Nova Scotia: An Anthology of Scottish Speculative Fiction [Paperback]

'enthralling contributions from established talents...also many stunning works from rising authors due to flourish on the shelves in coming years...' Daily Record 'Nova Scotia is a fine anthology with a predominance of well-conceived imaginative fantasy using traditional Scottish subjects...' Scottish Review of Books 'excellent... consistently ambitous' The Scotsman 'excellent new anthology...' Forbidden Planet International

If, as one of these stories has it, Scotland is 'a winter country [...]', it nonetheless dreams in full colour

There are enthralling contributions from established talents [and] also many stunning works from rising authors

'A truly weird and frequently wonderful line-up'

'...exhilarating intellectual entertainment'

Some of the best Scottish writing today is coming from the imaginative genres that can be grouped under the heading of 'speculative fiction'. These genres include science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism and alternate history. "Nova Scotia" provides a unique showcase for work by both established and up-and-coming writers which addresses the nature of Scotland and Scottishness from fresh and unexpected angles. Comprising twenty-one original stories, as well as a new poem by Edwin Morgan, Nova Scotia is full of writing that will surprise, provoke, and above all, entertain readers. Contributors, including Ken Macleod, Charles Stross, Jane Yolen, Ron Butlin and Matthew Fitt reimagine Scotland in the past, present and future. There are secret histories, echoes of Scottish mythology and folklore, contemporary marvels and visions of the fate of the nation. There are also glimpses of other, alternative Scotlands, places that might have been, or perhaps even do coexist in a parallel time-line. Some of the stories are about this far-flung corner of Europe, some are about the people who come from it, and some deal with the essential qualities, both good and bad, of the national psyche. Introduced by David Pringle, former editor of "Interzone" magazine, "Nova Scotia" reflects the power of the contemporary Scottish imagination, carrying on a thread that has run through the work of writers such as James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Neil Gunn.

A brave new world of Scottish fiction is explored in an anthology published by Crescent Books. "Nova Scotia" collects the best of Scottish speculative fiction -- in other words, writing from such diverse genres as science fiction, fantasy, horror, the supernatural, magic realism, alternate history or any other imaginative treatment of the short story form.

"Nova Scotia", edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J. Wilson, is a showcase of work by both established and up-and-coming writers. As an overture to the twenty-one original stories, eminent makar Edwin Morgan has provided a new poem entitled "The Cost of Pearls". Other contributors include Ken MacLeod, Charles Stross, Ron Butlin, Jane Yolen and Matthew Fitt.

The stories have been chosen to reflect the innovative writing of Scottish authors as well as their provocative and challenging ideas. "Nova Scotia" presents a portrait of the contemporary Scottish imagination, carrying on a thread that has run through the work of writers such as James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Buchan, Arthur Conan Doyle and Neil Gunn. Here you will encounter a Presbyterian minister experiencing a crisis of faith in outer space; a transhuman deity who travels north beyond Hadrian's Firewall (to Pittenweem); Paisley reimagined as the town of Fergusley, famous the world over for its manufacture of magic carpets; and Boswell and Johnson tangling with the spirit world in a previously undocumented episode from their Highland journey.

"Nova Scotia" is introduced by David Pringle, former editor of "Interzone" magazine. The book was published to coincide with the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Glasgow, a major literary event at which "Nova Scotia" was featured. The editors of the collection also appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 23 August.

Andrew J Wilson is Science Fiction reviewer for 'The Scotsman' newspaper, and he and Neil Williamson have published fiction in magazines and anthologies in the UK and the US.

Something niggled in my mind after I finished Tales from the Tent. It nagged and bothered me. I put on the kettle, poured a cup of tea and slumped down in that old tattered armchair of mine that refuses to die. Heidi, my cat of twenty or so years, curled into a ball of ginger and white fluff, licked her old weak paw, yawned and settled for sleep. Then, as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes, I saw in my mind what it was that so annoyed me. Remembering how brittle Heidi's frame was, I gathered her into my skirt and darted back to the computer screen. Two tiny words leapt from the last page of the manuscript—'The End'.

How could it be? I hadn't shared the stories of my parents' childhood with you, nor some whoppers about Dave and my earlier wanderings. What about Glen Lyon, and Daisy thinking the Germans during the last war would steal the washing off the dyke, so she kept it in? What did she know of Europe? To her Germany was somewhere north of Inverness! And those fearsome ghost stories? How many times did I laugh at my father's tall tales, I did so want to tell you about them. Och, nae way we could part, you and I, after all this time, without telling you of my nit-infested wild man who drove Mammy mental whenever we saw him on the road. The story of the row of turnips I pretended to some towny bairns was a row of rabbits just had to be shared, and so many more happy days. No, it certainly wasn't 'the end'.

Anyway how could I part from you? You'd become my good friends, fellow dog-walkers and tea-suppers.

So gently uncurling the half-dead fluff ball from the threads of my skirt and laying her on a fleecy blanket beneath the radiator, I finished my now cold tea.

If you fancy another journey with me, settle back with your favoured beverage and let's take once more to the road in Tears for a Tinker.