Andrew C Ferguson loves Robert Louis Stevenson, and has some exciting news relating to Stevenson's 'Thrawn Janet'. 

Though he has too many favourite RLS moments to mention, Andrew has found himself consumed with the idea of recording and putting up on the web a new version of RLS's Scots-language short story, 'Thrawn Janet'. He recently hit on the idea of doing a spoken word recording of it. He re-read it with a performer’s eye, and the purchase of a recording device has made the plan a reality.

Since the climax in the story is set on the 17th August, 1712, Andrew wants to release his version on 17th August this year, the 300th anniversary.

Andrew says - 'The project has already thrown up some interesting issues for me. Stevenson’s Scots is – I’m presuming – the type of Edinburgh Scots he grew up with in 1850s and 60s Edinburgh. To my ear, as a twentieth-century Fifer, there’s not that much I don’t recognise, but there are one or two spellings – the word 'hot' being rendered as 'het,' for example – that give rise to a pronunciation that doesn’t seem right to me. So I’ve had to produce my own reading script – and as uncomfortable as I might feel changing a single syllable of the Master’s words, I feel much more comfortable with the result. I can not wait to get to work on this…

Whet your appetite with a preview version here, and tune in to Andrew's website to hear the finished product on Friday 17th...