Polygon New Titles 2016 by Birlinn Limited

POLYGON NEW TITLES Spring 2016

CONTENTS ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH

NEW FICTION

NON-FICTION

POETRY

NEW EDITIONS

SPECIAL EDITIONS

Alexander McCall Smith – My Italian Bulldozer Alexander McCall Smith – The Bertie Project

Kevin MacNeil – The Brilliant & Forever Denzil Meyrick – The Rat Stone Serenade Sandra Ireland – Beneath the Skin

Nick Perry – Peaks and Troughs Stuart Cosgrove – Young Soul Rebels: A Personal History of Northern Soul Stuart Cosgrove – Detroit 67 Louise Wyllie & Jan Patience – Arrivals & Sailings: The Making of George Wyllie Robert Crawford (Editor) – The Book of Iona: An Anthology Malachy Tallack – The Un-Discovered Islands

Liz Lochhead – Fugitive Colours Jenni Fagan – The Dead Queen of Bohemia: New & Collected Poems Neu!Reekie! – #UntitledTwo Lizzie MacGregor (Editor) – Whatever the Sea: Scottish poems for growing older

Rosemary Goring – Dacre’s War Malachy Tallack – Sixty Degrees North: Around the World In Search of Home Lewis Grassic Gibbon – Sunset Song Lewis Grassic Gibbon – A Scots Quair Shirley McKay – Queen & Country Michael F. Russell – Lie of the Land Christopher Jory – The Art of Waiting

Timothy Neat – The Day of the Mountain Shirley McKay – 1588: A Calendar of Crime

4 5

6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27

JAN-PHILIPP SENDKER Jan-Philipp Sendker – A Well-Tempered Heart Jan-Philipp Sendker – Whispering Shadows Jan-Philipp Sendker – Dragon Games

FROM 2015

Cara Ellison – Embed With Games: A Year on the Couch With Game Developers Zoë Howe – Lee Brilleaux: Rock’n’Roll Gentleman Alexander McCall Smith – Chance Developments: Unexpected Love Stories Gregory Dowling – Ascension

28 29 30

31 32

POLYGON NEW TITLES JANUARY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NOVEMBER 2016

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH

MY ITALIAN BULLDOZER Alexander McCall Smith When writer Paul Stewart heads to the idyllic Italian town of Montalcino to finish his already late book, it seems like the perfect escape from stressful city life. Upon landing, however, things quickly take a turn for the worse when he discovers his hired car is nowhere to be found. With no record of any reservation and no other cars available, it looks like Paul is stuck at the airport. That is, until an enterprising stranger offers him an unexpected alternative. While there may be no cars available there is something else on offer . . . A bulldozer.

ISBN 9781846973550 Price £14.99 Format 216 x 138mm hardback Rights UK & Commonwealth ex. Canada Publication 19 May 2016 Extent 224pp

With little choice in the matter, Paul accepts and so begins a series of laugh-out-loud adventures through the Italian countryside, following in the wake of Paul and his Italian Bulldozer. A story of unexpected circumstances and a lesson in making the best of what you have, My Italian Bulldozer is a warm holiday read guaranteed to put a smile on your face. ‘This novel has the usual combination of light-hearted gentleness and forensic acuity, reminding the reader never to underestimate McCall Smith’s fundamental seriousness of purpose’ – Sydney Morning Herald

‘Refreshingly original… deliciously farcical’ – Yorkshire Post ‘There is something magical about this book’ – Breakaway Reviewers

9781846973291 £9.99 hbk

Fiction

9781846973239 £7.99 pbk

9781846972638 £7.99 pbk

Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world’s most prolific and most popular authors. For many years he was a professor of Medical Law until the publication of his highly successful No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty-five million copies. He now devotes his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over fortysix languages, becoming bestsellers throughout the world.

THE BERTIE PROJECT Alexander McCall Smith Once more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith . . . Bertie’s respite from his overbearing mother, Irene, is over. She has returned from the middle-east, only to discover that her son has been exposed to the worst evils of cartoons, movies and Irn Bru, and her wrath falls upon her unfortunate husband, Stuart. Meanwhile, Bruce has fallen in love with someone other than himself; Big Lou wants to adopt her beloved Finlay; Matthew and Elspeth host the Duke of Johannesburg for supper and Bertie decides he wants to move out of Scotland Street altogether and live with his grandmother, Nicola. Can Irene and Stuart’s marriage survive? Will Bruce’s newfound love last? And will Bertie really leave Scotland Street? Find out in the next instalment of this charming, beloved series. ISBN 9781846973598 Price £16.99 Format 216 x 138mm hardback Rights UK & Commonwealth ex. Canada Publication 16 August 2016 Extent 288pp

THE REVOLVING DOOR OF LIFE ISBN 9781846973284 Price £16.99 Format 216 x 138mm hardback Rights World ex. Canada & United States Publication 13 August 2015 Extent 368pp

Fiction

KEVIN MacNEIL

ISBN 9781846973376 Price £9.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback w/flaps Rights World All Languages Publication 03 March 2016 Extent 256pp

THE BRILLIANT & FOREVER A Novel Kevin MacNeil WHEN HEAVY SNOW CUTS OFF KINTYRE, DCI JIM DAOn an island like no other, the annual Brilliant & Forever festival is a LEY much anticipated participants a story ANDevent, DSits BRIAN SCOTT away from either glory or infamy. ARE ASSIGNED TO PROTECT This year, three best friends – two human, one alpaca – are chosen to compete, so victory is not only about reward. The THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS VISITORS. glitterati descends, the festival begins: thirteen performers, each have their story to tell. Who will be chosen by the ASownAN ANCIENT SOCIETY judges? Who will be chosen by the people? EMERGES FROM THE BLIZThis is a novel like no other, a whip-cracking, energetic, laughout-loud satire on what we value in culture, and CREATION, in our lives. ZARDS, AND ITS And yet, written with exquisite warmth and empathy, The Brilliant & Forever a moving exploration ofREVEALS integrity, THEis also RAT STONE, friendship and belonging. It’ll split your sides and break your heart. GRISLY SECRETS, GHOSTS OF ‘A wise, warm-hearted meditationCOME on the humanTO condition’ THE PAST HAUNT – The Scotsman THE SHANNONS. AS THE ‘It is as rich a reading experience as you will discover this year . . . pitch perfect’ CURSE DECREES, DEATH IS – West Highland Free Press COMING – BUT FOR WHOM ‘Lyrical, satirical, funny and utterly, utterly heartbreaking’ – Heat Magazine AND FROM WHAT? ‘It is a joy to read such an engaging illuminating novel’ – The Guardian

Kevin MacNeil is an awardwinning writer from the Outer Hebrides now living in London. He is a novelist, poet, editor and screenwriter. The Brilliant & Forever is his third novel.

