Nova Scotia vol 2

As the 2024 edition of the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow approaches, there’s been a lot going on to welcome our global visitors and wave the flag for the science fiction, fantasy and horror we produce here in Scotland.

One of the things I’ve been involved with is Nova Scotia vol 2: New Speculative Fiction from Scotland, a showcase of astonishing writing by Scottish-born and Scottish-resident talent. This volume, funnily enough, is the sequel to a similar book Andrew J Wilson and I curated for the last Scottish Worldcon in 2005. Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction got some wonderful reviews and went on to be shortlisted for the World Fantasy award for Best Anthology. Will this one do as well? Only time will tell, but what I can say is it is filled with some utterly brilliant writing.

We decided early on that, with the exception of Worldcon guest of honour Ken MacLeod who contributes our opening story (and ourselves), we wanted an entirely new selection of authors for this volume. It’s been 19 years after all, and Scotland has changed a lot in that time! It turned out to be a great decision. We’ve loved discovering the new generation of Scottish talent, as well as writers who have gravitated to our shores over the last couple of decades, and we’re just so excited to share them with you all wrapped up an amazing cover by local artist and author, Jenni Coutts. Fire on over to the Luna Press blog to read what the contributors have to say about their stories.

Nova Scotia vol 2 will be officially published at the end of July. And we’re having a launch event at the Mitchell Library on Tuesday, July 30th from 6.30-7.30pm. The event has been organised by Glasgow in 2024 Worldcon in collaboration with Glasgow libraries. It’s free to attend, but you do need to book a ticket. Come along and hear myself, Francesca Barbini of Luna Press, and writers, Ken MacLeod, E.M. Faulds, Ali Maloney and Rhiannon A Grist talk about our contributions to this lovely wee book.

But wait, there’s more! If you can’t make that night and you’re coming to Worldcon, we’re also having a launch party there too. Check the programme when it’s published for details of day and time.

We’d love to see your faces at either of these!

Lastly, I want to express my thanks to Andrew, Jenni, and all of the authors who sent us stories to consider. And especially to Francesca, who is quite simply an amazing publisher to work with.