#Scottish authors

[vox-anglosphere]

Scotland's glorious monument to her national poet - Sir Walter Scott

The imposing Scott Monument on Princes Street in Edinburgh

[three-jackdaws]

Pathologist humour

[bones-ivy-breath]

I wail silently for more

[joncronshawauthor]

When History Meets Fantasy: An Interview With Author CL Jarvis

Get ready to be transported to a world of magic and science as we talk to historical fantasy author CL Jarvis. With a passion for history and a love of science, CL Jarvis has created a world filled with magic and intrigue. In this interview, we’ll dive into the inspiration behind her world, her writing process, and what readers can expect from her series. So grab a cup of tea and join us on…

[lost-the-plot-reviews]

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman (2017)

Dates read: Jan 30, 2023 - Feb 6, 2023

TW: Suicide, Bullying, Arson, Abuse, Physical/Sexual Assault, Social Isolation, Alcoholism

Synopsis: No one's ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an eldery gentleman who has fallen, the three rescue one another from the lives of isolation that they had been living. Ultimately it is Raymond's big heart that will help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. If she does, she'll learn that she, too, is capable of finding friendship - and even love - after all. Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realises... the only way to survive is to open your heart.

Rating: 4/5

Review: So I was expecting a story full of loneliness and mistakes but still relatable at heart. This is what I got but absolutely not in the way I had expected. Eleanor Oliphant is one of the most unique protagonists I've ever encountered, and initially she can be a bit of a culture shock but honestly by the end you will fall in love with her. This book is a master of showing not telling whether it's random observations by the protagonist or 'throwaway' bits of dialogue. It all builds a picture that is only fully realised at the end. You can have theories but I can't say I had it all worked out which is refreshing to read an ending that's just as surprising as it is satisfying. This book is full of lovely warm moments reminding you to appreciate the world and the kindness of strangers. But it can get quite sad and one later chapter it gets extremely dark. I've listed the trigger warnings at the top for the book hoping it doesn't spoil anything but it's the kind of book that could unfortunately affect some people. I highly recommend this book if you are okay with the topics listed above. For a book so sad it has a lot of heart with an end note of optimism that could brighten the lives of many. I rated it 4 out of 5 because I did have to keep debating the protagonists choices. Whether it was a sign of trauma, autism or both. Which is already a grey area and I hope it's still relatable for ND readers even if there's the low hanging fruit of trauma present throughout.

[Originally posted on Goodreads Feb 7, 2023]

[scotianostra]

On February 16th 1954 the writer Iain Banks was born in Dunfermline, Fife

Banks was a son of a professional ice skater and an Admiralty officer. He spent his early years in North Queensferry and later moved to Gourock because of his father’s work requirement. He received his early education from Gourock and Greenock High Schools and at the young age of eleven, he decided to pursue a career in writing. He penned his first novel, titled The Hungarian Lift-Jet, in his adolescence. He was then enrolled at the University of Stirling where he studied English, philosophy and psychology. During his freshman year, he wrote his second novel, TTR.

Subsequent to attaining his bachelor degree, Banks worked a succession of jobs that allowed him some free time to write. The assortment of employments supported him financially throughout his twenties. He even managed to travel through Europe, North America and Scandinavia during which he was employed as an analyzer for IBM, a technician and a costing clerk in a London law firm. At the age of thirty he finally had his big break as he published his debut novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984, henceforth he embraced full-time writing. It is considered to be one of the most inspiring teenage novels. The instant success of the book restored his confidence as a writer and that’s when he took up science fiction writing.

In 1987, he published his first sci-fi novel, Consider Phlebas which is a space opera. The title is inspired by one of the lines in T.S Eliot’s classic poem, The Waste Land. The novel is set in a fictional interstellar anarchist-socialist utopian society, named the Culture. The focus of the book is the ongoing war between Culture and Idiran Empire which the author manifests through the microcosm conflicts. The protagonist, Bora Horza Gobuchul, unlike other stereotypical heroes is portrayed as a morally ambiguous individual, who appeals to the readers. Additionally, the grand scenery and use of variety of literary devices add up to the extremely well reception of the book. Its sequel, The Player of Games, came out the very next year which paved way for other seven volumes in The Culture series.

Besides the Culture series, Banks wrote several stand-alone novels. Some of them were adapted for television, radio and theatre. BBC television adapted his novel, The Crow Road (1992), and BBC Radio 4 broadcasted Espedair Street. The literary influences on his works include Isaac Asimov, Dan Simmons, Arthur C. Clarke, and M. John Harrison. He was featured in a television documentary, The Strange Worlds of Iain Banks South Bank Show, which discussed his literary writings. In 2003, he published a non-fiction book, Raw Spirit, which is a travelogue of Scotland. Banks last novel, titled The Quarry, appeared posthumously. He also penned a collection of poetry but could not publish it in his lifetime. It is expected to be released in 2015. He was awarded multitude of titles and accolades in honour of his contribution to literature. Some of these accolades include British Science Fiction Association Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award, Locus Poll Award, Prometheus Award and Hugo Award.

Iain Banks was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the gallbladder and died at the age of 59 in the summer of 2013.

[mimilllion]

sure man ill post this here too why not. dana hiss charme buck nyailde and desmond kittysene

[ghouljams]

I don't mean this to come across as mean or rude by any means, I literally love your writing sm, but I was curious if you were aware that "bonnie" isn't typically used as a noun? It's like calling for your partner via "Pretty! Commere Pretty!" which doesn't sound quite right

Oh!!! I wasn't, I'd seen other authors using at as a nickname and thought it was cute. Like calling your partner beautiful as a nickname. As in "Hey there beautiful" or "how are you today beautiful". In the viking au Soap is going to call reader Vænn which also means beautiful or pretty in old Nordic. I don't see it as a noun nickname as much as an adjective nickname, reinforcing that he sees he darling as a bonnie lass/lad without the added gender on the end.

