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Children of Albion Rovers: An Anthology of New Scottish Writing
Hard-edged and iconoclastic, the new wave of Scottish writers and their godfather Irvine Welsh write a darkly funny brand of fiction about people on the fringe - junkies, soccer hooligans, ravers, working-class youth. This anthology of six full-length novellas from the "beats of Edinburgh" (The New York Times Magazine) was compiled by Kevin Williamson, publisher of the underground literary magazine Rebel Inc., which put many of these writers on the map.
Williamson presents here the best practitioners of urban surrealism, influenced by the same gritty lifestyle of Scottish drug and dance/rave culture the world got a glimpse of in Trainspotting. The novellas include Irvine Welsh's first-ever sci-fi story, "The Rosewell Incident", and each is filled with fresh prose riffs resonant with the frenetic backbeat of Scottish street fiction. The writing in this anthology is raw and exciting, providing readers with a rare chance to discover these emerging literary stars.
The line-up includes Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, Gordon Legge, James Meek, Laura J. Hird, and Paul Reekie."This little collection of stories from the suddenly hot wave of Scottish writers ought to come as salutary kick in the nuts to American fiction.... Add in the jolting rhythms of Scottish street slang and a taste for outrageous plotting, and you have the makings of new hope for what a good story can do". -- New Times Los Angeles
Williamson presents here the best practitioners of urban surrealism, influenced by the same gritty lifestyle of Scottish drug and dance/rave culture the world got a glimpse of in Trainspotting. The novellas include Irvine Welsh's first-ever sci-fi story, "The Rosewell Incident", and each is filled with fresh prose riffs resonant with the frenetic backbeat of Scottish street fiction. The writing in this anthology is raw and exciting, providing readers with a rare chance to discover these emerging literary stars.
The line-up includes Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, Gordon Legge, James Meek, Laura J. Hird, and Paul Reekie."This little collection of stories from the suddenly hot wave of Scottish writers ought to come as salutary kick in the nuts to American fiction.... Add in the jolting rhythms of Scottish street slang and a taste for outrageous plotting, and you have the makings of new hope for what a good story can do". -- New Times Los Angeles
228 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Williamson
14 books2 followersKevin Williamson (born 1961) is a Scottish writer, publisher, and activist. He is a Scottish socialist and republican and was an activist for the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). He was also the architect of their radical drug policy, which included the legalisation of cannabis and the provision under the National Health Service of free synthetic heroin to addicts under medical supervision to combat the problems of drugs in working class communities. He wrote a regular weekly column, "Rebel Ink", for the Scottish Socialist Voice.
His first collection of poetry, In a Room Darkened, was published in 2007 by Two Ravens Press.
In December 2010, with fellow poet Michael Pederson, Kevin Williamson founded Neu! Reekie! A prize winning literary production house they describe as “a literary, music and animation collective with an international output; plus a record label and publishing house in tow”
His first collection of poetry, In a Room Darkened, was published in 2007 by Two Ravens Press.
In December 2010, with fellow poet Michael Pederson, Kevin Williamson founded Neu! Reekie! A prize winning literary production house they describe as “a literary, music and animation collective with an international output; plus a record label and publishing house in tow”
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 18, 2022
Billed as six novellas from the biggest emerging Scottish writers in the 1990s this actually an OK collection. Pop Life by Gordon Liege the first (and best) story is a remarkable short on the male friendship; The Dilating Pupil by the only female writer featured Laura J. Hird is a stand alone gem that veers from the urban Scottish working class male reality of the other reads and takes a dark comedic look at a female student trying to seduce a much older male tutor from his perspective - pretty funny. Irvine Welsh probably goes to over the top with his what if UFOs didn't land in Roswell, USA, but landed in Rosewell in Midlothian Scotland; it starts off so well, but maybe straight comedy is not his niche. Overall a worthwhile introduction to these writers. 7 out of 12.
2022 read
2022 read
April 16, 2016
This is an anthology of six novellas by Scottish writers that was released back in 1996 when Scots were all the rage. Hot stuff then, interesting time capsule read now.
“Pop Life” by Gordon Legge is weak, plodding to the predictable ending; the characters are more analyzed than present in the story. It doesn’t have the energy that his short stories and flash fiction have (see In Between Talking about the Football.
“After the Vision” by Alan Warner is a novel excerpt and doesn’t resolve as novella, perhaps because it describes one incident from the whole. Great realism of a drinking and drugging weekend though, with several funny scenes. The language is fresh in places, with some new scots words I haven’t seen before.
“The Brown Pint of Courage” by James Meek is a pretty funny farce about traffic wardens in Edinburgh. It has an interesting seemingly contrapuntal frame that turns back on itself, seems to miss the mark but is actually a scenic commentary on the rest of the story.