9781846971839 £7.99 pbk

Fiction

9781846971969 £9.99 hbk

DENZIL MEYRICK

THE RAT STONE SERENADE A D.C.I. Daley Thriller Denzil Meyrick It’s December, and the Shannon family are returning home to their clifftop mansion near Kinloch for their annual AGM. Shannon International is one of the world’s biggest private companies, with tendrils reaching around the globe in computing, banking and mineral resourcing, and it has brought untold wealth and privilege to the family. However, a century ago Archibald Shannon stole the land upon which he built their home – and his descendants have been cursed ever since.

ISBN 9781846973406 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights English Language (UK & Commonwealth) Publication 14 April 2016 Extent 384pp

When heavy snow cuts off Kintyre, D.C.I. Jim Daley and D.S. Brian Scott are assigned to protect their illustrious visitors. As an ancient society emerges from the blizzards, and its creation, the Rat Stone, reveals grisly secrets, ghosts of the past come to haunt the Shannons. As the curse decrees, death is coming – but for whom and from what? Praise for the series: ‘Touches of dark humour, multi-layered and compelling’ – Daily Record ‘The right amount of authenticity ... gritty writing ... most memorable’ – Herald ‘Has the ability to give even the least important person in the plot character and the skill to tell a good tale’ – Scots Magazine

After studying politics, Denzil Meyrick worked as a police officer, distillery manager, freelance journalist and company director. He is originally from Campbeltown in Argyll, but now lives with his wife Fiona on Loch Lomondside. 9781846973215 £8.99 pbk

9781846972881 £8.99 pbk

9781846973154 £8.99 pbk

Fiction

SANDRA IRELAND

ISBN 9781846973611 Price £9.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 22 September 2016 Extent 272pp

BENEATH THE SKIN A Novel Sandra Ireland WHEN HEAVY SNOW CUTS OFF KINTYRE, DCI JIM DATaking a job in the studio of an Edinburgh taxidermist probably Walt’s wisest decision. SufferingSCOTT from combat LEYisn’tAND DS BRIAN stress and struggling to outrun the demons from his past, he nowARE finds himself confronted by the TO undeadPROTECT on a daily basis. ASSIGNED His THEIR enigmatic boss, Alys, and her sister, Mouse, have their ILLUSTRIOUS VISITORS. own uneasy relationship with the past. Someone doesn’t want to letAN them go. Can Walt save Mouse’s eight-year-old AS ANCIENT SOCIETY son, William, from becoming the next victim? And can he save himself? EMERGES FROM THE BLIZDeliciously disturbing, this psychological thriller peels back ZARDS, AND ITS CREATION, the skin of one modern family to reveal the wounds no one wants to see. It deals with the effects of trauma and how THE RAT STONE, REVEALS facing up to vulnerability is sometimes the only way to let go of the past. GRISLY SECRETS, GHOSTS OF ThisTHE is a compelling suspense thriller forTO lovers of the Gothic PAST COME HAUNT and the macabre and will appeal to fans of Louise Welsh and Patrick McCabe THE SHANNONS. AS THE CURSE DECREES, DEATH IS COMING – BUT FOR WHOM AND FROM WHAT? Sandra Ireland was born in Yorkshire, lived for many years in Limerick, and is now based in Carnoustie. She began her writing career as a correspondent on a local newspaper but quickly realised that fiction is much more intriguing than fact. In 2013 Sandra was awarded a Carnegie-Cameron scholarship to study for an MLitt in Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee, graduating with a distinction in 2014. Her work has appeared in various publications and women’s magazines. She is currently writing her second novel, another psychological thriller.

Fiction

NICK PERRY

PEAKS AND TROUGHS In at the Deep End, High in the Hills Nick Perry Peaks and Troughs is the story of a naïve young man who is initiated into adulthood through the harsh reality of having to survive in the material world. Despite the hardships, he never loses his belief that there is an alternative way to farm that is sympathetic to the earth and the animals in his care. His neighbours never take him seriously and try to undermine his efforts as he struggles against the elements and nagging self-doubt, but he carries on, no matter how close to the edge he and his family get. This is a warm-hearted, humorous and ultimately inspirational tale of a young man’s attempt to run an organic farm in the unforgiving Welsh hills. ISBN 9781846973659 Price £14.99 Format 234 x 156mm hardback Rights World All Languages Publication 20 October 2016 Extent 256pp

Nick Perry spent his childhood in Dorset, out in the countryside daydreaming most of the time. He was educated at Parkstone Sea Training School before leaving for London where he worked for ATV Television. He travelled around Europe moving from job to job until he came intomoney. On impulse he bought a hill farm in North Wales, some experiences of which form the backdrop to Peaks and Troughs. He lives with his wife Arabella in the Wiltshire countryside where he spends time writing, walking and listening to classical music.

Non-Fiction

STUART COSGROVE

ISBN 9781846973338 Price £14.99 Format 240 x 170mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 19 May 2016 Extent 320pp

YOUNG SOUL REBELS A Personal History of Northern WHEN Soul HEAVY SNOW CUTS StuartOFF Cosgrove KINTYRE, DCI JIM DANothing will ever compare amphetamine rushSCOTT of LEY ANDto the DS BRIAN my young life and the night I was nearly buggered by my girlfriend’sARE uncle inASSIGNED the Potteries . . . The opening of TO line PROTECT Stuart Cosgrove’s Young Soul Rebels sets up a compelling and intimate story of northern soul, Britain’s most fascinating THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS VISITORS. musical underground scene, and takes the reader on a journey into the iconic clubs that made it famous – The AS AN ANCIENT SOCIETY Twisted Wheel, The Torch, Wigan Casino, Blackpool Mecca and Cleethorpes Pier – the bootleggers that made it infamous, the EMERGES FROM THE BLIZsplits that threatened to divide the scene, the great unknown records that built its global reputation and the crate-digging ZARDS, AND ITS CREATION, collectors that travelled to America to unearth unknown sounds. THE RAT STONE, REVEALS The book sweeps across fifty years of British life and places GRISLY SECRETS, GHOSTS OF the northern soul scene in a social context – the rise of amphetamine culture, the policing of youth culture, the THE PAST COME TO HAUNT north–south divide, the decline of coastal Britain, the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry, the rise of Thatcherism, the miners’ THE SHANNONS. AS THE strike, the rave scene and music in the era of the world wide web. CURSE DECREES, DEATH IS Books have been written about northern soul before but never COMING – BUT FOR WHOM with the same erudition and passion. Young Soul Rebels nails a scene that is as popular today as it was in its heyday in the AND FROM WHAT? 1970s. Stuart Cosgrove, originally from Perth, was a fanzine writer on the northern soul scene before joining the black music paper Echoes, as a staff writer. He became media editor with the NME and a feature writer for a range of newspapers and magazines. A graduate of Hull University, he completed a PhD in modern American theatre history. In 2005 he was named Broadcaster of the Year in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards and in 2012 he won numerous awards including a BAFTA and Royal Television Society award for Channel 4’s coverage of the London Paralympics 2012.

Non-Fiction

STUART COSGROVE

DETROIT 67 The Year That Changed Soul Stuart Cosgrove Detroit 67 is the story of Motor City in the year that changed everything. Twelve chapters take you on a turbulent year-long journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through the city in 1967 and tore it apart in personal, political and interracial disputes. It is the story of Motown, the break-up of The Supremes and the damaging disputes at the heart of the most successful African-American music label ever.

