Books and David Pollock

Stuart MacBride - Birthdays for the Dead

The tartan noir author diverges from the Logan McRae series with a compelling and brutal thriller

5 Jan 2012

(HarperCollins) A standalone diversion from his Logan McRae series of novels, Stuart MacBride once again demonstrates how he puts the grit into the Granite City. That said, Birthdays for the Dead isn’t set in Aberdeen, instead the action shifts to…

The Hot 100 2011: 100-50

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

100: Gordon Ferris. Kilmarnock crime author makes good. The already packed Scottish crime writing field has finally found a bit of elbow room for another burgeoning talent. Joining the likes of Rankin, Brookmyre, McDermid and co is this Ayrshire-born…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

Emma Donoghue - The Sealed Letter

Re-issue of a slow-burning Victorian-set drama by the Booker-shortlisted author

18 Oct 2011

(Picador) ‘No corsets, no crinoline’ is the unladylike lot of one who takes up the cause of women’s rights amidst the bustling, vital Victoriana of this reissued 2008 novel from Room author Emma Donoghue. Emily ‘Fido’ Faithfull has matured into just…

Darren Shan, Barry Hutchison and Alexander Gordon Smith talk horror

Creating terrifying tales for teenage readers at the EIBF

16 Aug 2011

As far as groundings in the horror business go, young adult writer Barry Hutchison knew exactly what fear was from an early age. ‘I lived in a perpetual state of terror when I was a kid,’ says the Fort William-based creator of the Invisible Fiends…

Horror Stories for Kids at 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

Darren Shan, Barry Hutchison & Alexander Gordon Smith talk horror

16 Aug 2011

As far as groundings in the horror business go, young adult writer Barry Hutchison knew exactly what fear was from an early age. ‘I lived in a perpetual state of terror when I was a kid,’ says the Fort William-based creator of the Invisible Fiends…

Gordon Ferris - The Hanging Shed

Evoking the dark side of 1950s Scotland

16 Aug 2011

For an author whose subject matters might be referred to as solidly traditional – a compelling combination of post-war historical drama and ripping crime thriller – Gordon Ferris is at the leading edge of a publishing revolution. The first two novels in…

Mari Strachan - Blow on a Dead Man’s Embers

Historical between-the-wars family drama with an eye for detail

3 Aug 2011

(Canongate) Life, thinks Non Davies, a rural housewife in the mid-Wales of 1920, is like a tablecloth: ‘smooth and rough, worn thin so that it is almost a hole in places.’ It’s a prosaic description from a woman who presents a similarly functional…

Doug Johnstone - Smokeheads

Contemporary black comedy thriller, or 'Whisky Galore! meets Deliverance’

11 Feb 2011

Doug Johnstone has used his love of whisky to explore the modern Scottish psyche. David Pollock shares a nip and hears about some bad boys

Nick Spencer & Christian Ward - The Infinite Vacation No 1

Character of parallel universes tale ends up ‘bored, alone and miserable’

9 Feb 2011

(Image) ‘Hello My Name Is Mark,’ says the badge worn by the red-haired guy with the shirt, tie and patch of ill-advised chin fluff who looks as though he’s attending a conference. And in a way he is, with this gathering of his alternate selves over…

Earl Lovelace - Is Just a Movie

19 Jan 2011

(Faber) In the aftermath of the 1970s Black Power Revolution, a Trinidadian musician named King Kala finds that the calypso style he plays, like the movement he supported, has slipped out of fashion. Meanwhile, young troublemaker Sonnyboy Apparicio…

Decoded - Jay Z

Music Memoir

23 Dec 2010

(Virgin) Fans of one of the world’s biggest rap artists will no doubt be putting this glossy, hard-bound autobiography on their Christmas list, but the hardcore don’t seem to be the only audience Shawn Carter is targeting. Although illustrated with…

The Hot 100 2010 - Mark Millar, Kevin Bridges and Alasdair Gray take top 3 spots

Our annual chart of the people from Scotland being interesting, successful and creative

16 Dec 2010

The Hot 100 is a list of Scots who’ve made a sizeable creative splash in 2010. It includes musicians, artists, writers, actors, fashion designers, technological innovators, shop owners, festival directors, record label heads and one mad cyclist.

