The Short Stories: Isle o the Deid

Isle o the Deid : Short Stories in Scots by Sheena Blackhall (Malfranteaux Concepts, Aberdeen,ISBN 978 1 870978 63 7, 2010) is dedicated to the Watts of Fadlydyke Farm, Maud, New Deer. The cover is a copy of Isle of the Dead, by Arnold Bocklin. It contains an interview with the writer, entitled 'Walking with Peewits Crying' conducted by Ruth O'Callaghan, a Hawthornden Fellow, published in Markings, issue 29 in 2009. The preliminary accounts of 'Isle o the Deid' are owersets in Scots based on eye witness accounts of the sinking of the MS Estonia in 1994, in which 852 people died. The legend of the Flying Dutchman is very old. Legend is based on a traditional Scots ballad. 'The Rockin Cheer' is Blackhall's version of a traditional tale told to her by the late Stanley Robertson.