‘ . . . for he thinks aye that he sees the cloven foot peeping out frae aneath ilka sentence.’ – James Hogg, from The Confessions of a Justified Sinner
As well as having a bloody and turbulent history, Scotland has produced some of the world’s most eerie and disturbing fiction. The national psyche seethes with Tam O’Shanters and Mr Hydes, Justified Sinners and Wasp Factories, monstrous apparitions, witches, doppelgangers and psychopaths.
Here, the newest and most talented Scottish writers have plumbed their depths, creating a set of demons for a modern age: Ali Smith’s neo-Nazi, Alison Armstrong’s transvestite serial-killer, Brian McCabe’s abominable neck-boil, James Robertson’s mutant mouse, Toni Davidson’s confused sado-masochist . . . Be frozen by Maggie O’Farrell’s quiet touch or appalled at Andrew Murray Scott’s putrescent landscape. Experience fork and knife disorder with Jackie Kay or receive sinister letters from Helen Lamb.
The range of visions and voices collected in this book – all investigating the heart of darkness, all written with a chilling skill – are enough to confirm Scotland as one of the most imaginative homes of world Gothic.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
Features stories by:
Brian McCabe • Helen Lamb • Toni Davidson • Laura Hird • Ali Smith • Michel Faber • Maggie O’Farrell • Jackie Kay • Andrew Murray Scott • Alison Armstrong • James Robertson • Dilys Rose • Magi Gibson • Linda Cracknell • Sophie Cooke • Chris Dolan • Christopher Whyte • Raymond Soltysek • John Burnside • Janice Galloway
Alan Bissett was born in Falkirk in 1975 and attended the University of Stirling. He currently lives in Glasgow and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. He was Shortlisted for the Macallan/ Scotland on Sunday short story competition 2000, and his first novel, Boyracers, was published by Polygon in 2001.
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