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ISSN 1754-1514TheBottleImpIssue 13, May 2013New Publications: Non-fiction & CriticismArtfulby Ali SmithHamish Hamilton, 2012Adapted from four lectures given at OxfordUniversity by Ali Smith, Artful is a tidal wave ofideas in four thematically organised bursts ofthought: ‘On Time’, ‘On Form’, ‘On Edge’ and‘On Offer and On Reflection’. Refusing to be tieddown to either fiction or the essay form, Artfulis narrated by a character who is haunted – literally– by a former lover, the writer of a seriesof lectures about art and literature. Full of boththe poignancy and humour of fiction and all thesideways insights and jaunty angles you wouldexpect from Ali Smith’s criticism, it exploresform, style, life, love, death, mortality, immortalityand what art and writing can mean.Republics of the Mindby James RobertsonBlack and White Publishing, 2012This brand new edition of short stories comprisesthe best of James Robertson’s work,collected together here for the first time. Theyrange in setting from a dysfunctional safari parkto a dentist’s surgery, from the poverty of hopeof a reservation in South Dakota to the nightmarevision of a future Scotland riven by ethniccleansing, from friendships strong in adversityto marriages heading for the rocks. Nothing isquite what it seems in these stories. Runningthrough them is an undercurrent of optimismtinged with despair, as the personal meetsthe political and individual men and womenmake choices that will change their lives forever.Surreal, realistic, angry, philosophical,funny and humane, Robertson’s shorter fictionexplores the lives of his characters with thesame deftness of touch that has brought criticalacclaim for novels such as And the Land LayStill and The Testament of Gideon Mack.Best Scottish Poems 2012edited by Louise Welsh and Zoë StrachanScottish Poetry Library, 2013This is the ninth issue of Best Scottish Poems,an online selection of twenty of the best poemsby Scottish authors to appear in books, pamphletsand literary magazines during 2012.We began by publishing this annual selectionon St Andrew’s Day, to wave a poetry flag forScotland, but moved publication to spring toallow editors to consider a whole calendaryear. Bookshops and libraries &mdmash; withhonourable exceptions – often provide a verynarrow range of poetry, and Scottish poetryin particular. Best Scottish Poems offers readersin Scotland and abroad a way of samplingthe range and achievement of our poets, theirlanguages, forms, concerns. It is in no sensea competition but a personal choice, and thisyear’s editors, the novelists Louise Welsh andZoë Strachan, checked and balanced eachother’s predilections. Their introduction demonstrateshow widely they read, and howintensely. The preceding years’ selections arestill available on the website.Selected Poemsby Don PatersonFaber & Faber, 2012This selection, drawn from twenty yearsof work, is made by the author himself andincludes not only those poems from his foursingle volumes, but his thrilling and originaladaptations of the poems of Antonio Machadoand Rainer Maria Rilke. For any readers unfamiliarwith Don Paterson’s work, this SelectedPoems offers the perfect introduction to thismost captivating of writers; and for fans, anessential gathering from a master craftsman.Something Like Happyby John BurnsideJonathan Cape, 2013In these remarkable stories, John Burnsidetakes us into the lives of men and womentrapped in marriage, ensnared by drink, diminishedby disappointment; all kinds of women,all kinds of men – lonely, unfaithful, dying –driving empty roads at night. These are peoplefor whom the idea of ‘home’ has becomeincreasingly intangible, hard to believe – andhappiness, or grace, or freedom, all now seemto belong in some kind of dream, or a fablethey might have read in a children’s picturebook. As he says in one story, ‘All a man hasis his work and his sense of himself, all thesecret life he holds inside that nobody else canwww.thebottleimp.org.ukThe Bottle Imp is the ezine of the Scottish Writing Exhibition www.scottishwriting.org.ukand is published by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies www.asls.org.uk 1

know.’ But in each of these normal, damagedlives, we are shown something extraordinary:a dogged belief in some kind of hope or beautythat flies in the face of all reason and is, as aresult, both transfiguring and heart-rending.Reality, Realityby Jackie KayPicador, 2012This is a book about memories, love, sex andthe power of the imagination to see us throughthe most difficult times. The women of Reality,Reality are mesmerizing, whether in love or insolitude. Grace and Rose, glowing with pride,are the first to marry on Shetland; Hadassah,named for the Morning Star, burns as brightly.Margaret, alone in her care home, places herhope in a cherry red cardigan; Elina Makropulos,whose voice is the toast of generations, is desperateto be allowed to grow old. Stef cooks formade-up judges on the TV show in her head.Pat diets for one hundred and forty-three