Nova Scotia: New Speculative Fiction from Scotland, Volume 2

by Neil Williamson (Editor), Andrew J Wilson (editor), Ken MacLeod (Contributor)

NOVA SCOTIA Vol 2 celebrates the depth and breadth of Scotland's dazzling science fiction and fantasy landscape from its haunted islands to its transformed cities and everything in between. 




Ken MacLeod, Eliza Chan, Lorraine Wilson, Morag Edward, David Goodman, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Andrew J. Wilson, Pippa Goldschmidt, Dilys Rose, Eris Young,  

Ali Maloney, Russell Jones, Lindz McLeod, Grant Morrison, Neil Williamson, CL Hellisen, Rhiannon A Grist, 

Doug Johnstone, T.L. Huchu, Ever Dundas, Jane McKie, Chris Kelso, James Kelman, Carole Johnstone, E.M. Faulds,

Jeda Pearl.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fantasy

246 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2024

About the author

Neil Williamson lives in Glasgow, Scotland, and is the author of novels and short stories in genres ranging from science fiction to slipstream.

Several of his books and stories have been shortlisted for awards: Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction (World Fantasy Award), The Ephemera (British Fantasy Award), Arrhythmia (British Science Fiction Association Award), The Moon King (British Fantasy Holdstock Award and British Science Fiction Association Award, runner-up), A Moment of Zugzwang (British Science Fiction Association Award and British Fantasy Award), Nova Scotia vol 2: New Speculative Fiction From Scotland (British Science Fiction Association Award and British Fantasy Award) Charlie Says (British Science Fiction Association Award and British Fantasy Award).

Neil's latest book is: Blood In The Bricks, published by NewCon Press in October 2025.

Reviews

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

It's hard to make the perfect collection of short stories from different authors. There are so many tastes out there that you'll never be able to satisfy them all, to every reader some stories will be duds and others successes.

That's true of Nova Scotia vol 2 for me but I was enamored by so many of the stories, the overall experience was something great I will be looking to replicate. The 'duds' that weren't to my taste never ruined it because on the next page there was always another intriguing story that may take my breath away and spark the imagination, the real intent of speculative fiction.

A lone woman questioning her role in the world raising unextincted dodos in Hollyrood Park. An accused witch returning to liberate her childhood friend from an unhappy marriage. An author's consciousness, reaching out through the LLM they've been bound into. The stories were imaginative and evocative in half a dozen pages or less they always left me satisfied with the ideas they explored and usually eager to see more from the writer.

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of speculative tales with a great list of Scottish authors old and new delivering very strong stories. Strongly recommend

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Raj · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of this Scottish-themed anthology which had been written for the 2005 Glasgow Worldcon, so was excited when I heard about volume 2, written for the 2024 Glasgow Worldcon. In order to showcase how the Scottish SF scene has changed over the last two decades or so, the editors made a conscious decision not to include any contributors from vol 1 (except themselves [editors' privilege], and Ken Macleod, who was a guest of honour at Glasgow 2024).

There were some great stories here and it was a strong collection overall. Like the first volume, the editors were very broad about what they counted as "Scottish" SF. This could be writers who were born here, those who have made Scotland their home, or stories with a strong sense of the country running through them. The collection gets of to a cracking start with Ken Macloed's Weak Gods of Mars about a folk singer who was reincarnated on Mars, followed up with Eliza Chan's excellent When You Are The Hammer, Strike.

Morag Edwards' Shoals is hauntingly beautiful and packs an awful lot into its short length. Andrew J. Wilson's paragraph long story about an alternate history version of the Robert the Bruce parable with the spider had me laughing in surprised delight at the last line, excellent work!

Not every story hit the mark for me. For example, I found Grant Morrison's Peter's Thoughts a bit impenetrable, but then I have a troubled relationship with Morrison at the best of times, and the tone of a few doesn't work (especially those that lean towards the horror end of the spectrum). But these are few and far between; this is a remarkably strong collection. EM Fauld's Love, Scotland is a story of refugees finding shelter in Scotland, but not shying away from the bigotry that they can still face.

So a great collection. Now we need another Glasgow worldcon in a decade or two for volume 3!

[Graeme Strachan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A medley of short stories, interesting ideas and some novel concepts. A few real standouts and unfortunately a couple of duds, the rest are interesting but not exceptional.
If anything there’s a sameness to a lot of them, not in the writing but in the mindset behind them. It feels like there aren’t many truly unusual insights here, but it’s a decent collection of local writers and I’ll be sure to check out a few of the novels or other shorts by those better writers in this volume.

[Farah Mendlesohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every story is well written (sometimes beautifully written) but there is no stand out *science fiction* in this volume. Many of the stories feel barely spec fic at all.

[Chris Cowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of stories with a wide variety of styles and SF topics.