WIDDERSHINS KICKSTARTER
My debut novel Widdershins will be crowdfunded on Kickstarter, launching April 30th of this year.
Widdershins travels from the Northern Isles to Edina in a rollicking, lyrical fairy tale for our modern age. Kara’s story is vibrant retelling of the selkie myth and an epic tale of connected lives spanning a thousand years. She time-slips through myth and folklore to a post-apocalyptic future and back again.
The novel is inspired by my extensive research into the folklore in the Scottish witchcraft confessions and by the mysterious landscape of Orkney where I live. The islands are like a sea ravaged time machine, and their rugged, otherworldly atmosphere has inspired my novel.
I’m Allyson Shaw, author of the critically acclaimed and Royal Society of Literature shortlisted, Ashes and Stones. I’m also a multimedia artist and my work has recently features in Brooklyn Museum’s Copy Machine Manifesto show. My illustrations and hand drawn maps will be included in the book. Artist Iain MacArthur has created the beautiful cover illustration.
The New York Times called my writing ‘lyrical magic’, and my debut nonfiction book was chosen by Waterstones as a Scottish Book of the Month.
During the research, development and writing of this project, I was supported by Creative Scotland as well as a grant from the Authors’ Foundation.
I have chosen to crowdfund Widdershins’ journey into the world using Kickstarter because I wanted more creative control over the work, and I wanted to appeal directly to you, my readers, to help make this happen.