Books
Events
Thursday 22 .
Glasgow
Ian R Mitchell ()ttakar"s Bookstore. Unit 6. Buchanan (ialleries. Buchanan Street. 353 I500. 6.30pm. Free. Mitchell discusses This (Try Now. his expose of the hidden architectural. cultural and historical riches of some of (ilasgow ‘s working-class districts.
Edinburgh
Joan Lingard National Library of Scotland. (ieorge lV Bridge. 623 3845. 7pm. Joan Lingard MBli. the celebrated. best-selling author of both adult and children‘s literature. reads from her latest work linearnita 's Journey.
* Vikram Seth The Hub. (‘astlehilL Royal Mile. 225 4495. 7pm. £4. The award-winning author talks about THY) lives a biographical account of the lives of his great uncle and aunt. with Willy Maley asking the questions.
Glasgow
Kate Adie Theatre Royal. 282 Hope Srrcci, 332 9000. lpm. £5.50 (£4). Inspired by her own circumstances. the pioneering female war corresrxrndent‘s new book Nobodv's (‘hi/d explores the perspective of an abandoned youngster.
Wigtown
* Scottish Book Town Festival Various venues. until Sun 2 ()ct. ('all 0l‘)8 840 2036 for details. Among those appearing for this seventh annual event are Magnus Magnusson. Kate Adie. Bill Duncan. (ieorge (iallovvay and Joan Bakew ell.
Saturday 24
Glasgow
Theresa Breslin Borders Books. lion Retail Park. 390 Provan Walk. 773 29“). lpm. Free. Join the local author as she discusses her hit book Divided ( 'itv.
Edinburgh
Shore Poets The (‘anons’ (iait. 232 (‘anongate. 556 4481. 7.45pm. £2 (£l ). The new season gets off to a flying start with Edinburgh's new Makar Valerie (iillies. Kevin Henderson and Shore Poet Brian Mc(‘abe doing their things.
Lei
Glasgow
Nick Arnold Adelaide's. 20‘) Bath Street. 353 I500. 9.30am. Free. The author of the immensely popular Horrible Histories series talks.
Joan Lingard ()ttakar"s Bookstore. Unit 6. Buchanan (ialleries. Buchanan Street. 623 3845. 6.30pm. Free. See Thu 22. Month of Action on Child Sexual Abuse Poetry Reading Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6.30pm. '1 he September I’oetn is a collection of poems written by survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Edinburgh
Simon Schama The Hub. (‘astlehilL Royal Mile. 225 4495. 7pm. £4. The professor. historian and broadcaster tlichsses Rough ('rovvings: Britain. the Slaves if} the American Revolution.
Wednesday 28
Glasgow Bronwen and Frans Stiene ()iiakar‘s Bookstore. Unit 6. Buchanan (ialleries.
Buchanan Street. 353 l500. 5.30pm. Free.
lixperts on all things Reike. the Steines discuss their new book The Japanese Art (if-Reike.
30 THE LIST I)? Set) (3 Oct 7006
Thursday 29
Glasgow
Colin Baxter Borders Books. ()8 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6pm. Join the top Scottish photographer as he presents a selection of slides in Scotland from Above.
Glasgow
Donovan Borders Books. ()8 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. Ipm. l-‘ree. (‘elebrating his 401h year in music. Donovan plays a live in-store set and signs copies of his autobiography The Hardy ([urdv Man.
Edinburgh
David Daiches Memorial Event ()ld (‘ollege. Playfair Library. University of lidinburgh. South Bridge. 650 l()()(). 4pm. Not content with being a pioneering critic of Scottish culture. I)aiches also wrote extensively about our capital. his autobiographical Two Worlds is a valuable piece of socio-cultural Scottish history.
Glasgow
Ricky Tomlinson Borders Books. ()8 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. lprn. l-‘ree. Dissecting the beautiful game with his trademark wit. the Scouse legend signs copies of I'ootha/l Inv Arse.
Edinburgh
Pamela Stephenson St (‘ecilia’s Hall. Niddry Street. 622 8222. 7pm. £3: tickets available from Blackwell's Book Shop. Stephenson discusses her new book lt'ertsut‘r’ Island: Sailing the South Seas in the Wake o/‘I'iannlv and Robert Innis Stevenson.
Tuesday 4
Glasgow
Fresh Talent ()ttakar's Bookstore. Unit 6. Buchanan (ialleries. Buchanan Street. 353 1500. 6.30pm. Free. New authors Nick Brooks. Laura Marney. liwan Morrison. Kevin MacNeill and Sophie ('ook talk about their travels along the road to being published.
Wednesday 5
Edinburgh
Stewart Conn Scottish Poetry Library. 5 ('richton's (‘lose. (‘anongate 557 2876. 7.30pm. £3 (£2). Edinburgh‘s first Makar delivers the first reading of the Poetry Association for Scotland‘s autumn calendar.
