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The sun's net: Stories
This is a bewitching and atmospheric collection of short stories celebrating life and the world ripens as a baby stirs in its mother's womb; a soldier captured at Bannockburn sees the daughter of his jailor bathing and falls in love; two ghosts become reconciled with death; and, an eighteenth-century tale of piracy and treachery. George Mackay Brown's distinctive voice has a clarity and resonance that blends the magical with the mundane, and the present with the past.
3 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
About the author
George Mackay Brown
185 books102 followersGeorge Mackay Brown, the poet, novelist and dramatist, spent his life living in and documenting the Orkney Isles.
A bout of severe measles at the age of 12 became the basis for recurring health problems throughout his life. Uncertain as to his future, he remained in education until 1940, a year which brought with it a growing reality of the war, and the unexpected death of his father. The following year he was diagnosed with (then incurable) Pulmonary Tuberculosis and spent six months in hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney's main town.
Around this time, he began writing poetry, and also prose for the Orkney Herald for which he became Stromness Correspondent, reporting events such as the switching on of the electricity grid in 1947. In 1950 he met the poet Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian, who recognised Mackay Brown's talent for writing, and would become his literary tutor and mentor at Newbattle Abbey College, in Midlothian, which he attended in 1951-2. Recurring TB forced Mackay Brown to spend the following year in hospital, but his experience at Newbattle spurred him to apply to Edinburgh University, to read English Literature, returning to do post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins.
In later life Mackay Brown rarely left Orkney. He turned to writing full-time, publishing his first collection of poetry, The Storm, in 1954. His writing explored life on Orkney, and the history and traditions which make up Orkney's distinct cultural identity. Many of his works are concerned with protecting Orkney's cultural heritage from the relentless march of progress and the loss of myth and archaic ritual in the modern world. Reflecting this, his best known work is Greenvoe (1972), in which the permanence of island life is threatened by 'Black Star', a mysterious nuclear development.
Mackay Brown's literary reputation grew steadily. He received an OBE in 1974 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977, in addition to gaining several honorary degrees. His final novel, Beside the Ocean of Time (1994) was Booker Prize shortlisted and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. Mackay Brown died in his home town of Stromness on 13th April 1996.
He produced several poetry collections, five novels, eight collections of short stories and two poem-plays, as well as non-fiction portraits of Orkney, an autobiography, For the Islands I Sing (1997), and published journalism.
Read more at:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org....
A bout of severe measles at the age of 12 became the basis for recurring health problems throughout his life. Uncertain as to his future, he remained in education until 1940, a year which brought with it a growing reality of the war, and the unexpected death of his father. The following year he was diagnosed with (then incurable) Pulmonary Tuberculosis and spent six months in hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney's main town.
Around this time, he began writing poetry, and also prose for the Orkney Herald for which he became Stromness Correspondent, reporting events such as the switching on of the electricity grid in 1947. In 1950 he met the poet Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian, who recognised Mackay Brown's talent for writing, and would become his literary tutor and mentor at Newbattle Abbey College, in Midlothian, which he attended in 1951-2. Recurring TB forced Mackay Brown to spend the following year in hospital, but his experience at Newbattle spurred him to apply to Edinburgh University, to read English Literature, returning to do post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins.
In later life Mackay Brown rarely left Orkney. He turned to writing full-time, publishing his first collection of poetry, The Storm, in 1954. His writing explored life on Orkney, and the history and traditions which make up Orkney's distinct cultural identity. Many of his works are concerned with protecting Orkney's cultural heritage from the relentless march of progress and the loss of myth and archaic ritual in the modern world. Reflecting this, his best known work is Greenvoe (1972), in which the permanence of island life is threatened by 'Black Star', a mysterious nuclear development.
Mackay Brown's literary reputation grew steadily. He received an OBE in 1974 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977, in addition to gaining several honorary degrees. His final novel, Beside the Ocean of Time (1994) was Booker Prize shortlisted and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. Mackay Brown died in his home town of Stromness on 13th April 1996.
He produced several poetry collections, five novels, eight collections of short stories and two poem-plays, as well as non-fiction portraits of Orkney, an autobiography, For the Islands I Sing (1997), and published journalism.
Read more at:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org....
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 13, 2023
A great collection. Deceptively simple, direct style, like folk songs or ballads turned into stories. More supernatural than I was expecting. Even a little gem of a post-apocalyptic vision, almost Ursula Le Guin's Always Coming Home in miniature.
January 10, 2013
Beautiful, lyrical, unsettling stories with biblical undertones. Seemed to hint at myth and fairy stories, with a lot of sorrow and dark edges among the rich description. All the peat-smoke, silvery saturated atmosphere of Orkney, and weakness, betrayal, loss. A couple of historical stories were as romantic but didn't grab me quite as strongly as the contemporary ones. Would bear re-reading.