daysto find her ‘Mini-me’. Dionne longs for a child;Mrs Vadnie Marlene Sevlon for her husband.And Elizabeth Ellen carries her new baby intoa future she didn’t know could be hers. JackieKay’s newest and most luminous of collectionsis full of compassion, generosity, sorrow andjoy. In fifteen extraordinary stories, she celebratesthe richness and power of dream-lifeto inspire, to repair, and to make real.The Same Life Twiceby Frank KuppnerCarcanet, 2012Comic, cosmic: for Kuppner the terms areinseparable. In the three plaited sections ofThe Same Life Twice, Frank Kuppner asks theessential, answerless questions about humanexistence: What are we doing here? Is it reallyhere? And why here? ‘Fortunately,’ he writes,‘it is nearly always possible to take notes, evenif these habitually contradict each other.’ Hereare Kuppner’s fieldnotes from life in an unfathomableuniverse. A sardonic Virgil showingus a directionless Infinity, Kuppner guides usthrough a reality in which we are just ‘onemore of the ignorant infinite dots / rather thanthe vast central vortex we must feel ourselvesto be’.Deadman’s Pedalby Alan WarnerJonathan Cape, 2012It is the early 1970s in the Highlands of Scotlandand for 16-year-old Simon Crimmons there’sreally not much to do. He can hang aroundwith his pals or his first-ever girlfriend, Nikki,he can dream about a first motorbike to gethim out of the Port and among the hills, but intruth he’s going nowhere. The only local dramaand romance is provided by the rural railway,and Simon ends up working on the trains bychance, thrown into a community of jadedolder men. But that summer he is introducedto a world far more glamorous and strange.He meets the louche, bohemian Alex, and hisdark, gorgeous sister, Varie: all that remainsof ‘the doomed family’ of the great house atBroken Moan, where their father, AndrewBultitude, is Commander of the Pass. WhenSimon falls in love with the otherworldly Variehe is suddenly given a freedom and mobilitythat is both thrilling and vertiginous. WithThe Deadman’s Pedal, Alan Warner returns tothe landscapes of Morvern Callar and his earlynovels: a world where the real and the surreal,grim trade unionists and the crazed aristocracy,live under the shadows of the same greatmountains, along the same railway line. Ademented comedy, a wild romantic fling – TheDeadman’s Pedal is another thrillingly imaginedadventure by one of our finest novelists.Small Worldby Richard PriceCarcanet, 2012From the ‘small world’ of modern family life,evoked with humour and an acute ear for itsintricate dynamics, Richard Price’s Small Worldtravels into the catastrophe of sudden, devastatingillness. Price’s poems explore how theworld must be relearned – by the patient, bythe poet. How far is it true that ‘Only translationsremain / of what we were’? A love letter,a record, Small World is an unforgettable testimonyto love and courage.Definite Articlesby Tom LeonardWord Power Books, 2013Tom Leonard’s Definite Articles covers fortyyears of essays, articles, reviews, and journalentries. The material is political, literary, topicaland personal, and includes in its scope: The‘news’ and what it never says – language andpower – Roger Quin, homeless poet – poetryand its place or otherwise in school – CharlesReznikoff, modern american master – CarlosWilliams versus class diction in Britain – thepublic library and what democracy means –Robert Browning – R D Laing remembered– John Clare – What does ‘culture’ mean? –Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya – On the Mass Bombingwww.thebottleimp.org.ukThe Bottle Imp is the ezine of the Scottish Writing Exhibition www.scottishwriting.org.ukand is published by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies www.asls.org.uk 2

of Iraq and Kuwait – ‘The City of DreadfulNight’ and its place in the life James Thomson– African and native poetry anthologies – sexuality,rape and ‘virgin martyrs’ in the CatholicChurch – space and the poetry of breath fromPound to Paul Blackburn – demonising Muslimsand Middle East policy – reclaiming local culturein Scotland – Boltanski’s Glasgow exhibition– a memoir of Tom Leonard’s father – TomRaworth’s latest poetry – Robert Fergusson,heroic not tragic – the silence on the Tamils– Labour’s attacks on welfare – Walt Whitmanon class – the ‘quality control’ business modelin university cuts – the myth of the ‘peaceprocess’ in the middle east – Brecht’s MotherCourage translated into Scottish speech –chancellor George Osborne and the BBC – whyno spring in Bahrain – Edwin Morgan’s funeral– an impartial English judge not so impartial– Glasgow, slave-merchant city – the frontline in our living rooms: pro-Nato journalism –Brian Haw and his stand against sanctions, anda valedictory poem on ‘the flag’.ASLSASLS is a registered charity no. SC006535ASLS is supported by Creative Scotlandwww.thebottleimp.org.ukThe Bottle Imp is the ezine of the Scottish Writing Exhibition www.scottishwriting.org.ukand is published by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies www.asls.org.uk 3