog went live I retweeted the posts, liked the retweets and thanked everyone for their comments and shares. Day two and three of the first week for Ways of the Doomed was a great success.

On the Monday of week two I expected the same but business wasn’t so brisk, even so I was still kept very busy.

The third week was the full blown Book Blog Tour for Star of Hope, but I was going on holiday and found it difficult to tweet and retweet. I have discovered that when these tours are running you need to be on retweet duty all day (I am not clever enough to set up scheduled tweets).

Was it worth all the work?

The tour organiser thought so. The traffic on the tour was a weekly Twitter reach of 2.6 million and I boosted some of the blogs on my Facebook author page and that produced lots of engagement.

Over the course of the next few weeks I will repost all my Book Blog Tour posts on this site and with pictures.

Music and Storytelling: Celtic Connections

The month of January is a long, dark month, but in Scotland we have Celtic Connections, festival of world music, to brighten up this grim month. Each year I attend at least three  #CCfest events. Sometimes they are carefully researched, sometimes greatness is stumbled upon.

The festival is only half way through and already I’ve been rewarded with two great nights.

Dirt Road to Lafayette

The first was held at the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT). Dirt Road to Lafayette is a film written by Booker winning novelist, James Kelman. My sister invited me to join her because the star of the film was her fiddle teacher’s son, Neil Sutcliffe. What I didn’t know about Neil (19) is what an extremely talented musician he is.

The story of Dirt Road to Lafayette is set in North Alabama and follows a young boy (Murdo) and his father (Tom) on a holiday of grief.  Murdo’s mother, Tom’s wife has recently died and both men are hurting badly. While out walking in a small town, Murdo hears music from a nearby neighbourhood. He encounters legendary accordion player Queen Monzee-ay and, although he hasn’t played since his mother’s death, Murdo joins her in playing some traditional tunes. Throughout the rest of the film we see Murdo working his grief through the zydeco music of the region. Murdo strives to join Queen Monzee-ay on stage at a festival in Lafayette. The festival scenes where Murdo and Queen Monzee-ay play together are outstanding.

After the film there was a question and answer session with Kelman, Sutcliffe and director , where we learned that Neil was only fifteen years old when the film was shot. The film was low budget but Kelman’s enthusiasm for the music of the area and Glenaan’s passion for the story proved their determination to make the project work. As a finale Neil treated the theatre audience to a live performance of the waltz that sparked off Murdo’s zydeco journey. 

Karine Polwart and Kris Drever and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra

This double bill was held at Glasgow’s majestic Kings Theatre and was a feast of musical storytelling.

The support act, Kentuckian duo, The Local Honeys treated us to a glimpse of their heritage; tales of coal mining and the railroad, many tunes penned by themselves, many by their Kentucky ‘Sheros’.

There followed a short interval to allow the Chamber Orchestra to tune up for the main event.

Nearly all the songs featured strong storytelling, from a remembrance of the Kindertransports, and the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow to two or three? songs connected by the strange unlikely beauty of Grangemouth Petrochemical Plant and another of a small girls plan to survive a nuclear blast.

For me the highlight from Karine Polwart was the wee bird song. She has recently published a children’s picture book and I have to admit when I first heard this I thought ‘she’s a musician, what does she know about writing’. This of course was a foolish thought, all Karine Polwart’s songs are pure storytelling. And when she told the story of the wee bird from her book I was captivated and made a mental note to buy it for my granddaughter.

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My Kris Drever highlight was Ghost, a song about being treated as an incomer even though born in this country.

There is no doubt the Scottish Chamber Orchestra added a new dynamic to the music and turned this into a spectacular concert, but if I’m honest both Polwart and Drever could have carried off the whole show with their voices and acoustic guitars alone.

Music is storytelling, storytelling is music and Celtic Connections knows how to put on that show.