After the publication of Ashes & Stones I was busy moving to Orkney. During this chaos, a story began to emerge—a woman’s story. She was insistent and ever-changing, spanning millennia. I called her Kára, a valkyrie’s name, a reincarnated being attested in an Old Norse poem in the Poetic Edda. If anyone could show me how to rise from the ashes of despair—it was Kára. Her name in Old Norse means wild and stormy; she was Orcadian through and through, but from way back.

I began to write her tale down, incorporating what I had come to know from my extensive research into Scottish fairy folklore demonised during the witch hunts.

I wanted a witch book that wouldn’t dwell on persecution and suffering. I wanted a witch book that wasn’t vapidly escapist fantasy—plucking the good bits from women’s stories and leaving the rest. I wanted a witch book that wouldn’t trigger me, so I wrote one.

I also wanted complete artistic and editorial control of this book. Could I manifest this thing into the world in direct relationship to my readers? And then I made a plan to make this possible.

I will be running a Kickstarter for the book early next year, with a limited edition hardback and ebook. You—my wonderful subscribers—will be the first to hear about it!

I began to create maps of the alternate Scotland and Seal Islands where the novel takes place. There is also a map that shows how Kára perceives of time—a temporal map. From that grew sketches for chapter headings. Polished versions will be included in the book

The cover is by the wonderful artist who did the illustration for the cover of Ashes and Stones, Iain Macarthur. I told him about the book, sharing art from Vail Myers and Remedios Varo that influenced me. What he has created fits the book perfectly.