There's a lot going on - but it's all in the background so things may look a bit 'thin' here for a while. If you have specific enquiries about things Crockett please email your request to gallowayraiders@gmail.com and we'll get back to you.
While in one sense it will never be possible to produce a 'Complete' Crockett because so many of his works were published in magazines that no longer exist, the project to bring all the works published in book format is now complete!
All 65 titles (The Seven Wise Men is contained within the collection The Bloom o' The Heather) are now available for FREE download. Time to turn to the extensive archives for letters and more... I'm happy to report that after some concentrated effort, the task has been completed with a week to go. From 8th April 2022 The 'Complete Crockett' is almost complete. All the works published in his lifetime (well, not 'all' but those in novel/short story collection form) are now available for FREE download. This has been a substantial undertaking.
What's not here? There are literally hundreds of Crockett stories/serials from magazines. Many are represented in these publications but it's an impossible task to declare Crockett's oeuvre 'complete' (or impossible for me at least!) . The only omission at present I would note is Seven Wise Men, which was published in its own right in a small volume in 1909, but since the stories also form part of the collection The Bloom of the Heather, I would direct intrerested readers to that book for the Seven Wise Men. There are vaguaries of UK/US titles, most notably The Moss Troopers which is titled Patsy in American edition, and The White Pope is called Light out of the East in the US edition. To fully complete the task I set myself, five posthumous works still need to be digitised. This will be done before Crockett's birthday in 2022 (hopefully sooner!) at which point it will be a 'wrap' and I will think about what project to delve into next. The archive/letters are beckoning again... In the meantime, I hope that at least some readers and potential readers will get some enjoyment out of the free downloads. It was more than 20 years of Crockett's life to write them and has been more than 10 years of my life to get them to this stage - so as you enjoy your 'free', please think of the costs that have been incurred by us! (and be kind about any typos or minor errors you discover. We are talking over 4 million words - errors there will be!) Cally Phillips I'm happy to announce that its looking very good for having all Crockett's works published during his lifetime up available for free PDF download by 16th April 2022.
That will just leave the posthumous texts - which will be completed well in advance of the September 2022 deadline! 2022 is designated Scotland's Year of Stories. To mark this, over at the main Galloway Raiders site, we're recording a story a month, which you can view on YouTube. Just click the button below
As we move towards Crockett's birthday - a time for reflection and gingerbread rabbits - the commitment is that by 24th of this month half of the 'complete' Crockett will be available for FREE PDF download. The 'pinch point' is The Adventurer in Spain which will be available at this point without the 150 illustrations embedded in the text. However, as soon as possible, a variety of ways to view these illustrations will be possible.
The other exciting news is that on Crockett's birthday a 'new' version of this site will be available. You will be able to Explore more about Crockett, his life and works as the archive is 'tweaked' and developed into its next stage. Don't forget there's information at the Galloway Raiders site too www.gallowayraiders.co.uk deals with the Life, Literature and Legacy Progress is mostly behind the scenes, I'll admit. I can announce that we've completed the conversion and proofing of ALL the texts. The pinch point is that I still need to write introductions for about 15 titles and I'm working in chronological order, refusing to put up those Galloway novels which I've already got intros for from the 2014 Galloway edition. That and what may passingly call itself a summer are the reason the pace has slowed. Writing the introductions means revisiting the archive and visiting the archive means hours lost in enjoyable and diverting activity... but yes, very time consuming.
I'm also trying to learn enough tech to work out better ways to digitise the archive into a more easily shareable form (without it costing the earth). Still, as of 10th July there's a third of the works available in downloadable format - taking us to 1901. I'll possibly pick off a few in the next couple of months - 1901-1903 are largely unexplored and my goal is to try and get up to 'the last decade' done before winter sets in. Then, with dark days, the pace will pick up and I'm confident (as ever I can be) that I'll have the whole lot done by next spring. We'll see. As we come out of hibernation (and maybe lockdown) we are now well advanced in the conversion process . The next goal is to get 22 titles available for the anniversary of Crockett's death (April 16th). This takes us up to the year 1900. You can download all available texts free in pdf format from Texts
If you have any specific titles in mind in the meantime for reading or research purposes, contact us via email gallowayraiders@unco.scot and we'll try to oblige. Hibernation has its advantages. We've been cracking on with re-editing, revising and generally 'tidying up' for the NEW Galloway Raiders edition of Complete Crockett. And the original plan to post up one new title per week throughout 2021 has been adapted (and of course improved). The first five texts are now available for download - covering the years 1893 and 1894. Subsequent texts will be added singly or in batches just as soon as we have them 'done'. Check out TEXTS for the latest additions
Work is also being undertaken in the archive with Crockett's letters and other relevant materials.
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S.R.CROCKETTWork is ongoing developing a digital archive... this is the very tip of the iceberg. If you have specific interests, please contact us directly via email. Archives
March 2023
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