ISBN 9781846973666 Price £12.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 20 October 2016 Extent 512pp

Set against a backdrop of urban riots, escalating war in Vietnam and police corruption, the book weaves its way through a year when soul music came of age and the underground counterculture flourished. LSD arrived in the city with hallucinogenic power and local guitar band MC5 – selfstyled holy barbarians of rock – went to war with mainstream America. A summer of street-level rebellion turned Detroit into one of the most notorious cities on earth, known for its unique creativity, its unpredictability and selflacerating crime rates. The year 1967 ended in social meltdown, rancour and intense legal warfare as the complex threads that held Detroit together finally unravelled. ‘It is to be consumed rather than to be dipped into, a wholehearted evocation of people and places filled with the confidence that it is telling a tale set at a fulcrum of American social and cultural history’ – The Independent

Stuart Cosgrove, originally from Perth, was a fanzine writer on the northern soul scene before joining the black music paper Echoes, as a staff writer. He became media editor with the NME and a feature writer for a range of newspapers and magazines. A graduate of Hull University, he completed a PhD in modern American theatre history. In 2005 he was named Broadcaster of the Year in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards and in 2012 he won numerous awards including a BAFTA and Royal Television Society award for Channel 4’s coverage of the London Paralympics 2012.

Non-Fiction

LOUISE WYLLIE & JAN PATIENCE

ISBN 9781846973062 Price £25.00 Format 250 x 240mm hardback Rights World All Languages Publication 14 April 2016 Extent 224pp

ARRIVALS AND SAILINGS The Making of George Wyllie Louise Wyllie & JanSNOW PatienceCUTS WHEN HEAVY The Making of George Wyllie has been co-written by his elder OFF KINTYRE, DCI JIM DAdaughter, Louise Wyllie, and arts journalist Jan Patience. Containing never-before-seen images and fresh insight LEY AND DS BRIAN SCOTT into his influences and early life, this book seeks to answer questions about the forces which shaped Wyllie’s unique ARE ASSIGNED TO PROTECT worldview. THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS VISITORS. The voyage begins with Wyllie’s Glasgow childhood – a period ‘disadvantaged by happiness’ – and moves on to time spent AS AN ANCIENT SOCIETY serving in the Pacific with the Royal Navy during WWII, where he witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by the world’s EMERGES FROM THE BLIZfirst atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. ZARDS, AND ITS CREATION, After the war, like Robert Burns and Adam Smith before him, Wyllie became an Exciseman. He made ‘time for art’ in his THE RAT STONE, REVEALS forties, going on to create memorable public art works such as the life-sized Straw Locomotive, which hung from the GRISLY SECRETS, GHOSTS OF Finnieston Crane in Glasgow, and the giant seaworthy Paper Boat, with the letters QM (Question Mark) on her side. THE PAST COME TO HAUNT By the time of his death at the age of 90 in 2012, this THE SHANNONS. AS THE idiosyncratic self-taught artist had laid out his vision of himself as the artist-shaman, arrow in hand, making a last CURSE DECREES, DEATH IS Cosmic Voyage. COMING – BUT FOR WHOM AND FROM WHAT? Louise Wyllie is the artist’s elder daughter. Recent writings include an episode of CBeebies drama, Katie Morag. She edited and commissioned the recent George Wyllie Retrospective exhibition catalogue, which won an D&AD In-Book Award. Jan Patience has been a journalist and editor for over twenty-five years. She writes on visual art for the Herald, Homes and Interiors Scotland and the Daily Record, among others. Jan was a driving force behind the Whysman Festival in 2012.

Non-Fiction

ROBERT CRAWFORD

THE BOOK OF IONA Edited by Robert Crawford The Book of Iona shows how novelists, poets, saints and sinners over the centuries have written about one of the world’s most famous and best loved islands. Including many new, specially commissioned Iona stories and poems from writers including Meg Bateman, Jennie Erdal, Meaghan Delahunt, Candia McWilliam, Ruth Thomas and Alice Thompson, this anthology also contains a treasure trove of earlier material – from poems attributed to St Columba in modern translations by Edwin Morgan and Robert Crawford to amusing accounts of their visits to the island by Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, and John Keats. In The Book of Iona, as on Iona itself, the sacred and the secular rub shoulders. Here is where a medieval Gaelicspeaking monk encounters Seamus Heaney, and where Robert Louis Stevenson sails past Queen Victoria. Full of surprises, this is an anthology that will delight every lover of Iona and all lovers of literature. ISBN 9781846973512 Price £14.99 Format 216 x 138mm hardback Rights World All Languages Publication 28 July 2016 Extent 320pp

9781904598992 £7.99 pbk

Robert Crawford is Professor of Modern Scottish Literature in the School of English at the University of St Andrews. His seven collections of poems include A Scottish Assembly (Chatto & Windus, 1990), Selected Poems (Cape, 2005) and Apollos of the North (Birlinn, 2006), which featured his English translations alongside poems in Latin by George Buchanan and Arthur Johnston. With Mick Imlah he is co-editor of The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse (2000). His books include The Modern Poet (Oxford University Press, 2001), The Book of St. Andrews (Polygon, 2007), The Beginning and the End of the World (Birlinn, 2011) and Young Eliot (Jonathan Cape, 2015). He lives in St Andrews with his wife and two children.

Non-Fiction

MALACHY TALLACK

ISBN 9781846973505 Price £14.99 Format 250 x 190mm hardback Rights UK & Commonwealth exc. Canada Publication 13 October 2016 Extent 96pp

THE UN-DISCOVERED ISLANDS Malachy Tallack WHEN SNOW CUTS Illustrated by HEAVY Katie Scott OFF KINTYRE, DCI JIM DACritically acclaimed author Malachy Tallack returns in the Autumn of 2016 with a brand excursion into the LEY AND DSnewBRIAN SCOTT beautiful, mysterious and mythical landscapes of the world with The Un-Discovered Islands. ARE ASSIGNED TO PROTECT GatheredTHEIR in this book are over twenty islands that have ILLUSTRIOUS VISITORS. decidedly human origins, whether they are the products of imagination, deception or simply human error. They are AS AN ANCIENT SOCIETY phantoms, fakes and legends: an archipelago of ex-iles and forgottenEMERGES lands. From the well-known myths of Atlantis FROM THE BLIZto the more obscure legends of Thule and Antilla, from the islands ofZARDS, pure fiction to others whoseITS existence is still in AND CREATION, doubt, Malachy has created an atlas of fairytale and wonder. THE RAT STONE, REVEALS This time Malachy’s prose will be accompanied by glorious full colour illustrations from Katie Scott. SheGHOSTS has worked with OF GRISLY SECRETS, The New York Times, Convers, Urban Outfitters and the BBC. She is the illustrator the beautiful Animalium. TO HAUNT THEofPAST COME ‘It’s a joyTHE to read, its prose as clear as the light on the THE SHANNONS. AS Greenland ice-cap. In the past year, I’ve read three or four books combining travelogue and memoir. . .this was the best’IS CURSE DECREES, DEATH – Telegraph on Sixty Degrees North COMING – BUT FOR WHOM Praise for Katie Scott’s illustrations ‘Animalium is a treasure trove of knowledge represented AND FROM WHAT? beautifully through its glorious, large-scale illustrations’ – the Guardian

9781846973420 £8.99 pbk

Non-Fiction

Malachy Tallack has written for the New Statesman, the Guardian, the Scottish Review of Books, Caught By the River and many other publications, online and in print. He won a New Writers Award from the Scottish Book Trust in 2014, and the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship in 2015. He is from Shetland and currently lives in Glasgow.

