Book Reviews

Book: The Mash HouseAuthor: Alan GillespiePublisher: Unbound Teacher-turned-writer Alan Gillespie hands in his debut work and it’s ready to be marked. Gillespie’s mighty tome is set in the fictional village of Cullrothes, a remote, unforgiving corner of the Scottish Highlands whose inhabitants are inextricably linked by secrets,

Book: A Tomb With A ViewAuthor: Peter RossPublisher: Headline, 2020 Peter Ross has been fascinated by graveyards since he was young, tracing the letters and symbols of tombstones in the Old Town Cemetery in Stirling, near his grandparents’ home and reading the slabs like ‘shelves full of stories’.

Samuel Beckett is so revered a writer that one website dedicated to the avant-garde (ubu.com) carries a photograph of him glowering over the contents of its homepage, with no accompanying quote or caption, just the square-cut grey hair, wrinkled skin, and steely gaze visible through dark glasses.

Books: Dante’s TrilogyAuthor: Alasdair GrayPublisher: Canongate William Blake, an English writer and artist of genius, illustrated Dante’s Divine Comedy but didn’t translate it. Alasdair Gray, a Scottish writer and artist of genius, seemed to be going a step further, both illustrating and translating this medieval masterpiece. But

Book: Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern FootballAuthor: Daniel GrayPublisher: Bloomsbury There really is no substitute for attending a football match, it doesn’t matter if you support Barcelona or St Rochs juniors, there is nothing quite like the buzz of a day out at the football.

Book: Xstabeth Author: David Keenan Publisher: White Rabbit Books Xstabeth – An appreciation of the work of David W. Keenan by George Paterson (SR|SIF) DPsych – Incomplete By 1994, I was in the deepest sleep. I’d made it my business to experiment at that time so maybe

Book: There’s Only One Danny Garvey Author: David F Ross Publisher: Orenda Books There’s Only One Danny Garvey by David F. Ross There once was a time, at the death rattle of Thatcherism’s first wave and just before the start of Blair’s Neo-Liberal grift, when football didn’t

Book: Glass Work Humans – Stories and Poems from… Authors: Paul Cowan, Tom Gillespie and John McKenzie. Publisher: Valley Press Esteemed American author William Faulkner once claimed, modestly, that he was a failed poet. ‘Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can’t and then

Book: Shuggie Bain Author: Douglas Stuart Publisher: Picador, 2020 Douglas Stuart’s Booker prizewinning debut novel, Shuggie Bain, set in 1980s Thatcher-ravaged Glasgow and surrounds, is a tragic portrayal of growing up in government-imposed poverty that is capable of arousing both visceral anger and human warmth at the

Book: There’s Only One Danny Garvey Author: David F. Ross Publisher: Orenda Books Into Creative are VERY excited indeed to host the cover reveal of David F. Ross’s latest work, There’s Only One Danny Garvey. The book, published by Orenda Books, will be released on 21st January