The US Edition & the Scottish Hecate
on the waning harvest moon
The North American Edition of Ashes and Stones arrived today—published by Pegasus Books in the US on October 3rd. The stone on the cover is the Nicnevin stone in the village of Monzie. Named after the legendary woman burnt as a witch named Kate Nicnevin who also shares a name with Nicnevin, the mythic Scottish witch-goddess and the leader of the wild hunt in lore. According to Sir Walter Scott, she is the “Scottish Hecate.” The most notable fragments of her come to us from 17th century ‘flyting’ poems—word fights where she is mentioned satirically. Yet, in Monzie, magical women, holy wells, cliffs and neolithic menhirs are named after her. I write about this stone and mythic Nicnevin at length in a chapter in Ashes and Stones. It’s so exciting to see the wee stone on the spine of the book!
You can preorder the US edition here.
