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Episode 175
Scotland has a broad mix of folklore. Some is found elsewhere, or has variations in other areas, and some is unique to the country. Some is well-known and some is much more obscure. In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, host Mark Norman is in conversation with Scottish writer Lyndsey Croal about the subject. Lyndsey often works with elements of Scottish lore, most recently that connected with the sea which she uses to good effect in a collection of short stories recently published under the title Dark Crescent. Do you know your Frittening from your Mither? There's only one way to find out!
Find Lyndsey online at https://lyndseycroal.co.uk/
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Lyndsey is an Edinburgh-based author of strange and speculative fiction. She is a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardee, Shirley Jackson Award and British Fantasy Award Finalist, Ladies of Horror Fiction Writers Grant Recipient, and former Hawthornden Fellow. Her short fiction and essays have been published in over eighty magazines and anthologies, and have placed or been shortlisted in several competitions including with Mslexia, British Fantasy Society, Apex Magazine, the Cymera Fest Prize for Speculative Fiction, Escape Pod, and Fractured Lit. Her debut two-part audio drama ‘Daughter of Fire and Water’ was released in 2021 with the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities podcast and was a BFA-finalist for Best Audio in 2022. Her novelette Have You Decided on Your Question (2023) and her debut collection of dark science fiction stories Limelight and Other Stories (2024) are published by Shortwave Publishing. Her eco-horror novelette The Girl With Barnacles for Eyes was published in 2024 in Tenebrous Press’ Split Scream Volume Five, and is nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. Her second collection of dark Scottish folklore-inspired tales, Dark Crescent was published by Luna Press Publishing in 2025. She is currently working on a number of longer projects in the science fiction, horror, and eco-fiction space.
In 2019, she co-founded Edinburgh Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers and feels fortunate to have such an active literary scene on her doorstep. Her writing is influenced by her professional background in climate and nature policy as well as her experience growing up in remote places.
She has also edited a number of projects including ‘Ghostlore: An Audio Fiction Anthology’ and Shoreline of Infinity Magazine’s Climate Change Special.
In 2019, she co-founded Edinburgh Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers and feels fortunate to have such an active literary scene on her doorstep. Her writing is influenced by her professional background in climate and nature policy as well as her experience growing up in remote places.
She has also edited a number of projects including ‘Ghostlore: An Audio Fiction Anthology’ and Shoreline of Infinity Magazine’s Climate Change Special.