Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction

edited by
Andrew J Wilson and Neil Williamson

Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction was intended to be a saltire flag waving in the air at the 2005 Worldcon, a shout out of "here we are" to the world's science fiction fans as they decended on Scotland, wondering: "Why have a Worldcon here? What has Scotland contributed to the fields of Science Fiction and Fantasy?" The answer to this is: lots. Scotland's storytelling history is steeped in the supernatural and the celtic tradition, and its technological past is one of innovation renowned the world over. What better environment to breed imaginative writers?

This anthology offers the reader the widest possible selection that the genres have to offer: from King James VI's witch trials to modern day witchery in the workplace, from the presbyterian approach to alien contact to post-human AI plague, from the remembrance of World War I soldiers to the healing of those caught up in the Iraq war, and from engineering successes that never were to the closing down of the traditional industries, and finally to the last inhabitants of the land leaving forever.

Readers are able to enjoy new stories by established favourites such as Ken MacLeod, Charles Stross, Jane Yolen and John Grant, as well as sampling from a host of new Science Fiction and Fantasy talents and established figures from the Scottish literature scene, including Ron Butlin and Scotland's Makar, or national poet, Edwin Morgan.

Forget, the Loch Ness monster, Brigadoon and all the usual tartanalia: Nova Scotia examines the Scotland of the 21st century and offers 22 unique insights on living in this New Scotland.

For those coming to Worldcon in Scotland, Nova Scotia made the perfect guidebook.

ordering

Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction
edited by Andrew J Wilson and Neil Williamson
published by The Mercat Press, August 2005
304 pages, paperback
ISBN: 1841830860

Order Nova Scotia online using these links and infinity plus will benefit:
... from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

contents

• Preface by Neil Williamson & Andrew J Wilson
• Introduction by David Pringle
• "The Cost of Pearls" by Edwin Morgan
• "A Case of Consilience" by Ken MacLeod
• "Deus ex Homine" by Hannu Rajaniemi
• "The Last Shift" by Hal Duncan
• "Not Wisely But Too Well" by AJ McIntosh
• "Third-Degree Burns" by Andrew J Wilson
• "Lest We Forget" by Marion Arnott
• "The Intrigue of the Battered Box" by Michael Cobley
• "Five Fantastic Fictions" by Ron Butlin
• "Running on at Adventures" by Angus McAllister
• "A Knot of Toads" by Jane Yolen
• "Sophie and the Sacred Fluids" by Andrew C Ferguson
• "Vanilla for the Lady" by Deborah J Miller
• "Pisces Ya Bas" by Gavin Inglis
• "The Vulture, 4-17 March" by Harvey Welles & Philip Raines
• "The Bogle's Bargain" by Stefan Pearson
• "Criggie" by Matthew Fitt
• "Snowball's Chance" by Charles Stross
• "Total Mental Quality, By the Way" by William Meikle
• "The Bennie and the Bonobo" by Neil Williamson
• "The Hard Stuff" by John Grant
• "Dusk" by Jack Deighton

the editors

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.

Elsewhere in infinity plus:

• back to the Scottish SF special feature.
• See also: Keith Brooke's review of Nova Scotia.