Author Archives: Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

About Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

I'm the Librarian for the Kinrowan Estate. I do love fresh brewed teas, curling, English mysteries and will often be playing Scandinavian or Celtic  music here in the Library here in Kinrowan Hall if the Neverending Session is elsewhere. I'm a violinist too, so you'll me playing in various contradance band such as Chasing Fireflies and Mouse in the Cupboard as well as backing my wife Catherine up on yearly Christmas season tours in the Nordic countries.

What’s New for the 13th of April: Anthony Bourdain in print and video; Calexico, Giant Sand and related music; new recordings of ragas, Nordic songs, and vocal jazz, ‘The Night They Drive Old Dixie Down’ performed by The Band

Posted on 13th April 2025 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

The night they drove old Dixie down And the bells were ringing The night they drove old Dixie down And the people were singing They went, “Na, na, la, na, na, la” The Band’s ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie … Continue reading →

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What’s New for the 30th of March: Space Opera by Niven & Pournell, Arkady Martine, C. J. Cherryh, Elizabeth Bear, Simon Jimenez and more; Kage reads for us ‘The Empress of Mars’, a novella she wrote; a grab bag of music including new Buryat folk music; The Ukrainians; live music from the Scottish band Iron Horse; Gail Simone graphic novels; Farscape; and of course chocolate

Posted on 30th March 2025 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

  I danced in the morning When the world was begun, And I danced in the moon And the stars and the sun, And I came down from heaven And I danced on the earth, At Bethlehem I had my … Continue reading →

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Quotes that aren’t

Posted on 23rd February 2025 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

I was watching a New Years Eve gig and it was clear to me how tribal it felt. Good communities are tribes. They have rituals and myths and those kinds of deeper realities that light up everyday reality and give … Continue reading →

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What’s New for the 8th of December: Elizabeth Bear fiction; some holiday related offerings including new music from The Unthanks, Americana tinged jazz, Polar Express, and more

Posted on 8th December 2024 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

We think of forgiveness as a thing. An incident. A choice. But forgiveness is a process. A long, exhausting process. A series of choices that we have to make over, and over, and over again. — Elizabeth Bear’s Ancestral Night I … Continue reading →

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What’s New for the 10th of November: a grab bag of books from our favorite authors; Richard Thompson and Stephane Grappelli on film; music from all over; and comfort food

Posted on 10th November 2024 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

He tried to reconstruct the story in his mind, but it kept getting confused, bleeding into itself like watercolors.― Catherynne M. Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden I’m in the Kitchen enjoying a very late evening snack of hot … Continue reading →

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Brandy (A Letter to Tessa)

Posted on 4th November 2024 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

A letter from Lady Alexandra Margaret Quinn, Head Gardener here in the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India, to Tessa, her botanist friend who … Continue reading →

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A Kinrowan Estate story: Breakfast, Korean Style

Posted on 11th August 2024 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

Now that was tasty! I was grumbling yesterday morning to Mrs. Ware, our Head Cook here at the Estate that houses us, that porridge is often boring even if many here like it as Winter breakfast fare. She smiled and said … Continue reading →

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What’s New for the 7th of July: A Passel of Roger Zelazny Reviews, A Write-up of an Irish Pub, Two Pieces of Live Music by Rosanne Cash, Where Irish Coffee Originated, Irish (and a Little Welsh) Music of a Modern Sort

Posted on 7th July 2024 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

Time is never called in my recurring dream of pubs. — Ciaran Carson in Last Night’s Fun: In and Out of Time with Irish Music I’m Iain, the Librarian here at the Kinrowan Estate. I‘m settling in for a quiet day of … Continue reading →

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Whats New for the 14th of April: It’s truly Spring, so go outside and enjoy the warm weather. Really it’s worth doing.

Posted on 14th April 2024 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

Remember, pain is not a test. Knowledge is not enough. Catherynne M. Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden The tulips such as the one in the vase on my desk here in the Estate Library are the predominant flowers … Continue reading →

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What’s New for the 31st of March: Foxes in fiction; new Americana, Russian folk, Persian, and Nordic music; Justice League comics; Cajun music on film, and more!

Posted on 31st March 2024 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

You think foxes only hunt with their eyes? — Tale of The Nine-Tail, a Korean serial Chilly breezes are still with us, but we’ve hit that time of year when the outside temperatures may be anywhere on the scale — … Continue reading →

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