Crime Scenes Revisited: Scottish Popular Fiction

Ian Rankin is our cover boy in an issue walking the dark side of life, with a slice of his new novel, Naming of the Dead (world exclusive!) plus a revealing in-depth interview with Edmund O’Connor are main attractions. O’Connor also writes a revealing profile, ‘Mr Iain and Mr Iain (M) Banks’, and a critical exploration of Tartan Noir, focussing on William McIlvanney, Val McDermid, Manda Scott, Denise Mina.And there’s the usual mix of the surreal, the magical and the mischievous: a new fiction star is born in Alan McGunnigal, see his raw story ‘Bish’; Ted Fink contributes a heart-rending story of American ‘legal abuse’ - ‘Charles Got Lost …’; a challenging piece by Douglas Thompson; the McGonagall can of worms is reopened in Alice Walsh’s ‘Where Angels Tread’ – and other fine pieces.New poetry from Clare Crossman, Robin Fulton, John Purser, Jim C. Wilson, Lynne Wycherley and others, and masterly translations of Tsvetaeva by Belinda Cooke and Neruda’s ‘The Heights of Macchu Picchu’ into Scots by John Law! All this plus our packed review section covering theatre, book and pamphlets.Neil MacNeil’s poems brilliantly evoke the landscape of Arran in an artistic collaboration with featured artist Don McNeil. Don also contributes other paintings, deep responses to the west of Scotland, its culture and natural life.One of our most outstanding issues to date.