Secret Language

by Neil Williamson

Secret Language is Neil Williamson’s first collection in ten years, but it has been worth the wait. A regular contributor to magazines such as Interzone and Black Static, Williamson’s short fiction has gained plaudits from critics and readers alike. In 2014, his debut novel The Moon King appeared to great acclaim. It was runner up or the BSFA Award for best novel and shortlisted for the Holdstock Award.

Secret Language gathers together sixteen stories, four of them written especially for this volume, that demonstrate why Neil Williamson is one of genre fiction’s finest writers. The BSFA shortlisted story “Arrhythmia” provides just one of the highlights in this exceptional collection.

“Williamson’s territories are the liminal experience and the murky corners of the psyche. He is a virtuoso of the fleeting glimpse, a laureate of loss.” – Interzone

“Williamson nails style and structure to tell of high school hackers heisting music on the streets to create their own mixes.” – Speculation (of ‘Pearl in the Shell’)

“A talented writer who transcends genre, and should be bought, read and cherished.” – Shaun Green, Yet Another Book Review

“Williamson is one of the best Scottish short story writers alive today.” – Jim Steel

1.Introduction
2.Deep Draw
3.The Secret Language of Stamps
4.Sweeter Than
5.Arrhythmia
6.Pearl in the Shell
7.Killing Me Softly
8.The Bed
9.Fish on Friday
10.The Posset Pot
11.Lost Sheep
12.Silk Bones
13.Messianic Con Brio
14.Last Drink Bird Head
15.This is Not a Love Song
16.The Golden Nose
17. The Death of Abigail Goudy
About the Author

Genres: Science Fiction

216 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2016

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

[Stace · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Secret Language’ is a collection of short stories by Scottish born author, Neil Williamson.

The first two stories set the bar very high; both tales were offbeat and entertaining leaving me wanting to know a lot more in both cases. I was subsequently hoping for great things thereafter; some tales lived up to my expectations and some left me rather confused.

Williamson used strong imagery and satire as well as symbolism and a lot of pathos. There was an eclectic mix of themes set in several different locations and periods in time. Some stories were written in the present tense and some in the past; some in the first person and some in the third. He took us to Vienna, to a dystopian Scotland and to a futuristic intergalactic planet, to mention a few.

He kept the structure simple throughout and didn’t attempt to introduce too many characters in each tale. The stories weren’t particularly cheerful, cosy or comfortable, some were thought-provoking and powerful and some downright disturbing, which I suspect is what the author intended.

At the end of each story there was a short explanation from the author, which I found insightful. However, from a purely personal perspective, some stories worked better than others and I would have liked something a little less melancholy at times to counterbalance the darker tales.

I congratulate Neil Williamson on this fascinating anthology. He has highly developed imagination and if I had to pick a favourite, it would be ‘The Golden Nose’ the concept of which was particularly innovative. Overall, if you enjoy the short story format and want a challenging read, I suggest you give this book a try. I award ‘Secret Language’ a worthy four-and-a-half stars.

Reviewed by Julie on www.whisperingstories.com

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of short stories which - whilst not necessarily themed - does rift a lot on language, both of the what is said / what is unsaid variety, but also the language of the senses and - most interestingly - that of musicals (several stories here are told in a world where music permeates - seemingly intuitively - the situations that characters find themselves in. Their dialogue is sung rather than spoken - and surprisingly, it works!).

These are also science fiction stories, but in most instances the SF takes a backdrop to characterization. SF serves the plot, rather than being the plot, which makes many of these pieces whimsical in nature, soft observances of weird stuff rather than overtly hammering their points home. Williamson is deft with his prose and scene setting. It's an enjoyable book, stories seguing from one to the other so the outcome is a coherent body of work, more warm duvet than the patchwork quilt of the author's previous collection, The Ephemera. Highly recommended.

[Karl]

This hardcover is copy 33 of 100 signed and numbered copies signed by Neil Williamson.

[Eric Schaller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve just finished reading Neil Williamson’s new collection, Secret Language, and it’s worth two big thumbs’ up, make that three thumbs’ up for all you mutants out there. Williamson doesn’t restrict himself to any specific genre. There’s SF, fantasy, dark fantasy, and even a piece that isn’t genre at all but fits beautifully within the collection. The stories vary from subtle to emotionally grueling, but all reveal the hand of an artist and a craftsman.

