The Seven Wonders of Scotland launch and Illicit Ink

The Seven Wonders of Scotland
The Seven Wonders of Scotland, an anthology from Birlinn examining Scotland today through tales of fictional wonders, is out early November. The book was launched at Changin Scotland last weekend, and has a second launch at Blackwells Bookshop on November 27th, 2012, 18:30 (not 18:00 as first advertised). Gerry Hassan will introduce the book and there will be readings, from me, Kirsti Wishart and other of the writers.

I’ll also be reading at the next Illicit Ink event, 20,000 Words Under the Sea, at The Bongo Club, on December 2nd, 2012, 20:00. The inspiration for my piece, The Corals Wave Back, comes from my natural history hero, David Attenborough, and The Living Ocean. I don’t think I’ll be alone in taking inspiration from that quarter. You’ll also hear Helen Jackson read Ms Chalmers and the Silent Service, Lynsey May and other local writers.

The contributor’s copy of New Writing Scotland 30 arrived in the mail this morning

Look at this, isn’t it pretty?

Front cover of A Little Bit of Cliff in the Evening: New Writing Scotland 30

The table of content is rather attractive too. It’s got Lin Anderson, Alasdair Gray, Andrew Greig and Agnes Owens, as well as two of my writer’s group colleagues, R.A. Martens and Carol Farrelly. The stories I’ve read so far have been great. It’s an interesting mixture of poetry, short stories and even a comic.

The collection is available from Amazon now. (You can even read a bit of my story online: just click Look inside and then my name for a teaser page.)

The official launch is at Blackwells, from 18:00 on August 28th. Come along!