Nova Scotia : New Scottish Speculative Fiction

Nova Scotiaprovides 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 Scotiais 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 Interzonemagazine, Nova Scotiareflects 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.

Neil Williamson was born in the heart of Lanarkshire, surrounded by Scotland's fading heavy industries. Studies for an engineering degree imbued him with a love of Scotland's technological history—both its triumphs and its failures. Neil's short fiction, which has been published in magazines and anthologies on both sidea of the Atlantic, was collected in book form in 2006. Andrew J. Wilson was born in Aberdeen. His short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines in Britain and the USA, and he has read his work on BBC Radio Scotland. He has written two plays, The Terminial Zone and The Black Ambulance Gang, which were performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the latter on a moving bus. He also reviews science fiction and fantasy for The Scotsman.