August 11, 2012
My first encounter with GMB's prose, and I found it simply delicious. The last story 'The Seven Poets' is, in my opinion, the best one in this set, though the style and the topic is different from others.
May 14, 2022
Good writing and interesting stories overall. Below are my thoughts on each:
A winter tale
Interesting premise; enjoyed the different perspectives and was especially impacted by the ending.
Silver
A much-too-short story. It felt in the vein of a very traditional story or the beginning of a fairy tale, but I wish it went on a bit longer.
The book of black arts
Very classic fairy tale premise & structure. Quite enjoyable to follow the stories in their inevitable directions. The ending was a pleasant surprise in its simplicity and apparent abruptness.
Brig-o-Dread
An especially interesting story, somewhat reminiscent of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The structure and poetic description made the narrative a little trickier to follow, but the archetypal elements made it somewhat predictable, albeit satisfyingly relatable.
Perilous Seas
The most predictable of the stories, feeling very hammy compared to the ither stories; then it ended abruptly which was a surprise, which makes it feel like only the first half of a story.
The Pirate’s ghost
An interesting story that feels like an imaginative expansion on a small excerpt. I enjoyed the way the atmosphere of the presence of the ghost morphed over the duration of the story.
Stone, salt, and rose
The longest of the short stories in this collection. I enjoyed the writing, the main character and his adventures. The subtitle says ‘a romance’ and technically it is, but barely, really. It was a fun time overall, but the time jumps and the abrupt ending felt slightly unearned.
Soldier from the wars returning
It took me a while to realize what he was doing with the story; it felt more like a writing exercise than the other stories.
Pastoral
Written in the form of letters, this one was an interesting exploration of subjective approaches to justice. I didn’t particularly care for the form, but it was a decent story.
The seven poets
Wow. Easily my favourite of the collection. Exactly the kind of story I’m most drawn to.
A winter tale
Interesting premise; enjoyed the different perspectives and was especially impacted by the ending.
Silver
A much-too-short story. It felt in the vein of a very traditional story or the beginning of a fairy tale, but I wish it went on a bit longer.
The book of black arts
Very classic fairy tale premise & structure. Quite enjoyable to follow the stories in their inevitable directions. The ending was a pleasant surprise in its simplicity and apparent abruptness.
Brig-o-Dread
An especially interesting story, somewhat reminiscent of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The structure and poetic description made the narrative a little trickier to follow, but the archetypal elements made it somewhat predictable, albeit satisfyingly relatable.
Perilous Seas
The most predictable of the stories, feeling very hammy compared to the ither stories; then it ended abruptly which was a surprise, which makes it feel like only the first half of a story.
The Pirate’s ghost
An interesting story that feels like an imaginative expansion on a small excerpt. I enjoyed the way the atmosphere of the presence of the ghost morphed over the duration of the story.
Stone, salt, and rose
The longest of the short stories in this collection. I enjoyed the writing, the main character and his adventures. The subtitle says ‘a romance’ and technically it is, but barely, really. It was a fun time overall, but the time jumps and the abrupt ending felt slightly unearned.
Soldier from the wars returning
It took me a while to realize what he was doing with the story; it felt more like a writing exercise than the other stories.
Pastoral
Written in the form of letters, this one was an interesting exploration of subjective approaches to justice. I didn’t particularly care for the form, but it was a decent story.
The seven poets
Wow. Easily my favourite of the collection. Exactly the kind of story I’m most drawn to.
August 21, 2024
"The whale grew tired of eating cold little fishes.
It swallowed the sun.
Then fell the black time, winter."
It swallowed the sun.
Then fell the black time, winter."
Want to Read
April 29, 2020#7
On an impulse, seeing that the ink pot was dry, I opened with the quill point the red scab on my wrist, and wrote Geoffrey with a seeping of my own blood.
#10
I left him with the wish that the bird inside him might soon start singing again. He laughed, delighted at the possibility; but then shook his head.
On an impulse, seeing that the ink pot was dry, I opened with the quill point the red scab on my wrist, and wrote Geoffrey with a seeping of my own blood.
#10
I left him with the wish that the bird inside him might soon start singing again. He laughed, delighted at the possibility; but then shook his head.
February 20, 2013
I wasn't blown away but there are some good stories here. I think I liked them mostly for their setting in the Orkney Islands of northern Scotland. There are some supernatural elements that seem at home on windswept islands.
December 22, 2011
Love George Mackay Brown and although the imagery is as beautiful as ever some of the stories are not so well structured as others in his collections
March 7, 2017
The Author was based in Orkney and the short stories are brilliantly written.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews