We have a visit on this full November frost moon from BBC presenter and author Sally Magnusson, who gives us a few readings from her writings, including her newest book The Shapeshifter's Daughter. Join Tom Muir and Sally Magnusson for a fascinating blether on the eve of the Stromness launch of her latest novel, set in Orkney. "Before she was a hideous monster, the Queen of the Underworld was simply Hel ..." If you're inspired to do so, you can buy us a dram on Ko-fi, with our hearty thanks: https://ko-fi.com/orkneyologyTonight, Tom and Sally have a talk about these things and much more:Sally's father, the "proudest Icelander"- Magnus Magnusson - journalist, translator of sagas, writer and television presenterAbout Sally's journalism work and being a presenter on Scottish TV since the 1980sIcelandic sagas and the Icelandic landscapeSagas as "extremely good historical fiction"Are small communities isolated, or are big cities isolated - who is more remote?The importance of knowing your kinThe literature of Iceland: was it the adition of Celtic dna that brought it to flower?The tendency to romanticize the Viking eraViking women - strong and scary!The Flying Scotsman: The Eric Liddell Story - Sally's first biographyDreaming of Iceland - a personal account of the geography, history and legends of Iceland, written by Sally and her fatherOther books of fiction, non-fiction and children's booksMarketing books and making choices about how to spend one's creative timeWriting as a way to work out what we think about thingsSally's mother's dementiaSally Magnusson's charity, Playlist for Life - music as positive therapy for dementiaAbout inhabiting the characters you're creatingHave we lost the more fleshed-out female characters from old Norse mythology?"When everything is lost to us, the stories in our heads allow us to continue."Sally Magnusson's website: https://sallymagnusson.com/about/ Playlist for Life: https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.