I don't know if that makes sense! Sorry if it doesn't read well for you 😅 it will probably happen again, but I'll change around nicknames with Soap.

[deancaspinefest]

all out to sea

Author: s7jacket | Artist: golby moon

Posting on Wednesday April 10

Growing up on a tiny Scottish island, Dean has heard the legends before—legends of creatures that swim in one form and walk on land another. He’s very sure they’re supposed to be fictional, too, but when he comes across the injured guy sprawled across the rocks clutching a dirty old trenchcoat, he has to wonder, as he takes him home, whether selkies truly are creatures of myth.

Keep reading for a sneak preview!

The hum of the engine pulls him back from his distant thoughts. The boat is sailing his familiar route—straight towards the horizon and left towards the trees on the other side of the bay. His little town wraps around the horseshoe curve of the island shore, with huge, thick-trunked pine trees creeping their way up the hills. Dean’s cottage, small and squat, sits closest to the water in all its unimposing, white-washed glory, and just beyond that, the homes and businesses are dotted haphazardly around, deferring to the natural landscape rather than the other way around. Birds fly overhead and roost in the roof of the pub, with the generational knowledge that dropped chips will be abundant there; parents send their children out on the agreement to be back by tea time, and those children become responsibility of the island, briefly, returned to their wild ways. The air is sharp and wet with sea spray. The wind nips in quick around unprotected ears and noses. Nothing changes but the seasons.

Dean turns off the engine and lets the bob of the tide pull them forwards. “Whoah, baby,” he soothes, patting the wheel the way one might gentle a skittish horse into submission. Dean, long used to the choppy waves, isn’t sickened by the gentle rocking; sometimes, it feels strange walking on the still, solid set of dry land. When the boat has found a rhythm, he dons the hat he never wears in front of Sam and steps to the side of the boat where the nets sit rolled up and ready.

“Okay, baby, you got this,” he says, and throws the nets overboard. He doesn’t expect a huge haul, nor does he need one—he only feeds the people on the island, and even then, some of them wait for the fancy stuff from the once-a-week supply ferry. They’re the kind of people who want their fish to come pre-battered, anyway, so he’s not losing out on too much business. While the nets sit in the murky waters below, Dean preps the ice buckets to throw the fish in.

He’s just about to haul the first net in when he sees—no, he doesn’t, and he puts his hands on the net again—but actually, yes, it is, sprawled across the the rocky outcropping on the starboard side of the boat. A guy, dark haired, broad shouldered and—yep, naked as the day he was born. There’s a flush creeping over Dean’s face that he tells himself is from the sun, as he leans out to look at the prone figure, as he cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, “Hey, you over there!” over the sea-soaked wind.

The guy doesn’t stir. If Dean was a betting man, he might wager he was dead (Dean is a betting man, but the only person to gamble with is himself, and he doesn’t trust himself not to cheat). A minute later, he shouts again, to no avail. There’s nothing for it. He’ll have to go over.

(continue reading on Ao3 on Wednesday April 10)

[blaithnne]

Can we as a fandom collectively move on from writing Scrooge’s accent out in dialogue? Like the “ye” thing? Please. Please. Please. Please Please Please PLEASE—

[vox-anglosphere]

Edinburgh's elegant tribute to Scottish authors along the Royal Mile

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Then, of course, the telephone’s such a convenient thing; it just sits there and demands you call someone who doesn’t want to be called.

- Ray Bradbury, The Golden Apples of the Sun

It’s what we Scots call an ‘aye Phone’.

Photo: A remote telephone box in the Scottish Highlands, near Kintar.

[parttimesarah]

AHHHHHH!!!!!!

[blueiskewl]

Elizabeth Blackwell Herbarium Blackwellianum. Nuremberg: Joseph Fleischmann, 1750-1773

Elizabeth Blackwell undertook her task to raise money to free her husband, Alexander, from debtor's prison. With the support of Isaac Rand, Blackwell drew, engraved, and coloured the illustrations herself, using specimens from the Chelsea Physic Garden. The work, which was originally issued in weekly parts between 1737 and 1739 in London, was a great success, and afforded Alexander his freedom. However, Alexander left his family for Sweden in 1742, where he was appointed court physician to the Swedish king (despite his complete lack of formal medical training). The young "doctor" was hanged for treason in 1748 for his involvement in a political conspiracy over the royal line of succession. By the time of the publication of the present work Elizabeth, a widow, was apparently denied any profits from the enterprise.

[alexpenname]

Okay putting this on my non-anon account because I'm THRILLED and also I guess I should share stuff I've got coming out and not just reblog grad school memes:

I HAVE A BOOK COMING OUT!

Andrion is the tale of Kallis "Andrion" of Athens, who fights against her father and the other orators for women's rights in Athens. She's ace and poly; the story is unashamedly queer, and so is the press.

It's about as close to historically accurate as you can get in a story with giant robots. I'm so fucking excited for this.

Anyway--Knight Errant's doing a Kickstarter for the 2023 catalogue, which I'll link in the next reblog, and the other two books this year also look amazing. We're all trans and queer. It's a micropress, but it's established with some great authors behind it. We've got almost 4.5k quid raised so far, including some funding from Creative Scotland--but we need 7k for full funding.

So if you want a copy, now's the time to order. ♥

Relevant links below!

[scotianostra]

Aye.