The Shores of Caledonia
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This is an entirely new song (2018) from a short story called Magda. After Four Old Geezers and a Valkyrie was published in 2013, I started to write a sequel... then 45,000 words in, I decided it was a bad idea. The problem with sequels is that readers need to read the first book before the sequel. Sequels only really work if they stand alone, and my sequel (called The Accidental Christmas Carol, incidentally) didn't.
But of course I wasn't going to let all that manuscript go to waste. The Accidental Christmas Carol and its story later became part of The Blogger Who Came in from the Cold, and the rest of the material forms the core of a forthcoming collection of short stories. Many of them are vignettes featuring characters from my other novels. In Magda, the central character from Four Old Geezers, Brian "Captain" Reid is reunited with the eccentric Polish dancer Magda. Magda arrives, homeless, on his doorstep in the middle of dreadful winter spell and now threatened with deportation thanks to Brexit. Captain, meantime, has written an anti-Brexit song himself... but Magda's none too impressed with it. To find out what happens, you'll have to read the story, which is absolutely free and available on the website here. |
Now this is a bit of a thought. In the story The Shores of Caledonia is sung unaccompanied. That's because I myself haven't thought of an instrument that accompanies it well. The end result is a cappella.
It's hard to get the breathing right, especially for asthmatic men in their sixties. But until someone else offers to sing it better, this is the best you'll get. Click on the wee triangle below to set it going. | ||