“Submission” by Paul Reekie is social commentary under the guise of a letter. The energy of the letter writer’s prose is quite powerful, but it isn’t obvious until the embedded manuscript, the submission that he is responding too, is presented and commented on (“Wee bit quality lit”). Then, because of the contrast, you realize how much better writing the letter writer’s voice is than the quality lit.
“The Dilating Pupil” by Laura Hird is a quite funny Lolitaish story. Full of her energetic writing, and her usual spare no sympathy for her characters style, but the ending lacked punch; like Warner’s story, the incident came to an end. Of course the irony of nothing really happening is the motif that runs through a lot off contemporary Scottish fiction; the all sound and fury theme.
“The Rosewell Incident” by Irvine Welsh is lame compared to his other work. Although it does have the hysterical premise of a Scottish street thug kidnapped by aliens—the one earthling they intend to study. The Scot teaches the aliens English and gets them addicted to cigarettes, so that when they come to conquer earth they are chain smoking and speaking in a scots dialect inflected with Edinburgh football hooligan slang. Great idea, but the story as a whole is poorly implemented, kind of like he started writing a novel and ran out energy. It also has these amazing lines that are part Bakhtin from Discourse in the Novel (The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays) and part Alasdair MacIntyre from After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory: “Drysdale had prepared well. Interviews were all about cracking codes, finding the current vogue; one minute liberal rhetoric, the next the hard line. The best professional in any bureaucracy was always the one who could control his or her prejudices and learn the dominant spiel with conviction. How one acted, of course, was totally irrelevant, as long as the espousal was effective.” That’s almost a commentary on the famous scene in Trainspotting where Renton, in front of the judge and being grilled by the prosecutor, drops out of dialect to discourse on Kierkegaard, then stops himself because “Ah cut myself short. They hate a smart cunt. It’s easy to talk yourself into a bigger fine, or fuck sake, a higher sentence.”
“Pop Life” by Gordon Legge is weak, plodding to the predictable ending; the characters are more analyzed than present in the story. It doesn’t have the energy that his short stories and flash fiction have (see In Between Talking about the Football.
“After the Vision” by Alan Warner is a novel excerpt and doesn’t resolve as novella, perhaps because it describes one incident from the whole. Great realism of a drinking and drugging weekend though, with several funny scenes. The language is fresh in places, with some new scots words I haven’t seen before.
“The Brown Pint of Courage” by James Meek is a pretty funny farce about traffic wardens in Edinburgh. It has an interesting seemingly contrapuntal frame that turns back on itself, seems to miss the mark but is actually a scenic commentary on the rest of the story.
“Submission” by Paul Reekie is social commentary under the guise of a letter. The energy of the letter writer’s prose is quite powerful, but it isn’t obvious until the embedded manuscript, the submission that he is responding too, is presented and commented on (“Wee bit quality lit”). Then, because of the contrast, you realize how much better writing the letter writer’s voice is than the quality lit.
“The Dilating Pupil” by Laura Hird is a quite funny Lolitaish story. Full of her energetic writing, and her usual spare no sympathy for her characters style, but the ending lacked punch; like Warner’s story, the incident came to an end. Of course the irony of nothing really happening is the motif that runs through a lot off contemporary Scottish fiction; the all sound and fury theme.
“The Rosewell Incident” by Irvine Welsh is lame compared to his other work. Although it does have the hysterical premise of a Scottish street thug kidnapped by aliens—the one earthling they intend to study. The Scot teaches the aliens English and gets them addicted to cigarettes, so that when they come to conquer earth they are chain smoking and speaking in a scots dialect inflected with Edinburgh football hooligan slang. Great idea, but the story as a whole is poorly implemented, kind of like he started writing a novel and ran out energy. It also has these amazing lines that are part Bakhtin from Discourse in the Novel (The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays) and part Alasdair MacIntyre from After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory: “Drysdale had prepared well. Interviews were all about cracking codes, finding the current vogue; one minute liberal rhetoric, the next the hard line. The best professional in any bureaucracy was always the one who could control his or her prejudices and learn the dominant spiel with conviction. How one acted, of course, was totally irrelevant, as long as the espousal was effective.” That’s almost a commentary on the famous scene in Trainspotting where Renton, in front of the judge and being grilled by the prosecutor, drops out of dialect to discourse on Kierkegaard, then stops himself because “Ah cut myself short. They hate a smart cunt. It’s easy to talk yourself into a bigger fine, or fuck sake, a higher sentence.”