LIZ LOCHHEAD

FUGITIVE COLOURS Liz Lochhead This stunning new collection features never before published work along with poems written during her time as Scots Makar, and marks the end of her term as Scotland’s Poet Laureate (2011-2016). Whether commissioned works, such as ‘Connecting Cultures’, written for the Commonwealth Games in 2014, or more personal works, ‘Favourite Place’, about holidays in the west coast with her late husband, this collection is beautiful, sensitive and brilliant. Throughout her career Liz Lochhead has been described variously as a poet, feminist-playwright, translator and broadcaster but has said that ‘when somebody asks me what I do I usually say writer. The most precious thing to me is to be a poet. If I were a playwright, I’d like to be a poet in the theatre.’

ISBN 9781846973451 Price £9.99 Format 198 x 129mm hardback Rights World English Language Publication 26 May 2016 Extent 112pp

Praise for Liz Lochhead ‘An inspirational presence in British poetry – funny, feisty, female, full of feeling’ – Carol Ann Duffy ‘The social satires in Liz Lochhead’s new collection are among the wittiest and most original pieces she has written’ – Herald ‘One of the few poets writing today capable of encompassing the matter of contemporary life in terms that are both attractive and thought-provoking’ – Books in Scotland ‘This is the work of a highly intelligent, sensitive, perceptive, and humorous young woman ’ – George Mackay Brown

9781846972072 £9.99 pbk

9780954407520 £9.99 pbk

Poet and playwright Liz Lochhead is a Fellow of Glasgow School of Art, an Honorary Doctor of Letters of Glasgow University, a Fellow of RSAMD and of Glasgow Institute of Art, and is an Honorary President of the Scottish Poetry Library. Her poetry collections include Dreaming Frankenstein (Polygon, 1984), True Confessions and New Clichés (Polygon, 1985), Bagpipe Muzak (Penguin, 1991), The Colour of Black and White (Polygon, 2003) and A Choosing: Selected Poems (Polygon, 2011). Her plays include Tartuffe (Polygon, 1986), Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (Penguin, 1989) and the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award-winning Medea (Nick Hern Books, 2000). In 2016 Liz will be awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry

Poetry

JENNI FAGAN

ISBN 9781846973390 Price £9.99 Format 205 x 145mm paperback Rights World English Language Publication 14 April 2016 Extent 176pp

THE DEAD QUEEN OF BOHEMIA New & Collected Poems JenniDALEY Fagan AND DS BRIAN ARE ASSIGNED TO The DeadSCOTT Queen of Bohemia is a journey through a life lived on the edge. With a poetic style influenced by Gertrude THEIR Stein andPROTECT William Burroughs, this collectionILLUSTRIis woven with surrealistic imagery that is both unflinching and dislocating. OUS ASandAN Fagan’s poetry is rawVISITORS. and tough yet beautiful tenderANand with themes of loss and recovery, hope and defiance, her work CIENT EMERGES represents a clarion callSOCIETY from a self-taught poet who started writing at the age of seven and so far has not stopped. FROM THE BLIZZARDS, AND The Dead Queen of Bohemia documents the progression of ITS THE a voice and a lifeCREATION, written over the last twenty years. RAT It opens with Jenni’s most recent work and includes her previous two STONE, GRISLY collections, both now out REVEALS of print. SECRETS, OF THE ‘full of desire and guitars andGHOSTS witches’ – Sunday Herald PAST HAUNT ‘if you like BukowskiCOME and the Beats,TO you’ll get somewhere THE close to the subject matter and style, both of which are SHANNONS. AStheTHE CURSE pleasingly uncompromising. ‘The Rocks, Crags & the SunWorm’ [selected] captures something of her anarchic spirit’ DECREES, DEATH IS COM– The Scotsman ING – BUT FOR WHOM AND FROM WHAT?

Jenni Fagan is an author, poet, screenwriter, essayist and a playwright. She has won awards from Creative Scotland, Arts Council England, Dewar Arts, and Scottish Screen, among others. She was named one of the Best Young British Novelist by Granta, a once-in-a-decade accolade. Her debut novel was in Waterstones 11 as one of the best worldwide debuts 2012. Fagan has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, was shortlisted for the Dublin Impac, Dundee International Book Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the James Tait Black Prize, and has recently written for BBC Radio 4, The New York Times, the Independent, and Marie Claire. She is currently completing the screenplay of The Panopticon. Jenni lives by the coast and is working on two new novels. Her second, The Sunlight Pilgrims comes out in 2016.

Poetry

MICHAEL PEDERSEN & KEVIN WILLIAMSON

#UNTITLEDTWO Neu! Reekie! Edited by Michael Pedersen & Kevin Williamson A follow up to last year’s immensely popular #UntitledOne. This year’s anthology gives us more of the promising and established names in British poetry who have all shared the Neu! Reekie! bill. Many of the works are new, many are favourites read at the events; all are savoured, sublime, sumptuous voices within poetry already. Contributors include: established poets Jackie Kay, Kathleen Jamie and Liz Lochhead; younger poets Rachel McCrum and Ryan van Winkle; as well as poets from the spoken word circuit: Luke Wright and Ross Sutherland. Accompanying the book is a downloadable compilation album. Praise for #UntitledOne ISBN 9781846973536 Price £12.99 Format 234 x 156mm paperback Rights World English Language Publication 01 May 2016 Extent 112pp

‘Neu! Reekie! dismantles the structures and snobberies dividing high and low art – art is for everyone’ – Skinny ‘Genre-crossing performance night led by Michael Pedersen and Kevin Williamson, incorporating spoken word, animation, drama, music and more’ – Time Out

Michael Pedersen is a poet, playwright and animateur with an electric reputation on the performance circuit and a prolific precedent of collaborations, having teamed up with some of the UK’s top musicians, film-makers and artists. He is widely published in magazines, journals, anthologies and e-zines, and a key creative within Dream Tower Productions. Michael’s collection, Play with Me, was published by Polygon in 2013.

9781846973345 £12.99 pbk

Kevin Williamson is a writer, publisher, and activist, originally from Caithness. He is a Scottish socialist and republican and was an activist for the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). He wrote a regular weekly column, Rebel Ink, for the Scottish Socialist Voice. He is co-founder of Neu! Reekie!

