Allyson Shaw

YouTube video by Allyson Shaw Early 2026 I’ll be launching a Kickstarter for my novel Widdershins

This is me reading the middle page of my forthcoming novel, Widdershins, at the point when the narrative hovers, before beginning to circle backward. #booktrailer #speculativefiction #scottishbook youtube.com/shorts/98ADk...

Iain did such an amazing job capturing the mood of the book, and I love that it kind of looks like a sister to Ashes and Stones (he did the cover for that, too.) Thanks, Lynsey!

A collage of the cover illustration of widdershins, a white woman looking sidelong in black and white and a seal looking at the viewer. Behind is the north sea and over all it says KICKSTARTER

WIDDERSHINS is -Viking Age time slip -literary fantasy -weird girl fiction -subversive folklore -selkie myth retelling -cozy apocalypse -atmospheric islands -dark academia vibes -Scotland, but riddled with fairies -poetic survival story -a smattering of spice

The cover of Widdershins, with swirling oceanic imagery, a crow, moth, seal and woman in profile

Forget life is short--what if you had all the time in the world? 
Widdershins COVER REVEAL. Kara's story is vibrant retelling of the selkie myth and an epic tale of connected lives spanning a thousand years. Sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter goes live:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/all...

I would LOVE that, Neal!

First, what's a Monster Of The Month talk? Cuz that sounds amazing & just the kind of thing we're trying to do at Monster Lab (which launches tomorrow; see my pinned post). Also I've just started reading @allysonshaw.bsky.social's tremendous book Ashes & Stones on this very thing. Highly recommend.

Thanks so much, Neal. I really look forward to Monsters of the Month and hearing your unique take on visionary darkness--as only you can do it. 🖤

Couldn’t resist: Sally Mann book purchase inspired by The Great Women Artists Podcast, Ashes & Stones retrieved from my wish list on Bookshop

Fantastic! Thank you Laure. 🖤

Monster Lab: Incarnation One - with guests Surekha Davies & Esti Reich Monster Lab is an event series from ¡AU! where creatives and fans learn how to understand, create, and tame bad guys.

My friend, the brilliant @nromanek.bsky.social & ¡AU! are kicking off a series of talks about monsters and the creative process. It's going to be fascinating. It launches with @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social & Esdi Reich THIS SATURDAY. #monsters #writingcommunity www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/monster-la...

Absolutely over the moon about this, esp. having just finished The Tombs of Atuan. Ursual La Guins maps, devised by her for Earthsea et al, are available in a London exhibition running till December.

www.aaschool.ac.uk/publicprogra...

Our new monster event at ¡AU!, which kicks off Oct. 18. It's going to be a mix of fun and deep monster study. Still working out what the frequency will be, but we'll be doing Monster Lab regularly. Ticket prices are absurdly low for this first outing. Join us.

A win for authors? - The Society of Authors The latest on the US Anthropic case

"...a landmark $1.5bn settlement of this copyright class action brought by a group of US authors against Anthropic over the use of their works in the training of Anthropic’s large language model, Claude." societyofauthors.org/2025/09/26/a... #GenAI #AI #Anthropic #WritingCommunity

My train from Inverness to Glasgow ran into some issues resulting in a 2 hour delay, so the extra time sitting on the track meant I was able to get through half of Ashes & Stones by @allysonshaw.bsky.social 🧹🐈‍⬛ (bought at Leakey's in Inverness!)
#booksky #scotland

Ah, brilliant, Nichole. Thanks for posting. Leakey's so cool. I hope you got home ok!

How Did Alice Become a Symbol of Surrealism and Feminist Reimagination? | TheCollector Published in 1865, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland unleashed a nonsensical world that challenged Victorian norms and introduced readers to an enigmatic heroine: Alice.

Fantastic piece on the influence of Alice in Wonderland on writers and artists. It made me consider the influence of that story on my own writing.
www.thecollector.com/alice-symbol... #Feminism #Surrealism #Writing

A drawing of two hands drawing each other. The hands are very realistic, and each holds a pencil drawing the minimal lines of the cuffs below the wrists--as if the hands are surfacing from the drawing, coming alive

Drawing Hands, M C Escher. This image encapsulates #dyslexia for me--the good side of being #neurodiverse in this way is that even two dimensional things like text are three dimensional, or spacial in a way that is nonlinear. It feels a lot like the visual puzzle of Escher's work. #neurospicy

Memory foam pillows are being marketed to M and I on social media. I said, I don’t know why memory foam freaks me out. And M says, ‘I mean what else is it remembering?’

A small stone figure with a round head and square body. She has two eyes, a unibrow line across her forehead and two lines for a nose.

The Westray Wifey is giving you the Monday side-eye. This #Neolithic figure from the Stone Age found on Westray #orkney is the first depiction of a face found in the UK to date. #FavouriteThings

😹

I actually thought you had happened upon a makeshift bong gone wrong.

Sounds like a great technique!

That sounds amazing. I help writers with worldbuilding and character building, and if anyone needs it I also create maps, character illustrations or even book covers for them.

Hi Scottie! the story has shaped the map in the novel. It’s basically a fairy-drawn map of Scotland. So the names are different and the topography is distorted. This is my first draft. I feel like it should be weirder! Do you draw maps when you write?

A pencil sketch of a map of Scotland but weird

Sketching a preliminary map. I love second world maps-once I get something down that works I’ll ink it. Does anyone else draw maps for their books? (This the map of the world of my novel. Do you recognise it?) #WritingCommunity #cartography #maps #fantasy

Six circular drawings of a serpent with a book, a dragon headed torc a seal an eye and two crows.

Little doodles, big plans. Images for chapter headings for a novel I have just finished. Once I’m happy with them I’ll ink them up with some pilot carbon black & a zebra G nib. #booksky #FountainPens

An illustration of a large troll woman wearing rings beside her ears

I believe this illustration is by Kay Neilson-it’s a bit distorted but I love her troll bling-complete with temple rings!

This photograph by European Elopement and Wedding Photographer Sturmsucht shows an arctic fox in its summer coat - a rich, dark brown fur that contrasts beautifully with the vibrant Greenlandic landscape. The compact fox stands alertly on a thick carpet of bright green moss, its pointed ears erect and dark eyes focused. Scattered throughout the mossy terrain are delicate Arctic wildflowers in brilliant magenta and purple hues, likely fireweed or purple saxifrage blooming during the brief summer season. The background features characteristic weathered granite boulders and rocky formations typical of Greenland's tundra. The scene captures the surprising abundance of life and color that emerges in the Arctic summer, with the dark-coated fox serving as a striking focal point against the lush green moss and colorful wildflowers in this harsh but beautiful northern wilderness.

A close encounter of this little fellow during our dinner camp fire one day in Greenland. Turned out he stole our cheese from one of our bags while we prepared the food a few meters away.

#greenland #arcticfox #wildlife #wildlifephotography

The US Republican Administration expects other countries to collect tariffs on its behalf; it doesn’t have the infrastructure to do it. Royal Mail stopped shipping to the US. This tariff is a body blow to the business I have built over the last 13 years. (already kneecapped by Brexit) I’m scared.

Three dolls dressed in aprons and kerchiefs stand on a shelf behind barrels of tiny, knitted fish.

From heritage museum in Sanday, #orkney Gutter dolls (one complete with knife) and knitted herring in tiny barrels #knitting

😹 We are truly doomed.