July 30, 2017
So like most Americans, I was clueless to the anthology. I luckily happened to be in Scotland this summer and come across an article by Jenni Fagan, author of *The Sunlight Pilgrims*, named "Fuck the Mainstream" where she celebrates the crest of the Scottish wave of writers during the 1990s. The collection has the hallmarks of their style-- very colloquially written, a focus on working-class blokes, very graphic descriptions and wayward acts. One can understand how at the time, it was particularly refreshing and new. Now, twenty years later, it seems somewhat juvenile, but what can you expect from writers who were in their 20s at the time.
The two most interesting stories are the least generic: Laura Hind's "The Dilating Pupil" and Irvine Welsh's, "The Roswell Incident." The first follows first-person point-of-view from a perverted teacher going to his female student's parents's house supposedly to attend a party. When he arrives, she is all alone and trying to seduce him in a very awkward and gawky manner. Things go badly awry, which are quite funny.
Welsh's story is amazing. He merges his signature style of blokes on the bottom rungs of society with alien invasion to strangely create a story that traces the feelings of being in Scotland with the desire to exact revenge on the world that has made it a colony to a country of "effete arseholes," as Renton in *Trainspotting* would call the British. It masterly shifts between the twisted hi-jinks of mates with that of being inside the ship of a colonizing alien race where one of its young leaders becomes enamored with a Scotsman to temporarily lose some of his scruples until receiving a quality ass kicking from his mates. It reminds me of why I like Welsh's writing so much where it shifts between the crude, insightful, the high and low, the thoughtful and repulsive ceaselessly. It made me purchase his book of short stories, *The Acid House*.
The two most interesting stories are the least generic: Laura Hind's "The Dilating Pupil" and Irvine Welsh's, "The Roswell Incident." The first follows first-person point-of-view from a perverted teacher going to his female student's parents's house supposedly to attend a party. When he arrives, she is all alone and trying to seduce him in a very awkward and gawky manner. Things go badly awry, which are quite funny.
Welsh's story is amazing. He merges his signature style of blokes on the bottom rungs of society with alien invasion to strangely create a story that traces the feelings of being in Scotland with the desire to exact revenge on the world that has made it a colony to a country of "effete arseholes," as Renton in *Trainspotting* would call the British. It masterly shifts between the twisted hi-jinks of mates with that of being inside the ship of a colonizing alien race where one of its young leaders becomes enamored with a Scotsman to temporarily lose some of his scruples until receiving a quality ass kicking from his mates. It reminds me of why I like Welsh's writing so much where it shifts between the crude, insightful, the high and low, the thoughtful and repulsive ceaselessly. It made me purchase his book of short stories, *The Acid House*.
August 27, 2008
A rough and at times difficult collection. I didn't finish the story by Irvine Welsh; I just couldn't get into it. The other stories are interesting and well written. I liked "The Dilating Pupil" best. I find Scottish writers difficult to read, as I don't understand a lot of the slang, but I still slogged through it and enjoyed some of it. I've read other Irvine Welsh books that I've enjoyed more, like, "Ecstasy." This book is a good overview of region specific writing.
November 15, 2008
This was not much fun. I guess that I was more interested in this kind of stuff when I actually bought this book forever ago, and I should have probably just read it then. Someone vomits in almost every story.
March 18, 2014
I had a great time reading this book on the bus on my way to work over the course of a week. My favorite short was Laura Hird's, and I thought Irvine Welsh's contribution the least attractive and ended up skimming through it.
August 2, 2008
Gift from Minseo from Scotland. Some great short stories, though the Irvine Welsh one is a ripe turd.
Read
February 16, 2010want to read
April 15, 2018
some stories are quite good others not so much
June 3, 2021
Children of Albion Rovers - 3/5
Classic Scottish anthology've novellas fae the nation's up-in-coming scribblers've the 90s.
Pop Life - Gordon Legge - 2/5
Ah fine storie fae Gordon Legge ae aboot the lives've 3 vinyl junkies tryin tae reconnect affer sae lang apart. Serves is, sumwit predictable, purpose, if nae veery memorable in is execution.
After the Vision - Alan Warner - 4/5
Probably ma second favourite've the collection, ah drunken, drug-fuelled ramble across Glasgae wae plenty've starnge feuks aroond. Really enjoyed the 'haziness've it', wae aw the different people dippin in an oot've the storie it aw times an the weird shite they git up tae while they're there. Does sorta feel lik an exerpt fae ah larger piece though.
The Brown Pint of Courage - James Meek - 3/5
Ah fine tale, wis weird bit didnae have the same sorta dream lik quality've Alan Warner's storie previous. Gleeful authoritarian traffic wardens piss aff feuk and tak bribes aw while dealing wae their sexual predator commandant boss and relationship issues. A lik'd it bit it didnae feully hit the strangeness spot fir me.