Glas ow
60/60 ()tt;tkztt“s Bookstore. Unit 6. Buchanan (ialleries. Buchanan Street. 353 l500. 6pm. Free. limbrace National Poetry Day with readings from the Scottish ('Nl)‘s latest publication which commemorates the 60th anniversary of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Edinburgh
Mare Nostrum: Land and Sea in the Work of Ian Hamilton Finlay National Portrait (iallery. | Queen Street. 624 6200. 6 6.30pm. Free. Ken (‘ockburn reads from a selection of prose and poetry by l-"inlay. Gillian Ferguson National Library of Scotland. (ieorge IV Bridge. 226
4531. 7pm. Free. l-‘erguson's collection [ta/iv pertains to the highs (and lows) all new parents have ahead of them.
Gregor Gall Roxy Art House. 2 Roxburgh Place. 0X7l 750 0077. 7.30pm. Free. ()ne of Scotland's foremost analysts and commentators launches The Political Iii‘ononrv o/Seotland: Red Scotland." Rudli '(tl Scot/(1nd."
Live Literature: James Kelman and James Meek North lidinbtirgh Arts ('entre. 15a Pennywell (‘ourt. 3l5 2l5l. 7.30pm. £5 (£2.50 £3.50). Kelman explores the life of a Scot in America. while Meek talks about his highly acclaimed The People's Aer o/‘Ixn'e.
Comics
SUPERHERO HISTORY VARIOUS Batman: Cover to Cover
(T itan/DC) ooo
if your idea of heaven is looking at over 250 pictures of a grown man in a cowl, then this is the book yOLi've been waiting for. Organised into chapters. like “Batman covers around the world' showrng Greek. Chinese and Russian interpretations of the shadowy one. or ‘Bi/arre Batman'. a collection of covers Showmg the Dark Knight in silly situations. this is a collection likely to delight students of artistic composition or graphic design.
Alongside the covers are essays and commentaries from luminaries like Neil Gaiman, Mark Hamill or Christopher Nolan. director of Batman Begins. as well as less riveting discussions. such as how the bat logo has changed over time. The main failing is an obvious one. No matter how glossy or interesting. this is still just a coffee—table book of comic covers. and let's face it. isn't it what's behind the front page that makes a comic great? (Dave Martin)
SUPERNATURAL ERIC POWELL The Goon Nos 1-3 (Dark Horse) ooo
l‘tlllCl’O .-. Reading these four collections for Eric Powell's Eisner and Harvey Award winning Depression era
vanquisher of the forces i of evil, it's clear the 1 cartoonist was inspired l by Mike Mignola's ) Hel/boy series. from that strip's semi-satiric tone down to the all- pervading influence of the late great artist Jack Kirby. But where Mignola has honed his art. refined his strip's humour and created a credible mythology for his stories of the supernatural, Powell's Goon tales lack sophistication. They may be self-consciously low- brow, but they're not particularly smart with it. And lacking smarts. and a line of development of Powell's own, the series comes off looking like a weak imitation and a hodge-podge of other and better source material.
Still, if the endless mutilation of various kinds of undead creatures by a big. dumb lunk is your thing. then these handsomely packaged collections (which include newly coloured reprints of the small-press black-and- white originals) should do just fine. (Miles Fielder)
FANTASY
BILL WILLINGHAM AND SHAWN MCMANUS Thessaly: Witch for Hire
(T itan/Vertigo) om
Before Bill Willingham started subverting fairy tales in Fab/es, he crafted several fine stories continuing the adventures of characters created by Neil Gaiman in his Sandman series.
This sequel to The Thessi/iad - one of those stories - continues the chronicle of the most powerful witch in the world and her suitor Fetch. an itinerant ghost made from all those our heroine has killed in her unnaturally long life.
As McManus was the first artist to tackle
Thessaly way back in
Sandman: A Game of You, his grasp of the character is pleasingly authoritative. and his colourful palette stands in appealing contrast to the stereotypical drabness of most Vertigo titles. Willingham's storytelling has also matured since his first attempt with the character. so if you can ignore his cheeky theft of the final pay-off from his earlier mini-series Proposition Player. this is fine. if not exactly spellbinding work from a reliable writer. (Dave Martin)
CRIME
BRIAN AZZARELLO AND EDUARDO RISSO 100 Bullets: The Hard Way
(DC/Titan) om
Frank Miller isn’t the only cartoonist to pen and ink sinful cities. This eighth collection of writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso's ongoing crime comic hard-boils modern noir with eSpionage into a strip that 's loaded with street cred. The continuing backstory. about a secret war being fought between the Trust (essentially America's first corporation. dating back to the founding fathers) and a bunch of rogue operatives. is brought into the foreground, but the real pleasure of 700 Bullets is the superbly rendered individual stories about the loners and losers of the criminal underworld. In this case. it's about a drunk named Wylie Times who haunts the bars of a pre-flood devastated New Orleans. pining for a woman (ain't it always so?) named Rose and coming to the slow realisation that there's more to his past life than he remembers. It's only a matter of time before the film adaptation. (Miles Fielder)