Poetry

LIZZIE MacGREGOR

Cover visual courtesy of Olivia Lomenech Gill

ISBN 9781846973383 Price £9.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights UK & Commonwealth exc. Canada Publication 22 September 2016 Extent 96pp

WHATEVER THE SEA Scottish poems for growing older AND DS BRIAN EditedDALEY by Lizzie MacGregor SCOTT ARE ASSIGNED TO age has drifted down / imperceptibly, like dust THEIR ILLUSTRIAge comes PROTECT to us all. It is not a unique phenomenon, but it is personal, and it can be perplexing. Poetry gives us a fresh way OUS VISITORS. ASintroduced AN ANto think about growing older, and these poems, by Sally Magnusson, celebrate maturity, widen perspectives and CIENT confront the inevitable. SOCIETY EMERGES FROM the THE The poets acknowledge adventBLIZZARDS, of age, in rueful or upbeatAND mode, celebrate the bonuses of friendship and late love, ITS CREATION, THE RAT survey the weaknesses of body and mind with black humour, and face the final destination with indomitable spirit. STONE, REVEALS GRISLY Whatever the Sea: Scottish poems for growing older, edited SECRETS, GHOSTS OF by Lizzie MacGregor, is published in association with the THE Scottish Poetry Library and with support from the Baring PAST TO HAUNT THE Foundation. It includesCOME poems by Edwin Morgan, Stewart Conn, Alison Prince, Douglas Dunn, Vicki Feaver and Diana Hendry. SHANNONS. AS THE CURSE DECREES, DEATH IS COMING – BUT FOR WHOM AND FROM WHAT? Lizzie MacGregor is the Assistant Librarian of the Scottish Poetry Library, and editor of several popular anthologies co-published by the SPL and Polygon, including Handfast: Scottish poems for weddings and affirmations, Lament: Scottish poems for funerals and consolation; and Luckenbooth, an anthology of Edinburgh poetry.

9781904598244 £9.99 hbk

Poetry

9781846973321 £12.99 hbk

ROSEMARY GORING DACRE’S WAR New in Paperback Rosemary Goring Dacre’s War is a story of personal and political vengeance. Ten years after the battle of Flodden, Adam Crozier, head of his clan and of an increasingly powerful alliance of Borderers, learns for sure that it was Lord Thomas Dacre – now the most powerful man in the north of England – who ordered his father’s murder. He determines to take his revenge. As a fighting man, Crozier would like nothing better than to bring Dacre down face to face but his wife Louise advises him that he must use more subtle methods. So he sets out to engineer Dacre’s downfall by turning the machinery of the English court against him. A vivid and fast-moving tale of political intrigue and heartache, Dacre’s War is a fascinating portrait of the historical Scottish and English borderlands, a place were there is never any chance of peace. ISBN 9781846973413 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights UK & Commonwealth exc. Canada Publication 03 March 2016 Extent 352pp

‘Dacre’s War is an absorbing, dense read, packed with political twists. The Scottish Borders are superbly evoked – this is a land of constant fear and hardship, as well as great beauty. Highly recommended.’ – Antonia Senior, The Times ‘A packed and atmospheric tale of intrigue and derring-do in 16th century border country, astoundingly well written with a cracking plot coming to a satisfying conclusion’ – Sue Broom, Love Reading

9781846972836 £8.99 pbk

Rosemary Goring studied social and economic history at the University of St Andrews. She was the literary editor of Scotland on Sunday, editor of Life & Work, the Church of Scotland’s magazine, before returning to newspapers as literary editor of the Herald, and later also of the Sunday Herald. In 2007 she published Scotland: The Autobiography: 2000 Years of Scottish History By Those Who Saw it Happen, which has since been published in America and Russia. Rosemary’s first novel was After Flodden.

New Editions 19

MALACHY TALLACK

ISBN 97818469733451 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights UK & Commonwealth ex. Canada Publication 02 June 2016 Extent 208pp

SIXTY DEGREES NORTH New in Paperback Malachy Tallack The sixtiethDALEY parallel marks AND a kind of borderland. It wraps itself DS BRIAN around the lower reaches of Finland, Sweden and Norway; it crosses the tip of Greenland and of Southcentral Alaska; TO SCOTT ARE ASSIGNED it cuts the great spaces of Russia and Canada in half. The parallel alsoPROTECT passes through Shetland, at the very top of the THEIR ILLUSTRIBritish Isles. In Sixty Degrees North, Malachy Tallack explores the places that share this latitude, beginning and ending OUS VISITORS. AS AN ANin Shetland, where he has spent most of his life. The book focuses on the landscapesSOCIETY and natural environments of the CIENT EMERGES parallel, and the way that people have interacted with those landscapes. explores themes of wildness and AND FROMIt THE BLIZZARDS, community, of isolation and engagement, of exile and memory. ITS CREATION, THE RAT In addition,STONE, Sixty Degrees North is also a deeply GRISLY personal REVEALS book, which begins with the author’s loss of his father and his troubledSECRETS, relationship with Shetland. Informed by the THE GHOSTS OF journeys described, it moves towards a kind of resolution: an acceptance of loss, and COME ultimately a love of theHAUNT place Tallack PAST TO THE calls ‘home’. SHANNONS. AS THE CURSE ‘It’s a joy to read, its prose as clear as the light on the Greenland ice-cap. In the past year, I’ve read threeIS or four DECREES, DEATH COMbooks combining travelogue and memoir. . .this was the best’ – TelegraphING – BUT FOR WHOM AND ‘Malachy is FROM a fine, sensitive writer with an eye for detail and a WHAT? talent for descriptive prose’ – Gavin Bell, Herald

Sixty Degrees North was chosen as BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.

20 New Editions

LEWIS GRASSIC GIBBON

SUNSET SONG Luxury Hardback Edition Lewis Grassic Gibbon ‘Oh, she hated and loved in a breath!’ Since its first publication in 1932, Sunset Song has been regarded as one of the most important novels ever written in Scotland and it has retained its power to shock and to inspire ever since. Its heroine, Chris Guthrie, endures much hardship and tragedy, yet her desire to learn, her powerful spirit and her passionate love of the land have made her a beloved favourite with generations of readers.

ISBN 9781846973574 Price £9.99 Format 198 x 129mm hardback Publication 18 February 2016 Extent 264pp

9781904598664 £7.99 pbk

9781846973567 £6.99 pbk

Together with Cloud Howe (1933) and Grey Granite (1934) her story forms A Scot Quair, which is also published by Polygon, and this deluxe edition is perfect to treasure or to give as a gift. ‘Its great gripping hybrid of melodrama and realism has left me scorched’ – Ali Smith ‘Chris Guthrie is the most passionate and appealing heroine in Scottish Literature; Grassic Gibbon’s magnificent novel is fresh, powerful and timeless’ – Anne Donovan

Lewis Grassic Gibbon (James Leslie Mitchell) was one of the finest writers of the twentieth century. Born in Aberdeenshire in 1901, he died at the age of thirty-four. He was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, essays and science fiction, and his writing reflected his wide interest in religion, archaeology, history, politics and science. The Mearns trilogy, A Scots Quair, is his most renowned work, and has become a landmark in Scottish literature.