Submission - Paul Reekie - 1/5
Really didnae lik tis wan. A rambly leuk intae sumwans letters tae a freind. It desnae gae onny were n mainly gaes aff intae talking aboot sum random poet r philosopher (which maks sense considering is a rambly letter bit it diesnae wurk in the storie). The wan bitty ah found interestin is the in storie shart in tha middle aboot the boy it school written be the protagonist's freind, aside fae tha, nuffin.
The Dilating Pupil Laura Hird - 4/5
Best storie aw the collection. Ah self-loathing bastard've a teacher tries tae get it awf wae wan av his receptive pupils n fails spectacularly. The shitey nature've iv the main character n (wit ah saw) the tricksy natur've the pupil gave the storie an interestin 'edge' tha the other stories were aw trying tae achieve. Sadly funny is weel.
The Rosewell Incident Irvine Welsh - 3.5/5
Funny storie fae Welsh've ah the local young team bein abducted be aliens afore they sendem tae rule the wurld. Is ah great premise, if strecht a little be the end, feu've great jokes. Bit padded tae wae sum no sae connected stories playing oot alangside the alien stuff. Those wir funny tae mind, jest wish they'd tied mair thegither it the end.
Report O'eraw
O'eraw, a fine wee collection've novellas thit reek've Scotland in the 90s. Wurth ah read if yeh come acrossem or are interested in Scottish counterculture writing fae the time.
Classic Scottish anthology've novellas fae the nation's up-in-coming scribblers've the 90s.
Pop Life - Gordon Legge - 2/5
Ah fine storie fae Gordon Legge ae aboot the lives've 3 vinyl junkies tryin tae reconnect affer sae lang apart. Serves is, sumwit predictable, purpose, if nae veery memorable in is execution.
After the Vision - Alan Warner - 4/5
Probably ma second favourite've the collection, ah drunken, drug-fuelled ramble across Glasgae wae plenty've starnge feuks aroond. Really enjoyed the 'haziness've it', wae aw the different people dippin in an oot've the storie it aw times an the weird shite they git up tae while they're there. Does sorta feel lik an exerpt fae ah larger piece though.
The Brown Pint of Courage - James Meek - 3/5
Ah fine tale, wis weird bit didnae have the same sorta dream lik quality've Alan Warner's storie previous. Gleeful authoritarian traffic wardens piss aff feuk and tak bribes aw while dealing wae their sexual predator commandant boss and relationship issues. A lik'd it bit it didnae feully hit the strangeness spot fir me.
Submission - Paul Reekie - 1/5
Really didnae lik tis wan. A rambly leuk intae sumwans letters tae a freind. It desnae gae onny were n mainly gaes aff intae talking aboot sum random poet r philosopher (which maks sense considering is a rambly letter bit it diesnae wurk in the storie). The wan bitty ah found interestin is the in storie shart in tha middle aboot the boy it school written be the protagonist's freind, aside fae tha, nuffin.
The Dilating Pupil Laura Hird - 4/5
Best storie aw the collection. Ah self-loathing bastard've a teacher tries tae get it awf wae wan av his receptive pupils n fails spectacularly. The shitey nature've iv the main character n (wit ah saw) the tricksy natur've the pupil gave the storie an interestin 'edge' tha the other stories were aw trying tae achieve. Sadly funny is weel.
The Rosewell Incident Irvine Welsh - 3.5/5
Funny storie fae Welsh've ah the local young team bein abducted be aliens afore they sendem tae rule the wurld. Is ah great premise, if strecht a little be the end, feu've great jokes. Bit padded tae wae sum no sae connected stories playing oot alangside the alien stuff. Those wir funny tae mind, jest wish they'd tied mair thegither it the end.
Report O'eraw
O'eraw, a fine wee collection've novellas thit reek've Scotland in the 90s. Wurth ah read if yeh come acrossem or are interested in Scottish counterculture writing fae the time.
January 27, 2019
I'm not too fussed about most of the stories in this book but Laura Hird wins this one, I'm keen to check more of her work.
May 2, 2017
This is an enjoyable and fairly varied collection of short stories from a selection of good, strong Scottish writers. The strange thing about this book is that the main attraction possibly contributes the weakest story of them all. “The Rosewell Incident” by Irvine Welsh is easily one of his poorest stories and yet it would later resurface in his “Reheated Cabbage” anthology. Gordon Legge’s “Pop Life” is a really upbeat, hidden gem of a tale about the power of close friendship and good music, but surely the pick of the bunch is Alan Warner’s dark, drug addled madness of “After The Vision” which had me laughing aloud, especially during one particularly memorable scene.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews