Monsters, lunatics, vampires, werewolves and evil dolls, stones entombing bodies, faces appearing in walls, curses and meetings with the Devil - all this and more are contained within this book of myths and ancient legends. Well-known storytellers Grace Banks and Sheena Blackhall recount a range of intriguing tales from the top to the bottom of Scotland, from ancient times to the present day. Folklore embeds itself in a local community, often to the extent that some people believe all manner of mysteries and take them as fact. Whether they're stories passed around the school playground, through the Internet, or round a flickering campfire, such legends are everywhere. Scottish Urban Myths and Ancient Legends is a quirky and downright spooky ride into the heart of Celtic folklore.

The folklore of the north-east has provided a rich tapestry for the tales within; from Celtic and Pictish origins meet witches, selkies, smugglers, fairies, monsters, despicable rogues, riddles and heroes. Tragic events, spellbinding characters, humour, romance and clever minds are bound together by two well-established storytellers living and working in the city and shire of Aberdeen. Some of the tales in this collection are based on historical fact while others are embedded in myth and legend. All the stories are set against the backdrop of this lovely and varied landscape; the silver city and surrounding farm lands, the forested and mountainous terrain through which the River Dee flows, the rolling, gentler land surrounding the meandering River Don and the beautiful but sometimes forbidding Aberdeenshire coastline. Sheena and Grace have both been inspired in their storytelling and singing by the traveller, raconteur and balladeer, Stanley Robertson.

Now Available in Doric Scots Everybody loves The Gruffalo and now you can enjoy this children's classic for the very first time in Doric Scots! Translated by Sheena Blackhall and published by Itchy Coo, this new edition of The Gruffalo will delight both children and adults alike. "A moose tuik a dander ben the wid. A tod saw the moose, and the moose luiked guid." Come a wee bit farrer intae thon deep mirk wid, an fin oot fit happens fin the sleekit moose faas in wi a hoolet, a snake an a hungry gruffalo ...

The Gruffalo quo, "Ye'll dae as I bid -- Niver set fit in the deep derk wid." Bit ae snawy nicht the Gruffalo's Bairn ignores fit her faither has tellt her an tip-taes oot intae the cauld. Eftir aa, there's nae sic thing as the Muckle Coorse Moose...is there? In 2015, following on from the huge success of James Robertson's Scots translation of The Gruffalo, Itchy Coo published four dialect versions: the Orkney, Shetland, Doric and Dundee Gruffalos have all proved immensely popular as celebrations of the Scots language's astonishing regional diversity. Sheena Blackhall's Doric version of The Gruffalo is now followed by The Doric Gruffalo's Bairn. A cautionary tale about what happens when a small Gruffalo leaves the comfort of its cave and sets off into the dark wood on a wintry night, this is sure to be another big hit in the North-East and with Doric speakers wherever they bide.

These two novellas - on related themes but very different in approach and narrative voice - are bound back to back or 'heelstergowdie', the Scots for 'back to front' or 'head over heels'. Loon, by Sheena Blackhall, tells the story of Donnie Paterson and how his troubled life is turned around by the discovery of his missing grandfather in a retirement home and a holiday in the Highlands where he hears a strange story that becomes the key to solving his problems. In Gilbert McGlinchy, by Hamish MacDonald, the eponymous narrator has the weight of the world's woes on his shoulders so sets out to make his drab Clydebank surroundings exotic by embarking on a story-telling journey - the rationale for which only slowly unfolds. Presented in a single volume, these two novellas meet, quite literally, halfway.