New Editions 21

LEWIS GRASSIC GIBBON

ISBN 9781846973673 Price £14.99 Format 198 x 129mm hardback Publication 20 October 2016 Extent 712pp

9781904598664 £7.99 pbk

22 New Editions

9781846973567 £6.99 pbk

A SCOTS QUAIR The Mearns Trilogy Luxury Hardback Edition Lewis DALEY Grassic Gibbon AND DS BRIAN One of the all-time greats ofARE Scottish literature, truly SCOTT ASSIGNED TO revolutionary, A Scots Quair is a trilogy of novels: Sunset Song (1932),PROTECT Cloud Howe (1933) and Grey Granite (1934). At THEIR ILLUSTRIeach book’s core is the heroine Chris Guthrie, as she grows from a childOUS into adulthood through the Great to the ANVISITORS. ASWarAN development of communism in the 1920s. Grassic Gibbon’s writing is unique and riveting, blending ScotsEMERGES and English CIENT SOCIETY in an accessible style, and eloquent in its humanity and celebration FROM of nature. THE BLIZZARDS, AND ‘This book may with delight the world over’ RAT ITSbe read CREATION, THE – The New York Times STONE, REVEALS GRISLY ‘It would be impossible to overestimate Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s importance . . . A ScotsGHOSTS Quair is a landmarkOF work’ THE SECRETS, – David Kerr Cameron PAST COME TO HAUNT THE SHANNONS. AS THE CURSE DECREES, DEATH IS COMING – BUT FOR WHOM AND FROM WHAT? Lewis Grassic Gibbon (James Leslie Mitchell) was one of the finest writers of the twentieth century. Born in Aberdeenshire in 1901, he died at the age of thirty-four. He was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, essays and science fiction, and his writing reflected his wide interest in religion, archaeology, history, politics and science. The Mearns trilogy, A Scots Quair, is his most renowned work, and has become a landmark in Scottish literature.

SHIRLEY McKAY

QUEEN & COUNTRY New in B-Format Shirley McKay 1587. Three years after his enforced departure to London, Hew is reconciled with King James VI and recalled to Scotland. He elopes to St Andrews with a young Englishwoman. The death of Mary, Queen of Scots has unleashed a wave of anti-English sentiment among the Scottish people, and fear and confusion in the king himself. James will grant his blessing to their controversial marriage on the condition that Hew discovers what lies behind a painting cunningly contrived to prick the young king’s conscience – an anamorphic death’s-head with his mother’s face. Meanwhile in St Andrews, the death of a painter is troubling Giles Locke, and the English Frances, struggling to adapt to a foreign town and culture, helps Hew find the link among the artists and intriguers of opposing courts, a quest for love – and life – requiring all his skills. ISBN 9781846973437 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 14 April 2016 Extent 288pp

9781846971525 £8.99 pbk

9781846971808 £8.99 pbk

This is the fifth book in the bestselling Hew Cullan Series. ‘Charms the reader’ – Scotland on Sunday ‘Wonderful stuff’ – Good Book Guide

9781846972188 £8.99 pbk

9781846973222 £8.99 pbk

Shirley McKay was born in Tynemouth but now lives with her family in Fife. She studied English and Linguistics and was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger. Shirley works as a freelance

New Editions 23

MICHAEL F. RUSSELL

ISBN 9781846973604 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 16 June 2016 Extent 304pp

LIE OF THE LAND New in Paperback Michael F. Russell Investigative journalist Carl Shewan livesBRIAN in a world DALEY AND DS controlled by terror. When an informant summons him to the Highland town of InverlairASSIGNED with information on the SCOTT ARE TO mysterious new communications system, S.C.O.P.E. Carl thinksPROTECT he might finally be onto something. Not long after he THEIR ILLUSTRIarrives, however, the system is activated . . . with catastrophic results.OUS VISITORS. AS AN ANImprisoned in this remote refuge by a technological CIENT SOCIETY EMERGES catastrophe, Carl struggles to adapt to impending fatherhood and toFROM a harsh new existence an ancient landscape, until THE inBLIZZARDS, AND a childless gamekeeper offers him an alternative to guilt and alienation. ITS CREATION, THE RAT Set in the near future, Lie of the Land examines the STONE, REVEALS GRISLY claustrophobia of small-town life and questions how far the state will go to preserveGHOSTS an orderly society, OF one in which SECRETS, THE ubiquitous surveillance has reduced human life to a virtual experience. PAST COME TO HAUNT THE ‘Lie of SHANNONS. the Land is greater than the sum its possible parts, ASof THE CURSE and those parts might be 1984, Lord of the Flies, and Under the Dome ’ – Shoreline of Infinity DECREES, DEATH IS COMING – BUT FOR WHOM AND FROM WHAT? Michael F. Russell grew up on the Isle of Barra before leaving to study Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow, followed by a postgraduate diploma in Journalism Studies at the University of Strathclyde. He is deputy editor at the West Highland Free Press and writes occasionally for the Sunday Herald. His writing has appeared in Gutter, Northwords Now and Fractured West. He lives on Skye with his partner and two children.

24 New Editions

CHRISTOPHER JORY

THE ART OF WAITING New in Paperback Christopher Jory Russia, 1943. A girl from Leningrad and a soldier from Venice stand together on the edge of wilderness. He is a shadow of a man, trapped behind wire, an enemy in her land. Taking something from her pocket, she slips her hand through the wire and catches her skin on a barb producing a tiny drop of blood. ‘Have this.’ The man takes the gift – a small crust of bread, a little piece of hope. Its memory will nourish him, keep him alive, on his long journey home to Italy. But when he returns, he must decide which path to take – to be true to the love of the girl who saved his life, or to pursue his unfulfilled vow and seek revenge on the man who had ruined his home and his family. ISBN 9781846973628 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 19 May 2016 Extent 304pp

This is a tale of love, revenge and survival against the odds, set in Venice and Russia in the 1940s. ‘A profoundly moving novel that sweeps you from Russia to Italy over the course of a gripping, richly evocative and atmospheric tale’ – Alex Preston

Christopher Jory was born in 1968 in Newcastleupon-Tyne. He spent his early childhood in Barbados, Venezuela and finally Oxfordshire. He did a degree in English Literature and Philosophy at Leicester University and then worked for the British Council and other organisations in Italy, Spain, Crete, Brazil and Venezuela. He is currently a Publisher at Cambridge University Press. His first book, Lost in the Flames (Matador, 2011), was a moving account of RAF Bomber Command airmen and their families.

New Editions 25

TIMOTHY NEAT

THE DAY OF THE MOUNTAIN Limited Edition Drawings by Timothy Neat Preface by John Berger Writings by Anne Michaels Since entering his eighth decade Timothy Neat has concentrated his wide-ranging creativity on the act of drawing in sketchbooks. His prime subject is people – the common man, writers, artists, travellers, prisoners: he also addresses war, landscape, and the ancient past with visionary understanding.

