I’m Allyson Shaw, author of Ashes and Stones: a journey through Scotland in search of women hunted as witches. I live in Orkney with my partner and a pride of three cats. Any pronouns.
—a June Round Up 🐸— In this missive: Pondering: Why my garden is not a metaphor Reading: Uprooting by Marchell Farrell & reviews of revolting perfumes Watching: Jacques Demy's Donkeyskin from 1970. Celebrating: a win for all living things in Scotland, or the recent defeat of the obscenity that
--a full circle offering at the full moon-- This post was originally written twenty years ago for my Livejournal blog. The Hungerford Bridge is a liminal space over the 'longest archeological site in the UK'–the river Thames.* This is part of an ongoing series on ossuaries of
--& you're invited!-- Come to the Solstice Outlier Hour! Become a paid subscriber if you are not one already and join in this wee meeting of the minds. Come as you are--no need to have your video on if you're not up for it--just
—ossuaries I have known, an ongoing series— PART II of The Tomb of the Eagles This post continues my exploration of the Tomb of the Eagles in Orkney. Become a paid subscriber and read the first instalment here. “Satisfied [the skeleton] contemplated the Milky Way, the army of bones that
-a Round Up for May-- In this missive: * Reading: The Seaweed Collector's Handbook, Miek Zwamborn * Musing on: What the Surrealist vogue can tell us about storytelling * Listening To Icy Sedgewick's podcast, Fabulous Folklore * Planning: A Midnight Sun Outlier Hour for paid subscribers in June * Watching: Unrest,
MJT
--revisiting a Los Angeles enigma via a 24 year old webzine.-- In 2001, I was waxing lyrical about a mysterious shopfront museum in Los Angeles located at 9341 Venice Boulevard. Founded by film set designers David and Diana Wilson in 1988, The Museum of Jurassic Technology is an trickster-ode
--on silencing and generative AI-- An English teacher in one of my high schools would say ‘if you can’t spell a word, it’s not yours to use.’ She made us stand at the board and write out words like bourgeoisie. The atmosphere in that room was very Lord
Ossuaries I have known--a series Part I of The Tomb of the Eagles The tomb's presence in the landscape is a dark passage into the earth. Framed by undulatiing stone masonry upholstered with grass, it is a living body. Seabirds nest on the cliffs below where the North
In this missive: * News: Renowned true crime writer Carol Ann Lee has a witchy round-up on Bookshop.org and Ashes & Stones is in the mix. * Musing On: Migration is Life: why I switched my blog hosting platform from Substack to Ghost * Reading: The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld * Listening
Revisiting Los Angeles via a 23 year old web zine: What was I writing about 23 years ago? I was waxing lyrical about the high camp of a vanishing downtown Los Angeles. I published these essays in an online zine M and I edited called Die Cast Garden. I coded
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how it's going...🌔
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Ossuaries I have known, second in a series