Two elements become apparent when reading the entire collection, both of which seem near and dear to Williamson’s heart: music and Scotland. These elements aren’t limiting, the music varying from classical to punk, from central to peripheral, to in some ways being unacknowledged except in the beat measures that carry you through the story. I love how Williamson engages with his native Scotland, singling out the aspects that are unique and deserving of wider recognition, using these a jumping off points. This has the somewhat disorienting effect of immersing you in an alien environment but also, within the SF mode, suggesting that such unique aspects will persist, a comforting thought.

I’m always interested in the previously unpublished pieces included in a collection. What do they say about who a writer is now? The present as opposed to the past? So I’m happy to single out two of Williamson's previously unpublished short stories as among my favorites in this collection: 'Silk Bones' and 'The Death of Abigail Goudy.' 'Silk Bones' is a masterful and emotionally wrought piece about buried memories, told through a fabulist perspective. "TDoAG' wrestles with the age-old question of artistic success: "I can't decide if it would be worse dying with your greatest art still inside you...or getting to the end of your life and realising that your best came right at the beginning." These two stories alone are worth the price of admission to this carnival of the fantastic.

[Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read the occasional short story by Neil Williamson in various anthologies over the years but never a collection of his own. Williamson's style is quite dense and literary, I found I had to read the book quite slowly, taking just one or two stories at a time, otherwise it just got a bit blurry.

The major themes in the book are music and Scotland. He draws on the distinctiveness of Scots and Scotland to set up character portraits and story resonance without needing to go into great detail. And music is present in many of these stories in some shape or other, from the way the system dealt with Punk in Arrhythmia to the the very essence of what art is and if how it should be produced and consumed in The Death of Abigail Goudy, a piece which, it seems to me (and from the author's afterword) came from very deep inside the author.

My favourite piece was probably the most science fictional story in the collection, Lost Sheep, a space opera set in the deep future, yet still coming back to the perennial theme of making and showing art.

It's not what I would call a cheerful book, there's a sense of melancholy running through it, even the stories that don't directly have sad endings leave you with a sense of unease that things are probably going to get worse. There is a streak of dark humour running through it that stops it getting too miserable though.

So a book to dip into for me, rather than to swallow down. I can appreciate the quality of Williamson's writing but he's not an author that I'd want to read a lot of in quick succession.

[Belle Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book. A collection of inventive speculative fiction shorts with a lot of interesting ideas. Bubbles from other places and times steal bits of Glasgow; music determines the beat of lives in a Stepford-like world; a woman receives postcards from her mysterious house guest in the coded language of stamps.
Particularly striking is Williamson's use of music as motivator and motif throughout. Several of the stories are written with music underpinning the narrative voice, and you think, 'I've just read a musical.' It takes a master story-teller to accomplish something like that and not have it come off as a gimmick, and Williamson pulls it off with aplomb. His use of tech never requires explanation--you simply find yourself thinking, well yes, of course that's the next step. The narrative voice he uses has a warmth that never slips--even on the pieces that could be considered hard sci-fi, there is an emotiveness that tints them faintly as fantasy. Or maybe not--my experience of sci-fi is of a genre cold and hard and willfully lacking in humanity and warmth, but then maybe that's just because I haven't read enough to tell. In any case, Williamson's work is rich with feeling and idea.

[Des Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text is in synche with a synecdoche of arrhythmia: the ‘persistence of echoes’, where the source of those echoes is in this major collection, a book with which I synergise, having felt the need to come to it, as if to a concert, one that effectively evolves into a moto perpetuo of performance literature, with perhaps the odd engaging sonata for prepared piano in counterpoint.

The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.

[Kevin Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most beautifully written book, with each story a complete joy. Neil Williamson has the most exquisitely descriptive style, with fabulously inventive turns of phrase and incredibly imaginative storylines. As well as writing, Williamson is an accomplished musician, and music underpins so many of the stories in this collection. Most collections have a weak story or two... and I have rarely read a collection where every tale, while substantially different, is as strong as the rest, but this is certainly one. I loved it.

[Julie Haiselden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book and reviewed it on behalf of Whispering Stories.

Please follow the link:
http://whisperingstories.com/secret-l...

I awarded 4.5 stars.