Sandstone Press today announces plans to publish BETWEEN WEATHERS – Travels in 21st Century Shetland, a travel narrative on the Shetland Islands by Ron McMillan.

An engaging, informed, and humorous tale of McMillan’s travels around the northern isles, BETWEEN WEATHERS is the first all-new Shetland travel narrative since Victorian times.

The Shetland Islands sit where the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet, closer to the Arctic Circle than to London. Over the centuries they have been a vital staging post for Vikings, Hanseatic traders and merchant sailors from faraway lands. Yet somehow, the same islands remain off the map of British consciousness.

Ron McMillan spent weeks on the unbeaten Shetland tourist path exploring scenic landmarks, archaeological treasure troves and remote islands that for centuries have lived with the threat of abandonment. A travel writer for more than twenty years he cast an inquisitive and witty eye over present-day Shetland to interweave the islands’ history, archaeology and 400-million-year-old geology with observations on a remarkably hospitable society that remains intricately connected to the outside world. Set amidst fascinating locations soaked in history, and filled with stories skilfully told, this is a book for lovers of lyrical travel writing delivered with informed authority and irresistible humour.

Ron McMillan, born in Central Scotland in 1958, has been a professional writer and photographer since 1986, when he covered the tumultuous scenes on the streets of Seoul, South Korea, during the run-up to the 1988 Olympic Games. For ten years, from a home base in Hongkong, he criss-crossed Asia on assignment for major magazines in Asia, North America and Europe Five ‘tourist’ visits to isolated North Korea resulted in his photographs appearing on the covers and inside pages of TIME, Newsweek, New York Times Sunday Magazine, L’Express and many other publications. Now based in Bangkok, Thailand, BETWEEN WEATHERS is his first book.

Aly Bain is Scotland's supreme traditional style fiddler. His playing is unique - driving, impassioned and pure - with vibrant, unmistakable tone that has earned him a following of ardent fans throughout the world. Born in Lerwick, Shetland in 1946 Aly began playing the fiddle at the age of eleven. In his early twenties, Aly headed to mainland Scotland. His dramatic playing, with great tone and technical ability brought early recognition as an outstanding musician of the folk music revival, and almost overnight, raised the level of expectation for music lovers throughout the country.

BETWEEN WEATHERS will be published on May 26th, 2008 and will be available at all good bookshops, the publisher’s web site and other internet outlets. The book will be launched at Visit Scotland Lerwick on Friday 6th June with other appearances following in Shetland, Paisley and in the Borders.

ISBN: 978-1-9052907-20-6 PRICE: £11.99