[Post originally published: May 01, 2026]

After a couple of weeks without a new guest, we're back with Scottish author Lyndsey Croal. I admire Lyndsey's writing for quite a while and it's a great honor to have her here. She has a pretty interesting and growing body of short fiction and earlier this year she released the novella In This City, Where it Rains by Luna Press.

Tell me more about In This City, Where it Rains and what made you write it.

The novella is as Scottish gothic horror, set in an alternative version of Edinburgh, It follows Maggie, a woman haunted by ghosts that only appear in the rain – and it always rains in this city. At the edge of town, stands Tair House – a house that remembers, in a city that forgets. The mansion is so damned, it scares the clouds themselves from breaking, and the man of the house, Xavier Logan, and his wife Lucia, are harbouring a dark secret there – something that connects to Maggie and her ghosts. Soon all roads lead to Tair House, where Maggie hopes only to uncover more about her family’s past and her muddled memories. But the house is hungry, and something is waking deep within its roots…something that has been waiting a long time for Maggie.

I wrote a longer blog here about the full inspirations, but I’d always wanted to write a dark and strange book set in Edinburgh – it’s such an inspiring city, full of dark history, beautiful and gothic architecture, and so much atmosphere. I feel lucky to call it my home. The book drew together quite a few seeds of different ideas that had been percolating for a while (as many books do!) – in particular, some occult history of Aleister Crowley and local lore about his past, some folklore around the otherworld and afterlife, and also the idea of psychogeography which is an act of exploring a city in a nontraditional way. In the novella, Maggie the protagonist maps the city with the ghosts she sees, which was actually the first image I wrote for the book – it spiralled from there!

What is an underrated piece of fiction that you think didn’t get enough attention?

I’m not sure I’d say it’s underrated as such, as she’s very well respected and widely read, particularly in the genre community – but one of my favourite authors is Aliya Whiteley, and I always just want more readers to find her brilliant work. In particular, I absolutely loved Greensmith – a weird and wonderful read, and so unique. It was my first introduction to her longer writing outside her short fiction, and I’ve devoured all of her work since.

Show me an illustration that you love and tell me why!

I love CL Hellisen’s art (who is also a talented author based in Edinburgh). They did a beautiful illustration for In This City, Where it Rains, which perfectly captured the gothic atmosphere and weird moths from the book.

They also regularly post their digital work on socials, like this amazing sunfish.

Edinburgh is full of dark corners and gothic manors and castles, so it is the perfect setting for your novella. What aspects of the story are inextricable from Edinburgh and Scotland?

Edinburgh is just full of atmosphere, dark history, and stunning gothic buildings and settings. There’s also a particular way that Edinburgh feels put together in its layers and winding streets. Although I don’t name Edinburgh in the book, I hope that anyone who has ever been to Edinburgh would recognise it as Maggie wanders around the city.

Also, if you’ve been to Edinburgh, you’ll know it’s a very rainy city – and of course in the book, it always rains in the city…

I also wanted to draw on Scottish folklore a little, which is another of my writing passions, and I hope that will be apparent – without spoilers, there’s some weird moths in the book, and I enjoyed exploring ideas around the afterlife and otherworlds.

Tell me something you would love to accomplish in your writing career.

My next big goal is to publish a novel. Although I’ve been really lucky to be building my work with short fiction, I have written seven novels now, and would just really love for one of them to find a home. Publishing can be quite the grind at times, but I’m also very stubborn, so will be keeping optimistic and hopeful as I work with my agent to send out new work to Editors. We’re about to send out a new Scottish folk horror novel next month, and really hoping that it will find a home soon as it was so much fun to write!