Events
Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least ten days before publication to iules.graham@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Jules Graham.
Glasgow
Charlie Connolly Royal Concert Hall. 2 Sauchiehall Street. 353 8000. lpm. £4 (£3.50). To research Attention All .S'lii'ppi'ng. writer Charlie Connelly travelled round the shipping forecast areas.
Edinburgh
Dilys Rose Central Library. George I\' Bridge. 225 5584. 12.30pm. Free. Lunchtime reading with award winning Glaswegian author Dilys Rose. Mini-Fiction Workshop Central Library. George [V Bridge. 225 5584. 2—4pm. Learn how to construct your own short stories at this afternoon workshop with Dilys Rose. Ann Kelley Water of Leith Conservation Trust. 24 Lanark Road. 455 7367. 5.30pm. Free. Join the novelist as she launches her new book The Burying Beetle.
Rose and Ruth: River Cafe Book Signing YinCaffe. l l Multrees Walk. 557 0088. 6—7pm. £20. R&R come to sign copies River Cafe Tim Easy. plus a talk and Q&A. Ticket includes a glass of Prosecco and a copy of the book.
ian R Mitchell and Peter Kemp: Bothies and Bealachs Wester Hailes Library. 1 Westside Plaza. 529 5693. 7—8.30pm. Free. Illustrated talk from the hillwalking authors.
Friday 27
Edinburgh
Ann Wroe Blackwells. 53—59 South Bridge. 622 8222. 6.30pm. Free. The author discusses the weird tale of Perkin \Varbeck. Writer’s Bloc: Better Read Than Dead Roxy Art Home. 2 Roxburgh Place. 087] 750 0077. 7—8.30pm. £3. A mix of professional authors and fresh voices deliver entertaining. upfront new fiction.
Saturday 28
Glasgow
Sunbeam Street Ottakar's Bookshop. 38 The Avenue. Newton Mearns. 616 3933. 10.30am. 11.30am. l.30pm & 2.30pm. Free. ticketed. Join local authors Michelle Shenken and Gloria Grossman as they read from their first two books and perform songs. Ages 3—6.
Edinburgh
Kenneth Steven Newington Library. l7—2l Fountainhall Road. 529 5536. 2pm. Free. The successful poet. author and children's novelist reads from Colimihu.
Edinburgh
Arthur’s Seat Storytelling Walk Holyrood Palace Car Park. 555 1859. 2—3.30pm. £3 available from Central Library. Hear about the literature surrounding Holyrood on this walk led by Donald Smith.
Shore Poets Open Night The Canons‘ Gait. 232 Canongate. 556 4481. 7.45pm. £2 t£l i. This month the Shore Poets invite you to share your own work. plus there‘s a special guest. Gaelic poet Roddy Gorman.
Monday 30
Edinburgh
John Ross CWL'. 15 Brunswick Street. 7.30pm. Donations welcome. The author and pro-indigenous rights activist reports from the front line in Chiapas. Mexico.
Glasgow
Peter Alliss Waterstone's. 153— l 57 Sauchiehall Street. 332 9|05. bpm. Free. The legendary golf commentator w ill be in- store signing copies of My" Life.
Vanessa Collingridge Borders Books, 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6pm. Free. Broadcaster and geographer Colliitgridge reveals the truth about Bum/1m.
Edinburgh
All Points North Scottish Poetry Library. 5 Crichton‘s Close. Canongate. 557 2876. 6.30pm. £3 (£2 l. The SP1. welcomes writers from Latvia. Estonia. Finland and Norway. Rebecca Solnit Chaplaincy Centre. Bristo Square. 662 8882. 7pm. The historian and activist dichsses Hope in the Dark. Janice Galloway .\'orth Edinburgh Arts Centre. 15a Penny w ell Court. 315 2l51. 7.30pm. £5 (£2.50. members of the Good Neighbour Scheme~£3.50i. Galloway reads from (’luru.
Foakies Royal Oak. lnlirmary Street. 557 2976. 8pm. Monthly night for aspiring singer songwriters and poets. Contact Tom Fairnie at tonthi miscorp.ed.ac.uk.
Glasgow
Sandstone Press Launch Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6pm. Free. Authors {.in Anderson and Margaret Elphinstone read.
