'Lunar Cycling' published in Antlers of Water

In early 2019 Kathleen Jamie invited me to contribute an essay to a new nature writing anthology she was editing. She and the publisher Canongate had decided such an anthology was timely as, although Scottish crime writing is established as a phenomenon, the indigenous nature-and-environment writing movement is yet to be properly acknowledged. So here is the book that fills the gap, with the title Antlers of Water drawn from a Norman MacCaig poem. I'm very proud that my piece Lunar Cycling appears alongside an impressive roll-call of other writers from Scotland:   
   
‘The first ever collection of contemporary Scottish writing on nature and landscape, Antlers of Water showcases the diversity and radicalism of new Scottish nature writing today.’ Read more about the book here.

The invitation gave me the opportunity to draw on my month’s activity walking the intertidal zone of Rosneath peninsula when I was at Cove Park Artists Residency in summer 2017. Having decided to live with greater tidal awareness whilst surrounded by the sea, I observed on my low tide walk each day shells, pebbles, ceramics reshaped by the sea, tampon applicators, a single mangetout, a railway ticket, a doll’s head, Victorian boots, and so on. Noting how human artefacts were often strangely transformed by their sea-journeys, I gradually collected quite a museum of objects.

My essay focuses on the object pictured, a plastic bicycle pedal which had run away to sea. I had never before thought to explore the fascinating life cycle of the barnacles which have colonised it and what they could teach me about living with the rhythm of tides.

Antlers of Water is published today, 6th August and available from your favourite indie bookshop, or from Waterstones at £20.

When I was researching Call of the Undertow, I endlessly explored the setting at Dunnet Bay, not so far from John o’Groats. Much of the novel is set on the wild shore and cliffs but a few notable buildings presented themselves including this handsome church at Dunnet which was where Timothy Pont, Scotland’s earliest mapmaker, was Minister from 1601 to 1610. Inside, I was shown up a rickety ladder into the high tower to examine the large inscribed bell which had been presented to the church by Mary Oswald in 1778. Curious about her, I later discovered this portrait of her in The National Gallery, together with some history.

If you are missing the sea as I have been, and want to feel yourself there through fiction, Call of the Undertow is ON OFFER for Non-Kindle e-readers for only £1 (reduced from £2.99), and the special edition hardback for only £12 (reduced from £15) inc. P+P in UK only from NOW until 7th August from here.

My poem 'Camel Cadence', inspired by February in the Sahara at Cafe Tissardmine, is published in Scottish PEN's PENning journal (page 33) this month on the theme of Patience. Read the whole magazine here. I'm particularly happy about this as years ago I helped to found PENning.

As Lee Child says, “You don't have to like football (or be homeless) to love this book – it's an all-star squad of amazing talent, and all in a great cause, so read it now!” Published TODAY, When the Homeless World Cup would have been played in Finland, HOME FIXTURES brings together writers as diverse as Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, and Jackie Kay. The two dozen contributions focus on football and/or homelessness and the aim is to raise funds and awareness for the Homeless World Cup Foundation.

I'm always delighted to be asked to write a new story, and for 'The Give and Take' to appear in such company is very exciting. Nick Hornby, of 'Fever Pitch' fame, is one of the stars of the squad.

In 2011 Anthony Clavane wrote in The Guardian about how rarely football features in fiction. He listed 10 writers who had done so, including that gloriously painful match in Barry Hines' 'Kestrel for a Knave'. At number 10, and the only place for females on the list, came in an anthology of Scottish football short fiction In which he picked out my story 'The Match' for special attention. "Truly she is the anti-Hornby", Clavane says of me!

So here you have it, Hornby and anti-Hornby in the same volume and just £1.99 for a great cause.

I'll be in conversation with crime and thriller writer Chris Brookmyre for the online Birnam Book Festival tonight at 8pm. It's going out live on the Festival's Facebook Page but the recording will remain here afterwards. We'll discuss his latest novel 'Fallen Angel', described as 'gloriously dark, deliciously twisty', and much more. 

I'm currently recording a selection of my short stories to issue with my monthly newsletter. Please sign up here if you would like to receive them. And there's a special offer if you introduce someone else!

Like many other book festivals, my local one at Birnam has had to put plans on hold. However as their Writer in Residence I will be running a virtual short story writing course over four weeks from Wednesday 10th June. You'll find all the details here. Sign up quick!

Knowing

We'll have to see how Covid-19 develops, but all being well by July, I will be teaching a fiction writing course from 27th July at the stunning Garsdale Retreat. More here.

Sixteen years  ago I did my first abridgement for BBC Radio 4 of 'The Rainbow', a text I'd loved when I took A-level English. Lovely to hear it again currently in ten epiodes on Radio 4 Extra (listen at the link below).

I abridged Kathleen Jamie's 'Surfacing' for next week's 'Book of the Week' on BBC Radio 4. More.

Please read on here.