Scotland As Science Fiction

Out of the mainstream but ahead of the tide, that is Scottish Science Fiction. Science Fiction emphasizes "progress" through technology, advanced mental states, or future times. How does Scotland, often considered a land of the past, lead in Science Fiction? "Left behind" by international politics, Scots have cultivated alternate places and different times as sites of identity so that Scotland can seem a futuristic fiction itself. This book explores the tensions between science and a particular society that produce an innovative science fiction. Essays consider Scottish thermodynamics, Celtic myth, the rigors of religious "conversion," Scotland's fractured politics yet civil society, its languages of alterity (Scots, Gaelic, allegory, poetry), and the lure of the future. From Peter Pan and Dr. Jekyll to the poetry of Edwin Morgan and the worlds of Muriel Spark, Ken Macleod, or Iain M. Banks, Scotland's creative complex yields a literature that models the future for Science Fiction.

This anthology comprises works from established and up-and-coming writers such as Ken MacLeod, Charles Stross, and Ron Butlin. The stories come under the heading of speculative fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism and alternate history.

Take a bunch of science fiction writers, scientists, humanists and artists, and throw them into a room. Give them a whiteboard, a pile of sandwiches and a pot of coffee. Let's see what happens. Ken MacLeod, Pippa Goldschmidt , Laura Lam, Beth Biller , Russell Jones, Alastair Bruce, Colin McInnes and more...

'Descent is politically engaged, brimming with smart ideas and shot through with a mordant wit. The novel is dedicated to the memory of MacLeod's friend Iain M. Banks, and one feels that the future of Scottish SF is in good hands' - James Lovegrove, The Financial Times 'Ken MacLeod is the modern day George Orwell' - SFX HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO FOR THE TRUTH? Ball lightning. Weather balloons. Secret military aircraft. Ryan knows all the justifications for UFO sightings. But when something falls out of the sky on the hills near his small Scottish town, he finds his cynicism can't identify or explain the phenomenon. And in a future where nothing is a secret, where everything is recorded on CCTV or reported online, why can he find no evidence of the UFO, nor anything to shed light on what occurred? Is it the political revolutionaries, is it the government or is it aliens themselves who are creating the cover-up? Or does the very idea of a cover-up hide the biggest secret of all? Ken MacLeod, author of 2013 Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated Intrusion, tells a science fiction story for the twenty-first century - this is what happens when conspiracy theorists meet Big Brother. Books by Ken MacLeod: Fall Revolution The Star Fraction The Stone Canal The Cassini Division The Sky Road Engines of Light Cosmonaut Keep Dark Light Engine City Corporation Wars Trilogy Dissidence Insurgence Emergence Novels The Human Front Newton's Wake Learning the World The Execution Channel The Restoration Game Intrusion Descent

The earth is doomed! Only ten people out of every 3,000 will escape aboard space ships to begin a new colony on Mars. For the rest of humanity . . . inevitable destruction. Bill Easson is a conscientious, straightforward guy. But as pilot of one of the ships, he holds the power of life and death in his hands. As the time grows nearer, violent mobs swarm through the streets, and the ten names on Bill’s list change and change again. The authorities only give Bill a 60 percent chance of survival. He knows in his bones he’s got to lengthen the odds. Or die trying.

Wild Harbour by Ian Macpherson tells of the world destroyed by a future war, forebodings of which were already discernible in Europe. A young couple must live their lives in the wild Scottish highlands when war overtakes their home. Excerpt: "THIS MORNING I said to Terry, 'I thought I heard guns through the night.' 'Were you awake too?' she asked. Even before she spoke, as soon as the words were out of my mouth I was sorry I spoke, and hastened to say: 'That was funny, both of us lying quiet not to disturb the other.' I knew by the way she looked at me that she was not deceived."

MacLeod is drawn into a conspiracy of Immortals on a militant quest to win back the independence that Scotland lost, centuries ago, at the battle of Culloden. If Duncan follows the call of the clans he risks being drawn into a web of death.