Reading the Leaves Tchai ()v na. 42 ()tago Lane. 357 4524. 8pm. £2. Poetry and creative writing. Contact .\'alini Paul at readingtheleavesel hotmailcom.
Edinburgh
Peter Alliss ()ttakar‘s. 57 George Street. 225 4495. l-2pm. Free. See Thu 2.
>13 Debut Authors Festival Traverse Theatre. Cambridge Street. 228 I404. See preview. page 32.
Saturday 4
Glasgow
Donny Rourke Goethe Institut. 3 Park Circus. 332 2555. 4pm. Free. The Glasgow writer reads from his resulting collection Front I’Ueujv's lliiiline Ronni.
Edinburgh
Borders Books at the Meadows Festival The Meadows. Melt illc l)ri\ e.
l lam—6pm. The Borders tent is home to a day of poetry and storytelling.
=i= Debut Authors Festival Traverse Theatre. Cambridge Street. 228 I404. See Fri 3.
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3%: Debut Authors Festival Traverse Theatre. Cambridge Street. 228 1404. See Fri 3.
Monday 6
Glasgow
Kelly Holmes Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. noon» lpin. Free. The double ()ly mpic gold medallist signs copies of B/(it'k. White and (in/(l. Rebecca Solnit Borders Books, 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6.30pm. Free. See Thu 2.
Edinburgh
Words and Music iidinburgh l'niversity Mtisic Room. 1 l Buccleuch Place. 0|3I 650 4400. 7.30pm. ()pen stage.
Tuesday 7
Glasgow
Alex Gray ()ttakar‘s Bookstore. Lilli (i, Buchanan Galleries. Buchanan Street. 353 1500. 6.30pm. The local crime author launches Slim/rm ofSuum/s.
Wednesday 8
Glasgow
Keith Charters Borders Books, Fort Retail Park. 390 Provan Walk. 77.3 29H). 2pm. Free. Family ftiii as the Glaswegian author reads from his children‘s series.
Glasgow
Ronnie Scott Borders Books, 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6.30pm. Free. The story behind Glasgow 's .\'ecropo|is.
Comics
CRIME REISSUE FRANK MILLER Sin City
(Dark Horse/Titan, .0...
When it comes to innovation in the comic book medium, Frank Miller’s name crops up more than most. From his superhero redefining Daredevil stint to the iconoclastic The Dark Knight Returns and onto the politicised Give Me Liberty, Miller has stayed at the cutting edge of comic book activity for almost 30 years. But his crowning achievement, according to me and according to him, are the Sin City strips, which Miller began in 1992. They are now being reissued in seven beautifully designed books to coincide with the superb film adaptation.
The film, which Miller co-directed with Robert Rodriguez, chops together books one, three and four - The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill and That Yellow Bastard - overlapping these
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hardest-boiled crime tales in non- chronologicai fashion. Reading all seven of the books back-to- back produces a similar effect as Miller returns to the scenes of previous crimes, referring to them obliquely with each new story. Miller says he feels like he’s returning home when he pen and inks a new tale; it’s certainly the case that he’s created a coherent universe in his noirish dystopia that’s defined by corruption, vice, mean, muscled men and big-breasted sluts with hearts of gold.
Don’t expect anything PC here, as Miller says ‘the job of a cartoonist is to be provocative’. That said, these S&M tales of love and murder are at heart highly moral as well as being very funny, although you might not think a kiddie-killing senator’s son having his testicles ripped off by a dying cop is particularly moral. Or maybe you would.
In the 13 years Miller’s been producing Sin City stories, he’s been
Books
refining his storytelling skills. But while the later tales have introduced colour elements, the otherwise black and white panels and spreads and the first person narration remain pared down to the point of perfection. Thus, just as the stories coalesce like so much blood pooling on the pavement, so too do the seven repackaged books form a cohesive whole. it’s hard, therefore, to say which are best. Certainly, the three adapted for film have the edge, but then book two, A Dame to Kill For, is just so damn sexy, while five, Family Values, foregrounds Miller’s love of manga and kung fu, and six, Booze, Broads & Bullets, is an intriguing collection of short stories. Book seven, Hell and Back, is the biggest and boasts some pretty nifty colour innovations by Mrs Miller, Lynn Varley. Best advice: buy the lot. (Miles Fielder)
I Out now. See feature, page 24. and film review, page 33.
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May—9 Jun 2005 THE LIST 33