Stan Abbott writes regularly for a variety of publications, mostly in the aviation and travel sectors, and for the New European newspaper, for which he is ‘islands correspondent’.
He is also an established author of fiction and non-fiction, mostly under the pen name of Stan L Abbott, and has additionally edited a number of non-fiction titles.
Stan has been working on narrative non-fiction titles for publisher, Saraband. Walking The Line: Exploring Settle & Carlisle Country is based on journey on foot between Settle and Carlisle and was published to high critical acclaim in June 2021.
Listen to Stan talking about his book with the BBC’s Helen Millican
Ring of Stone Circles: Lore and Legends of Neolithic Cumbria describes a journey by electric cycle taking in more than 30 surviving Neolithic and Bronze Age stone circles in and around surround the English Lake District. They are respectively due for publication in the Spring of 2021. It is expected to be published on the March equinox, 2022.
Linocut illustration by Denise Burden from Ring of Stone Circles, showing Birkrigg stone circle, near Bardsea
Stan’s first novel, The Episode, was published by Sixth Element in February 2020 and is a fictionalised account of man who creates a fantasy world during a manic episode, caused by an accident. He is currently working on a second novel, which explores an alternative political reality in a fragmented UK.
Tornado steam loco crossing Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle & Carlisle Railway.
Since the 1980s, Stan has authored and edited a number of non-fiction books, of which the best remembered have been his RailTrail guides and serious works on a variety of transport subjects. His To Kill A Railway and The Line That Refused To Die (the latter jointly with Alan Whitehouse) dealt with the long battle to save the Settle & Carlisle Railway from closure and achieved combined sales of more than 16,000.
Stan edited A Space for Wonder, a guide to the various Pyrenean long-distance traverses by Gordon Wilson.