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Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J. Wilson
01/02/2006 . Source: Laura Kayne 
pub: Crescent/Mercatpress and the Scottish Arts Council. 287 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-84183-086-0). Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.mercatpress.com
As the editors of this volume point out, Scotland has a huge tapestry of myth and story-telling, speculative visions and fantasy. 'Nova Scotia' is an attempt to draw elements of this tradition together as well as showing the modern state of Scottish speculative story-telling. All the contributors to this collection are Scottish, but there similarities end. Their tales are rich and varied, some harsh, some humorous, some cautionary, some thought-provoking and some plain entertaining. Topics range from religion, aliens, the devil, witches, fairies and demons to time travel, the future and the past, space travel and technological breakthroughs.
Scottish culture and history and the effects of global history on Scotland are well examined by the authors included in 'Nova Scotia'. Scottish poet Rabbie Burns is the main character of Andrew J Wilson's 'Third Degree Burns', Dr Johnson and his assistant Boswell appear in 'Not Wisely But Too Well' by A J McIntosh, and World War One is featured in Marion Arnott's 'Lest We Forget'. William Meikle, in 'Total Mental Quality, By The Way', presents a technological advance of the near future in which the search for perfect recording quality leads to every recording being injected with Scottish nationalism, when intelligent spores from the technology take over. Meikle ends the tale with images of Sean Connery presented the weather forecast and the British Prime Minister breaking into Scottish dialect in a TV interview. Extending on even this, Matthew Fitt's contribution 'Criggie' is completely written in Scottish dialect.
Other tales dip into the Scottish consciousness in other ways. In 'A Knot Of Toads', Jane Yolan brings a young, disbelieving girl back to Scotland from university for the funeral of her father, who believed witches caused his death. Mythology and superstition blend in this eerie telling of good and evil. Gavin Inglis' 'Pisces Ya Bas' is a more light-hearted story of the stereotypical tough man of Scotland, where a talking fish takes over the pond in Glasgow's Queen's Park, terrorising the city and escaping all attempts of capture, before finally being set on fire and giving up.
Other stories in the collection are more modern in their tone or setting or more global in their context, yet all the characters have some connection to Scotland. This makes for both an extremely open and eclectic mix of tales and at the same time a rather specific link between them. This creates a unique and interesting volume. For non-Scottish readers there is the chance to discover some Scottish heritage and myth. For Scottish readers, there is the extra benefit of knowing certain references and history, adding extra levels to some stories which non-Scottish readers may not understand.
With an introduction by former 'Interzone' magazine editor David Pringle and a preface by the editors, as well as introductions to each story, here is a rich and readable collection of writing by exciting authors who may be unknown to readers and who the majority of which deserve a lot more attention.
As usual, the great thing about such collections is the ability to dip in and out of them and the range of different writers and stories to suit different moods and different readers.
Laura Kayne
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