ISBN 9781846973581 Price £100.00 Format 240 x 170mm hardback Rights World All Languages Publication 19 May 2016 Extent 352pp

Of the four hundred drawings being published, only three have been publicly seen. In this book Neat, the artist, can be seen for the first time – championed by the great art critic John Berger and renowned writer Anne Michaels: these drawings are revelatory. This special signed edition, produced to the highest specification, is limited to 150 copies and is guaranteed to appeal to collectors of fine art and belles-lettres in Scotland and across Europe. Neat’s books include The Summer Walkers, Part Seen Part Imagined, a two volume biography of Hamish Henderson and, most recently, These Faces, a collection of photographs and drawings (2013).

Timothy Neat was born and brought up in Cornwall. He completed a degree in Fine Art at the University of Leeds and moved to Scotland in 1968. From 1973 to 1988, he lectured in History of Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. During his time there, he became the founder-editor of a fine-art periodical called Seer. He also took over the convenorship of the Scottish Sculpture Trust, supervising the major George Rickey sculpture exhibition on Clydeside (1982), the Eduardo Paolozzi exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy (1984) and the funding and erection of the Hugh MacDiarmid Memorial Sculpture in Langholm (1985). He also organised a series of national conferences on topics including public art, women’s art and Scottish art. In 1997 he was a consultant to the City of Glasgow’s international touring exhibition of work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. His book The Summer Walkers was awarded the Jena Michaelis Ratcliffe Folklore Award in 1996. He lives in Fife.

26 Special Editions

SHIRLEY McKAY

1588: A CALENDAR OF CRIME Shirley McKay Set in the year of the Armada, 1588: A Calendar of Crime brings together five eBook exclusive short stories featuring Hew Cullan, together with Frances, Giles, Meg and other characters from the Hew Cullan series. From the gruesome murder of a candlemaker to Spanish ghosts on Hallowmas, Shirley McKay delivers five gripping tales of mystery that will keep you reading long into the night. The stories are being released throughout the year as stand alone eBooks before being gathered into the Calendar of Crime anthology.

Candlemas. ‘The Crackling House’ Whitsunday. ‘Visitation’ Lammas. ‘Golden Lads’ Martinmas. ‘Dead Spaniard’ Yule. ‘The Keeping of Christmas’ For fans of historical fiction by Hilary Mantel and CJ Samson, the Hew Cullan mysteries have sold 40,000 copies to date. This is a beautiful hardback anthology comprised of five self-contained mystery short stories; the perfect Christmas gift.

ISBN 9781846973635 Price £12.99 Format 205 x 153mm hbk Rights World All Languages Publication 11 November 2016 Extent 256pp

Praise for the Hew Cullan Series: ‘One of those rare “historical” thrillers in which the characters are not only utterly believable, but also wonderfully immediate and vivid in their humanity’ – John Burnside ‘A superior historical thriller’ – The Herald ‘a gipping and welcome addition to the growing genre of historical crime fiction’ – Waterstones Books Quarterly

9781846971525 £8.99 pbk

9781846971808 £8.99 pbk

9781846972188 £8.99 pbk

9781846973222 £8.99 pbk

9781846973437 £8.99 pbk

Shirley McKay was born in Tynemouth but now lives with her family in Fife. She studied English and Linguistics and was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger. Shirley works as a freelance proofreader.

Special Editions 27

JAN-PHILIPP SENDKER

ISBN 9781846972850 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights UK & Commonwealth Publication 19 May 2016 Extent 304pp

A WELL-TEMPERED HEART The Burma Series Jan-Philipp Sendker SNOW CUTS WHEN HEAVY JuliaOFF Win, a successful Manhattan lawyer, at a crossroads KINTYRE, DCIis JIM DA-in her life. Despite her wealth and privilege, she is exhausted and unhappy – a lost soul. SheDS returns to Burma, theSCOTT homeland of LEY AND BRIAN her father, where she encounters an anguished mother whose life isARE shatteredASSIGNED when her two sons areTO called up from their PROTECT rural village to fight in Burma’s civil war. THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS VISITORS. Both women embark on their own journeys of self-discovery, experiencing heartbreak, horror, love and,SOCIETY ultimately, AS AN ANCIENT redemption. This mesmerising novel explores the most inspiring and passionate FROM terrain of all: the humanBLIZheart. EMERGES THE This ZARDS, is the sequel to The Art of Hearing AND ITSHeartbeats. CREATION, ‘It’s hard to describe the book [A Well-Tempered Heart] THE RAThowSTONE, REVEALS made me feel; when I finished it I felt emotionally spent. I’d beenGRISLY transported during my reading andGHOSTS barely put the bookOF SECRETS, down once I’d started. I was torn between wanting to find out whatTHE happenedPAST and wanting the book not to end’HAUNT COME TO – Nicky Hallam, Newbooks Magazine THE SHANNONS. AS THE Praise for The Art of Hearing Heartbeats CURSE DECREES, DEATH IS ‘This novel [The Art of Hearing Heartbeats] is a beautifully woven love story of resilience, passion,FOR and truthWHOM that COMING – BUT lingers long into the silence after the last page’ – New Jersey Herald AND FROM WHAT? ‘[The Art of Hearing Heartbeats] . . . is imbued with Eastern spirituality and fairytale romanticism . . . fans of Nicholas Sparks and Elizabeth Gilbert should eat this up’ – Kirkus Review

Jan-Philipp Sendker lives in Berlin with his family. He was the American correspondent for Stern from 1990 to 1995, and its Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1999. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, his first novel, was an international bestseller, and he’s the author of A Well-Tempered Heart, Whispering Shadows and its sequel Dragon Games. He is currently at work on the third novel set in Hong Kong.

Fiction

NEW EDITION

WHISPERING SHADOWS The China Series Jan-Philipp Sendker Paul Leibovitz was once an ambitious advisor, dedicated father and loving husband. But after living for nearly thirty years in Hong Kong, personal tragedy strikes and Paul’s marriage unravels in the fallout. When he makes a fleeting connection with Elizabeth, a distressed American woman on the verge of collapse, his life is thrown into turmoil. Less than twenty-four hours later, Elizabeth’s son is found dead in Shenzhen, and Paul, invigorated by a newfound purpose, sets out to investigate the murder on his own.

