Scottish Myths

The World's Greatest Myths and Legends

by Jake Jackson (Editor)

Much of Scottish mythology was imported by settlers arriving from across the Irish Sea, and so Scottish mythology in large part shares its characters and tales with the mythology of Ireland, from the Ulster Cycle featuring Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, and the great hero Cúchulainn, to the adventures of Fionn mac Cumhaill. But Scotland also possesses its own folklore and tales featuring kings, water spirits, selkies, sea monsters and fairies, not to mention some Arthurian myths native to this land.

From the Gaelic heroism of 'Conall Cra Bhuidhe', tales of fairy folk such as 'The Smith and the Fairies' and the classic ghost story of 'The Fiddler and the Bogle of Bogandoran', to traditional fables ('The Fox and the Wolf') and a tale of unrequited love, murder and rescue ('A Legend of Invershin'), this entertaining collection gathers the ancient myths and fairy tales featuring all manner of creatures into a uniquely Caledonian set of stories.

FLAME TREE 451 : From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, Folklore, Reference, Classics, Scotland

256 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2020

About the author

SF and dark fantasy author but also a writer/creator of practical music books - Beginner's Guide to Reading Music, Guitar Chords, Piano Chords, Songwriter’s Rhyming Dictionary and How to Play Guitar. Other publications include Advanced Guitar Chords, Advanced Piano Chords, Chords for Kids, How to Play the Electric Guitar, Piano & Keyboard Chords, Scales and Modes and Play Flamenco. Also editor of Mythology books 

Released EP Jakesongs on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, LastFM, etc and on CDBaby. Lifelong passion for fantastic worlds of any kind, from movies to fiction, art to music, posters, album and paperback book covers.

Jake Jackson is the artist name for Nick Wells, Publisher of Flame Tree Press / Flame Tree Publishing.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

At places it had a lot of information in a short space of time. The language could be old fashioned and chivalric. Sometimes it was hard to read.
I enjoyed part two and three best. The first ghost story was good, and at first I thought they were like spirits or sensations amongst the hills. Gold- tree and Silver- tree is always a good story, the way this was told was really good. I couldn't make out if Troutie was good or bad. Sometimes it was hard to make out definite actions or intentions, so all of a sudden an evil had been done and the consequence could be lost.

[Julie Hartley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed reading this. I thought since I am writing a Scottish character into my novels, I may as well get the background info. But I was delighted with these stories and loved the tales of the Celtic heroes.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like mythology and this one didn’t disappoint. The only problem I had was that it was written in the Scottish dialect and made some things hard to read, however a lot of the myths and stories were familiar to others I have read so it was interesting to read their spin on familiar tells.

[Luna · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

Absolutely impossible to read as the editing is atrocious. Giant paragraphs of text, sentences running into one another, no paragraph breaks.

Jake, do better.

[Kivrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to have to give up on this one. The myths are apparently written in English, but they are heavy on the original Scottish brogue or whatever. When I can't understand every third word, the story loses it's appeal. If there were notes or descriptions of the myths before each one was told, I might be able to enjoy them, but there is not. I'll delve into Scottish mythology another time with a different book.

[Emily Paterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed many of these stories, some were quite repetitive and longwinded that made parts of it a chore to get through. The stories are not all written in the same style or voice, which I suppose it makes sense for a collection of stories, but it added to the difficulty of reading one story after another. However, many of the stories were fun especially the ones with creatures and ghosts and animals.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I want myths told in modern English and with modern storytelling practice. It would be much more engaging. This felt like I was reading the Bible. I made it through two stories. It's repetitive, with run-on sentences, and giant blocks of text. This copy is clearly a remake, so REMAKE it! I WANT to read these myths, but not like this.

An irritating example:
"Then they came, and they sat within. "(Dialogue.)" The woman came in again, saying, "(Dialogue.)" She came in again, saying, "(Dialogue.)" She came in again, saying, "(Dialogue.)"

A whole page of this without a break in the text.

[Sir Robbiethehoo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too verbose. The inclusion of the old Scots made the stories difficult to engage with and the stories often had a poor flow. The introductory heroic tales were awful. The book did pick up in the midsection with a few of the fairy lore stories being quite passable. But ultimately and sadly I felt myself skim reading a good number of the stories. Disappointing. There are far better books on the subject of Scottish myths out there, I would not rush to recommend this one.

[Emma Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

An utterly fascinating collection of myths the editor has compiled - I just wish the layout was more readable. Some are well edited and have paragraphs and decent spacing. Others are walls of text.

Glad I persevered, I enjoyed the change of pace.