Phlogiston

I considered blogging about Nova Scotia when it came out, but I decided I’d wait until I’d actually read it. Well, now I have, and I have to say it’s excellent. It’s a collection of short stories and vignettes; “speculative fiction” includes science fiction and fantasy, but also alternate histories, ghost stories, and fictions based on folklore. I know one of the editors, Andrew J. Wilson, through my friend Hannu, who is also a contributor, as are several others of the Edinburgh Writers Bloc group, including recent Hugo award-winning Charlie Stross; several Scottish Sci-Fi luminaries such as Ken McLeod are also contributors.

I found none of the stories disagreeable, and many of them were excellent. I’m not going to single particular ones out, because that would be … you know … like a proper review. But the styles and genres are very varied—yet there is a thematic unity (Scotland, Scottishness) that links them together—so there’s bound to be more than enough here to please most.

Highly recommended.