Rune of Aberdeen: an LGBTQIA+ Scottish folktale

The question climbed up and up and up.

The reply boomed like thunder. It was a simple answer.

The oldest answer.

“Aye.”

Rune Duthie is having a very strange summer. The arts graduate has escaped a fractious family environment only to fall into a whirlwind summer internship in Old Aberdeen.

He encounters a bizarre cast of characters seeking to enlist him in their quests: a drag king benefactress with a sister of stone, an eccentric Professor whose prophetess daughter dreams of doom, and a handsome gay Ugandan folk teller on the run from his past.

Rune becomes entangled in their stories, but in doing so evades his own – an estranged mother, a dead father, a mixed-up sister. How can he become anyone’s hero when his own tale burns to be resolved?

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A modern twist on the Scottish folktale novel

Rune of Aberdeen is a story about stories, inspired by Celtic and north-east Scottish folklore plus LGBTQIA+ themes, weaving together prose, song and legend into an exploration of what it means to feel trapped in a prescribed narrative – or lost without one.

The novel shares the twisted folktale narrative of Kirsty Logan, the character-driven core of Michael Chabon and the magical realism of Patrick Ness.

Rune of Aberdeen is for anyone who is enchanted by the power of folktales – their timeless wisdom and strange relevance to the modern world.

Get the paperback and Kindle version now on Amazon.

 

The Memory Project is published by Lumphanan Press.