Short stories and poetry

The Helicopter Pilot's Handbook
New fiction from NICK ARMITAGE, about a man who can't read in peace.
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I'm Sorry I'm Still in Love With My Grandmother
Poem by Claire Askew.
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Lovesong
Poem by Claire Askew.
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The Goddess of the Spoons
Poem from LIZ BERRY.
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Caledonia Books
A poem from NORMAN BISSELL.
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Naini Tal
In a short story set in India, MARGARET BURNETT reveals the world through the eyes of a young Scottish girl. Both eager and reluctant to leave the security of home and childhood, Fiona finds herself poised on the brink of a new phase of life.
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Theatre Companions
A wonderful, lyrical story about a young girl's first visit to the theatre, to see The Winter's Tale. New fiction from ELIZABETH BURNS.
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David Hume and the Pixels of Gratification
Bizarre short story from RON BUTLIN, the author of Night Visits and Vivaldi and the Number 3. David Hume gets very drunk and metaphysical in modern Edinburgh.
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No One Else Saw Anything
The peculiar lives of a serial killer and his feline girlfriend feature in this extract from Derangements by RAJORSHI CHAKRABORTI, which is due to be released in 2008.
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Silently For Me 
The almost simultaneous appearance of a doppelganger and a voice in his head is the end of enough for RAJORSHI CHAKRABORTI's put-upon, young narrator.

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The Wedding
Bare knees, flying brides and Bollywood beats all feature in this humorous poem by SRIA CHATTERJEE about a Scottish-Indian wedding in Edinburgh. Text and images are copyright of Sria Chatterjee.
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The Punishment
A short story from award winning author REGI CLAIRE, whose books include Inside Outside and The Beauty Room.
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Laz
Scots language short story by MATTHEW FITT. In a prison block in a drowned Scotland of the near future, inmate Laz talks us through his daily grind. From the Scottish Book Collector's archives.
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The Woman Who Was Not Adele
The first four chapters of RAB FULTON's novel about the journey from dark superstition into lightness and rationality. In this excerpt, set against the dark backdrop of famine and civil war in Liberia, the woman who was not then Adele tells how she came to take her now iconic photograph 'Three Angry Men'.
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Desired Errata
A love letter from EDDIE GIBBONS.
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A Diamond In The District
Poem by Eddie Gibbons.
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In Bed With Angela Merkel
Poem by Eddie Gibbons.
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Theatre of Dreams
New fiction from Zimbabwean writer GABRIEL GIDI on the theme of broken promises and dreams.
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The World of Love and Labour
SELINA HOSSAIN is one of Bangladesh's most respected, prolific and vocal writers. She combines a profound and critical social awareness with a sincere interest in the lives of ordinary men and women. In this short story she challenges patriarchal, traditional values.
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Multicoloured Seams
A moment of violence leads to an extraordinary transformation in this short story by EDWIN JAMIESON.
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Peacock Feathers
A new short story from ANN KELLEY, the author of The Burying Beetle. An English couple drive the backroads of Zimbabwe, explore their hotel and the countryside, and meditate on youth and loss.
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Rubies the Size of Peas
New fiction from SVETLANA LAVOCHKINA. In this beautifully-crafted vignette, a young Ukrainian girl dreams of speaking with the finest RP, spurred on by the demands of her indomitable English teacher, Maria Ivanovna.
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Nanny's Curse
A short story by SVETLANA LAVOCHKINA in which an irascible and foul-mouthed old woman dramatically confronts her enemies with fatal consequences.
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The Golden Section
The patterns teachers carve into children's souls, the Golden Section and a man who is turned on by symmetry - a new short story from SVETLANA LAVOCHKINA.
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A Noise in the Night
New fiction from MARGARET LONGSTAFF, about a wee girl who goes to sleep in her Grandmother's bed.
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Musings and Trossachs
Spiritualism and metaphysics while hiking up the Trossachs. Prose by IAN MACPHERSON, with an accompanying poem by MAGI GIBSON.
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Jumping the Moon
An eleven-year-old girl growing up faster than she knows is the central character in this short story by PATRICIA MCCAW, set in 1960s Belfast.
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The Thing Called a Holiday
The shape of the wind and the absence of tears are part of the texture of life in this short story by CATHERINE MCDONALD.
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The Book Hunters
A poem from RICHARD MEDRINGTON.
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The Wavesinger
Short story from the pen of GREG MICHAELSON.
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The Library of Bebelplatz
Short story from GREG MICHAELSON.
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Northwest Passage
New fiction from GREG MICHAELSON. A Glasgow doctor is politely asked to leave the NHS and seeks employment on a cargo ship plying its way through the icy stretches of the Arctic seas. But he discovers an enigma amongst the treasure hunters and glory seekers cluttering Cambridge Bay.
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The Answer Machine
An Edinburgh man buys a Scottish answer machine, powered by Artificial Intelligence. New thought provoking fiction from GREG MICHAELSON.
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The Scanner
New short fiction from GREG MICHAELSON. An employee goes missing at an office party following the breakdown of his marriage. His new flatbed scanner is somehow implicated.
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The River Of Life
In this recreation of Genesis, Zimbabwean writer CHRISTOPHER MLALAZI describes man's fiery descent from the stars.
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Cats Have Staff
Sid, the big black cat rules the roost in this short story by new writer GAVIN PIXTON.
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On Earth as in Heaven
Two poems from TESSA RANSFORD, founder and former director of the Scottish Poetry Library. 'On Earth as in Heaven' is inspired by Rosslyn Chapel, and is about the ideals behind the concept of the two pillars - priest and king - which the chapel is supposed to represent.
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Papercuts
A poem by the writer DILYS ROSE.
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Flame Lily
Short story by HESTER ROSS in which images of life in Malawi and Ireland interpenetrate, a woman confronts her mortality and plants for a future she may not see.
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Erosive
An unconventional short story from ALI SMITH, the writer of Hotel World, The Whole Story and Other Stories, Other Stories and Other Stories.
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The Lonely Lighthouse Keeper
A poem from GWEN SUOMINEN.
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Bombyx mori (Silk and the Sky)
A Scot who grew up in Nebraska looks back and remembers his childhood, his trips back to Edinburgh, his Grandpa... and wonders where his life went wrong. New fiction from ERIC SWANEPOEL.
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Pastrami on Rye
A short story from RUTH THOMAS, the writer of The Dance Settee and Sea Monster Tattoo. Lucy is a young poet who works in a sandwich shop, spending her days serving customers and trying to think of metaphors for the moon.
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Evolution
Short story about pregnancy and betrayal from writer KATE TREGASKIS.
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Mouse Trap
Another short story from KATE TREGASKIS.
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The Temple of Solitude
A new poem from JEREMY WATTLES.
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Two in the Front, Two in the Back
New fiction from TIM WEST. In this surreal comedy, an elephant dreams of writing a sitcom about a brothel, but is trapped in a soul-destroying job in advertising. One day, however, he extracts a terrible revenge.
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