The Atomic Society of Justice

John Miller's episodic one-off tribute to the 1940s ‘Golden Age’ of comics

19 Nov 2010

(Small Press) In comic geek speak, the ‘Golden Age’ means the 1940s, and the advent of the superhero era from DC and Marvel. Set in 1942, this episodic one-off tribute comes from prolific Scots small press creator John Miller. As is typical of his…

Joshua Dysart & Cliff Chiang - Neil Young’s Greendale

25 Aug 2010

(Vertigo) Originally a concept album in 2003, then a film, a live DVD and an off-Broadway musical, this anti-war, pro-ecology tale by Neil Young & Crazy Horse continues its march across media formats with an attractive hard-bound graphic novel…

Armitage's first appearance at the Book Festival

Decorated poet goes in a new direction and talks poetry performances

17 Aug 2010

This will be the first Book Festival appearance of Simon Armitage CBE, since the nod was given the much-adored Huddersfield poet’s way in the Queen’s birthday honours earlier this year. ‘Flattered,’ is how he felt. ‘That’s it. Just flattered.’ He’s lost…

Owen Sheers

Covering the poetic landscape of Britain

12 Aug 2010

One of those infuriating people whose expansive CV (poet, novelist, playwright, actor, television presenter) is matched only by their down to earth charm, Wales’ Owen Sheers will be presenting two very different projects at the Book Festival. The first…

And the Land Lay Still - James Robertson

23 Jul 2010

‘I’ve always had it in mind that I wanted to write a big, sprawling novel about Scottish politics and culture in the second half of the 20th century,’ explains James Robertson. ‘When I sat down to write my last book, The Testament of Gideon Mack, I…

Sloane Crosley - How Did You Get This Number

5 Jul 2010

(Portobello) You have to hand it to someone who footnotes the parental dedication at the beginning of their book with a diatribe about the memory of some still-raw teenage punishment. Then again, you may also feel compelled towards suspicion when you…

Wigtown Book Festival 2010

28 May 2010

‘The best way to explain the Wigtown Book Festival is to explain Wigtown first of all,’ says festival director Adrian Turpin. ‘It’s Scotland’s National Book Town, which means it has lots of bookshops and book businesses. It’s like a mini Hay-on-Wye…

Book and Literary festivals in Scotland 2010

28 May 2010

With Glasgow’s Aye Write! and Aberdeen’s Word behind us for another year, Scotland’s book lovers are now holding their breath for the real heavyweight of the nation’s literary calendar, the Edinburgh Book Festival (Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, Sat…

Mark Millar & Steve McNiven - Nemesis No.1

15 Apr 2010

(Icon) With Mark Millar’s last creation currently tearing up cinema screens, what better way to drum up interest in his new project than with a cover strapline bearing the claim ‘Makes Kick-Ass Look Like S#it’? Another collaboration with Steve…

Alessandro Gallenzi - Bestseller

15 Apr 2010

(Alma Books) Not so much an affectionate look at the world of publishing as a weary procedural of the soul-destroying day-to-day life of those involved in it, Bestseller comes from the heart, at least. Alessandro Gallenzi, a novelist, playwright…

Beatrice Colin - The Songwriter

25 Feb 2010

(John Murray) One of the more promising new writers in Scotland returns with a fourth novel which sets its sights far from her home country. In the same manner as Glasgow-based Beatrice Colin’s last book The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite explored…

Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years

30 Oct 2009

(Michael Joseph) Reneging on her statement that 2004’s Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction would be the final Mole book, Sue Townsend has returned to her most enduring creation in his 39th (and a quarter) year. That he’s back at all is…