ISBN 9781846973307 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights UK & Commonwealth Publication 19 May 2016 Extent 304pp

As Paul, Elizabeth and a detective friend descend deeper into the Shenzhen underworld they discover dark secrets hidden beneath China’s booming new wealth. In a country where rich businessmen with expensive degrees can corrupt the judicial system, the potential for evil abounds. ‘When you hear “crime novel” you think you know what to expect. When you hear love story, you might believe you know the outcome. Yet, in Jan-Philipp Sendker’s astonishing new novel [Whispering Shadows], set against the seamy backdrop of modern-day China, he melds the two to create something so original, so thrilling and moving about the things we want, and what we’re prepared to do to get them. A murder story was never so ravishing’ – Caroline Leavitt, New York Times ‘Beautifully written, with lush descriptions of an exotic society, and driven by complex and intriguing characters who evolve and react with heart and courage, Whispering Shadows is a remarkable novel that succeeds in astonishing fashion and defies categorization’ – The Day

Whispering Shadows has been chosen to join an elite list of fifteen books for the UK’s World Book Night 2016. World Book Night brings together a powerful collaboration of publishers, printers, distributors, libraries, booksellers, private donors, trusts and foundations – to inspire more people to read. Find out more here on the World Book Night website www.worldbooknight.org

Fiction

JAN-PHILIPP IN 2016

ISBN 9781846973543 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights UK & Commonwealth Publication 22 September 2016 Extent 304pp

The Burma Series

Fiction

9781846972850 £8.99 pbk

The China Series

9781846973307 £8.99 pbk

9781846973543 £8.99 pbk

Photo courtesy of Frank Suffert

9781846972409 £8.99 pbk

DRAGON GAMES The China Series Jan-Philipp Sendker SNOW CUTS WHEN HEAVY PaulOFF LeibovitzKINTYRE, is 53, living in Hong DCI Kong, deeply love with JIMin DAthe city, its culture, and most of all, Christine. When a fortune tellerLEY predictsAND the death of someone she loves, SCOTT however, the DS BRIAN pair are once again thrust into the murky criminal world of HongARE Kong and forced to fight for their lives. PROTECT ASSIGNED TO ThisTHEIR is book two ofILLUSTRIOUS the China series, the highlyVISITORS. anticipated follow up to Whispering Shadows. Told with Jan-Philipp’s trademark haunting beauty, power and warmth, AS blend ANof ANCIENT SOCIETY this is another thrilling tale of murder, love and intrigue set against the backdrop of modern day China. EMERGES FROM THE BLIZA well-respected foreign correspondent STERN magazine, ZARDS, AND ITS forCREATION, Jan-Philipp Sendker has travelled extensively in China and Burma, conducting hundreds of interviews with the people THE RAT STONE, REVEALS of both countries. As a result, he has an in-depth knowledge of the reforms underway in these countries and their impactOF GRISLY SECRETS, GHOSTS on ordinary communities large and small. It is this insight that THE informs his works of COME fiction – booksTO which have been PAST HAUNT translated into more than 30 languages, selling over 2.5 million copiesSHANNONS. worldwide . . . so far. THE AS THE CURSE DECREES, DEATH IS COMING – BUT FOR WHOM AND FROM WHAT?

2015 HIGHLIGHTS: ELLISON, HOWE EMBED WITH GAMES A Year on the Couch with Game Developers

Cara Ellison In 2014 games critic Cara Ellison rather flippantly pledged to the internet she’d leave home, become itinerant and travel around the world to live with and write about some of the most interesting game developers and their cultural outlook.

ISBN 9781846973444 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 19 November 2015 Extent 136pp

Originally Cara put up the Embed With Games series monthly on a free blog as she travelled from couch to couch, writing about the people she met and about the way our game creators express the culture around them. This is the collected work, with an exclusive introduction from Kieron Gillen, a cover from Irene Koh and a conclusion exclusive to the ebook. ‘I didn’t know too much about Cara before reading Embed with Games, now I admire her. This book made me want to play games, it makes me want to make games. I can’t really offer higher praise than that’ – VideoBrains.co.uk

LEE BRILLEAUX Rock’n’Roll Gentleman Zoë Howe Lee Brilleaux, the uniquely charismatic star of proto-punk R&B reprobates Dr Feelgood, was one of rock’n’roll’s greatest frontmen. But he was also one of its greatest gentlemen – a class act with heart, fire, wanderlust and a wild streak, exploding out of Canvey Island in the early 1970s – an age of glam rock, post-hippy folk and pop androgyny.

ISBN 9781846973352 Price £14.99 Format 234 x 156mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 19 November 2015 Extent 272pp

32 From 2015

Published with the blessing of Lee’s widow Shirley, this is an exhilarating, eye-opening collection of exclusive interviews, memories and unseen drawings and images – the first comprehensive appreciation of Lee Brilleaux and a book no Dr Feelgood fan would wish to be without. ‘Zoë Howe presents a fascinating portrait of Lee Collinson (Lee’s pre-Brilleaux name)’ – Louder Than War

2015 HIGHLIGHTS: McCALL SMITH, DOWLING CHANCE DEVELOPMENTS Unexpected Love Stories Alexander McCall Smith It is said that a picture may be worth a thousand words but an old photograph can inspire many more. In this beguiling book, Alexander McCall Smith casts his eye over five chanced-upon photographs from the past and imagines the stories behind them. What emerges are surprising and poignant tales of love and friendship in a variety of settings – from an estate in the Highlands of Scotland to a travelling circus in Canada.

ISBN 9781846973291 Price £9.99 Format 170 x 126mm hardback Rights UK & Commonwealth ex. Canada Publication 19 November 2015 Extent 240pp

Some will find joy and fulfilment – others would prefer happier endings. Each of them, though, will find love, and that is ultimately what matters. These stories are full of insight and empathy…the first two, ‘Sister Flora’s First Day of Freedom’ and ‘Angels in Italy’ are works of depth and beauty that would not be shamed in the company of the world’s great short stories’ – Kerryn Goldsworthy, Fairfax Papers

ASCENSION Gregory Dowling Venice in 1749 – the city has lost its political and financial primacy but has become Europe’s pleasure capital. Alvise Marangon, born in Italy but brought up in London, returns to the city of his birth and quickly becomes involved in the protection of a visiting wealthy young Englishman and his beautiful cousin.

ISBN 9781846973130 Price £8.99 Format 198 x 129mm paperback Rights World All Languages Publication 24 September 2015 Extent 352pp

Amidst the world of gambling dens and courtesans, something momentous is being planned for the Feast of the Ascension, Venice’s most important and spectacular holiday, and it seems that only Alvise can prevent the day from turning into bloody mayhem. ‘Alvise is a terrific character, the murder mystery is absorbingly ingenious and, if you are a sucker for Venice, the sights, sounds and smells of its streets and canals ooze up from the page’ – Daily Mail

From 2015 33

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Birlinn Limited was established in 1992 by Managing Director Hugh Andrew, and is comprised of a number of imprints. Birlinn publishes Scottish and general UK interest books, from biography to history, military history, cookery and Scottish Gaelic. The name comes from the old Norse word ‘birlinn’, meaning a long boat or small galley used especially in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland in the Middle Ages. BC Books is a new children’s imprint, launched in 2015. It is designed to provide writing and illustration of the highest quality for young readers in Scotland and beyond. Birlinn is dedicated to nurturing young readers and helping them discover a passion for reading that will last a lifetime. Polygon publishes literary fiction and poetry, both classic and modern, from Scottish writers such as Robin Jenkins, George Mackay Brown and the author of the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Alexander McCall Smith, as well as selected music and film titles. International writers including Jan-Philipp Sendker are also published under this imprint. Polygon was originally set up by students of Edinburgh University in the late 1960s. Arena Sport is Birlinn’s sport imprint. The sport books range from football and rugby, to golf and cycling. These books have an international as well as national appeal. Arena’s first titles were published in June 2013.

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John Donald publishes academic books.

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