'9? “EH BOOKS
4 lBizarrely. just as we're discussing the dire
straits of the television industry. Kirsty Wark comes in and is shown to a nearby table. Later. when Welsh passes her on the way to the toilet. they chat and she tries to persuade him to move back to Scotland]
Death of a Ladies’ Man and Menage feature a lot of sex, and Irvine, your work has never shied away from the topic. Why tackle that subject?
AB If you're being true to the psychological reality of the characters. then you have to look at that side: you can't just pan away.
EM It's hard to write about the present without writing about sex. because the culture has moved towards promiscuity and images of sex. The idea of sexual liberation has actually led to sexual oppression. We're oppressed by too much sex now.
AB The difficulty in writing about sex and women is that there's no coherent feminist response. You ask various women who consider themselves feminists. they‘ve all got a different attitude to porn. You just have to write about it in a way that‘s appropriate to your characters. For me. Strung [Morrison‘s debut novel. set amongst the Glasgow swinging scenel was a real revolution in the way sex has been written about in Scotland. because it's largely a positive thing. The way liwan writes about sex is the way Irvine wrote about rave culture. this mass consciousness. a communion that brings people together.
IW A lot of swinging culture grew out of rave culture. that tactile coming down thing. I was coming back up here from London and my mates were all having shagging parties and filming them.
AB liven through the swathes of pornography. liwan manages to write about sex in such an emotional way that it‘s actually quite touching.
‘PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS GOING TO NEED ST ORIES'
There‘s that scene in Menage with the two guys and the girl. what's the term. “spit-roasting." ls that an acceptable term'.’ liven me asking that question shows how difficult this topic is. Anyway. the two blokes have their cocks in her. and her spine in the middle makes it one long continuation. it was beautiful the way liwan wrote it. Strip everything away from these people and they had an emotional connection without constructs. I‘ve never been able to make that breakthrough in describing sex.
EM That scene. it's almost animal or primal. it‘s beyond their ideas of who they are.
IW She becomes this conduit to their strange communion as well. it‘s all connected.
So, finally, in which direction do you see literature heading in the future?
AB A lot of writers are getting into performance and writing shows. people like Al. Kennedy and Jackie Kay. The importance of voice has always been there in Scottish literature and I think that will be taken to the next level by
SCOTTISH SUMMER READS
moving almost into pure theatre.
M I go along with that. I think that people are always going to need stories. and the future of storytelling will encompass literary fiction. stand up. theatre. everything. And I think the ebook will change things a lot.
EM It’s going to go more towards localisation rather than globalisation. people focusing on their own smaller world view. and one of the good things from that is that writing becomes more community-based. We have a scene in Glasgow. and that becomes consolidated. It becomes independent and local. which is great. AB It‘s a forth of devolution. people taking control of their own local area.
Cultural devolution? IW You took the words right out of my mouth. That's a good place to end. I think.
And so we pay up and retire to The lilm Bar up the road. ()ver a few more drinks the tongues loosen. and we get arguments about punk versus rock versus rave. detailed discussion of acid comedowns. the merits of smoking soapbar versus skunk. some possibly libellous chat about certain American authors‘ sexuality and some certainly libellous chat about various British broadsheet newspapers. Plus we toy with the idea of starting a rumour that lrvine Welsh is having an affair with Kirsty Wark. As all three authors receive texts from their wives and girlfriends wondering where the hell they've got to. The List makes its excuses and leaves. the future of Scottish literature in safe. if slightly tipsy. hands.
Menage by Ewan Morrison and Reheated Cabbage by Irvine Welsh are out now, both published by Jonathan Cape. Death of 3 Ladies’ Man by Alan Bissett is out 23 Jul, published by Hachette Scotland
CRAIG RUSSELL: LENNOX
In the first of a new crime series. Russell combines atmosphere. action and a pleasing pitch-black sense of humour in 19508 Glasgow. Dodgy Pl Lennox has just lived through one war but is being flung into another. more local one. (Ouercus, 2 Jul.)
DENISE MINA: STILL MIDNIGHT
She's probably not that chuffed being dubbed the Queen of Tartan Noir. but we'll do it anyway. In her new one. we meet DI Alex Morrow. an up-and- coming Glasgow cop whose half- brother Danny is doing rather well for himself in the city's criminal
underworld. When a suburban calm is disrupted by a random attack and kidnapping. Morrow has to uncover some family secrets while sheltering her own. (Or/on, l Jul.)
CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE: PANDAEMONIUM
The nation's leading comic political novelist returns with a typically Jet—black tale as two different worlds (a school on retreat to a secluded outdoor activity centre and the commanders of a top- secret military experiment) are on a collision course. Cue an earthly battle between science and the supernatural. philosophy and faith. civilisation and savagery. Chuckles pretty much guaranteed.
(Little Brown, l3 Aug.)
AL KENNEDY: WHAT BECOMES
From this much-admired author and
stand-up comic come a dozen stories of intimate observations about ordinary men and women whose lives are riddled With doubts about love and hope. What becomes of the broken-hearted. sings the refrain? The kind of thing that happens in this book. that's what. (Jonathan Cape. (5 Aug.)
LIAM MCILVANNEY: ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN
When Glasgow journalist Gerry Conway receives a phone call promising unsavoury information about Scottish Justice Minister Peter Lyons. his instinct is that this apparent scoop won't warrant space
in The Tribune. But as Conway's Curiosny grows and his leads proliferate. his investigation takes him from Scotland to Belfast and into a complex exploration of loyalty. betrayal and duty. (Faber. 6 Aug.)
SUHAYL SAADI: JOSEPH'S BOX
Almost 700 pages- worth of epic storytelling. drawmg on a wide framework of Cultural and spiritual reference. this is an ambitious novel that has been compared to Okri and Murakami. The recently bereaved Zuleikha MacBeth wades into the Clyde one morning and recovers a large box. With which she becomes obsessed. Unfortunately. once the box is finally prised open, it reveals many more questions than answers. Hence the 700 pages. (Two Ravens, 73 Jul.) (Brian Donaldson)
22 THE LIST 9 >213 Jul 2009