Alasdair Gray

The first sixteen tales in this collection were published by Canongate in 1983 with the title Unlikely Stories, Mostly. This collection also has fifty-seven tales from later books, plus sixteen new ones written for the hardback publication of this collection. This last section, Tales Droll and Plausible, shows that Gray's recent twenty-first-century fiction is as uncomfortably funny and up to date as his earliest.

Alasdair Gray is known throughout the world for his writing, but he is also a highly regarded artist who not only illustrates and designs his own books, but has created many beautiful and intriguing portraits, paintings, posters and murals. Alasdair started painting and writing from an early age, and in his seventies he's still vigorously doing both. In this autopictography he gathers together the work that has mattered most to him over the years, and weaves the story of his life through and around these pictures in his own unmistakable style. A beautifully and copiously illustrated book, designed by himself, this is life as seen by one of the millennium's most entertaining and wry creative geniuses.

"Beautiful, inventive, ambitious and nuts."-The Times (London) "Our nearest contemporary equivalent to Blake, our sweetest-natured screwed-up visionary."-London Evening Standard Alasdair Gray's unique melding of humor and metafiction at once hearken back to Laurence Sterne and sit beside today's literary mash-ups with equal comfort. Old Men in Love is smart, down-to-earth, funny, bawdy, politically inspired, dark, multi-layered, and filled with the kind of intertextual play that Gray delights in. As with Gray's previous novel Poor Things, several partial narratives are presented together. Here the conceit is that they were all discovered in the papers of the late John Tunnock, a retired Glasgow teacher who started a number of novels in settings as varied as Periclean Athens, Renaissance Florence, Victorian Somerset, and Britain under New Labour. This is the first US edition (updated with the author's corrections from the UK edition) of a novel that British critics lauded as one of the best of Gray's long career. Beautifully printed in two colors throughout and featuring Gray's trademark strong design, Old Men in Love will stand out from everything else on the shelf. Fifty percent is fact and the rest is possible, but it must be read to be believed. Alasdair Gray is one of Scotland's most well-known and acclaimed artists. He is the author of nine novels, including Lanark, 1982 Janine, and the Whitbread and Guardian Prize-winning Poor Things, as well as four collections of stories, two collections of poetry, and three books of nonfiction, including The Book of Prefaces. He lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

A dazzlingly original and expansive tale about the possibilities of storytelling from the celebrated Scottish author of Poor Things and Lanark. Old Men in Love, like The Arabian Nights, is about a storyteller whose stories contain other stories. In his trademark way, Alasdair Gray playfully blends narrative styles and locations; Periclean Athens, Renaissance Florence, Victorian Somerset mingle with Britain under the New Labour Party, viewed from the West End of Glasgow. More than half is fact and the rest possible, but it must be read to be believed. 'A necessary genius' ALI SMITH 'One of the brightest intellectual and creative lights Scotland has known in modern times' NICOLA STURGEON 'The greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott' ANTHONY BURGESS

A tale of border warfare, military and erotic, set in the twenty-third century, where the women rule the kingdom and the men play war games. This is the fictional memoir of Wat Dryhope - edited, annotated and commented upon. History has come to an end, war is regulated as if it's all a game. But Wat, the History Maker himself, does not play entirely by the rules, and when a woman, Delilah Puddock, joins the fray, this 'utopian' history is further enlivened. Alasdair Gray cleverly plays with the notion and writing of history, as well as perennial modern debates on war, sexism and society - entertaining and thought-provoking, this is a delightful satire illustrated throughout by the author.

Since 1981, when Alasdair Gray's first novel Lanark was published by Canongate, his characters have aged as fast as their author. The Ends of Our Tethers shows the high jinks of many folk in the last stages of physical, moral and social decrepitude - a sure tonic for the young. The first work of fiction in over six years by one of Britain's most original and brilliant writers, this wonderful (and very funny) new collection reaffirms Gray's position as a master of the short story. The Ends of Our Tethers is vintage Gray - experimental, mischievous, wide-ranging but also subtly connected. And as always the work is hallmarked with his highly engaging prose style, dry wit and fecund imagination. These thirteen tales challenge prejudice, question social imbalances and explore human foibles. In 'No Bluebeard', a socially reclusive man, veteran of three marriages, meets a disturbed and eccentric woman desperate to remain hidden from her family. In 'Job's Skin Game' a father develops a skin condition in response to the emotional shock of losing his two sons in the September 11th attacks and his fortune in the dot-com crisis. The exquisite pleasure he takes from scratching and peeling his dead epidermis becomes his sole preoccupation and a metaphor for what is ultimately a wholly sane response to tragedy. 'Wellbeing' offers a politically charged dystopian vision of a future Britain as seen through the eyes of a once-revered writer, now homeless yet stubbornly refusing to move to a more hospitable country as 'there are better ways of living than being happy, but they require strength and sanity.' Beautifully produced and illustrated throughout with Gray's distinctive drawings, this is an important and highly accessible collection.

An original and brilliantly eccentric collection of stories from the legendary Scottish author. A lecturer cornered in an embarrassing ménàge à trois, a Glaswegian Cinderella and an extremely talkative dentist all feature in this dazzlingly original collection of tall tales from Alasdair Gray, award-winning author of Lanark, Poor Things and The Book of Prefaces. Bringing together social realism, sexual comedy, science fiction and satire, Ten Tales Tall and True proves that truth is indeed much stranger than fiction. 'Gray is a true original, a twentieth century William Blake' OBSERVER 'The greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott' ANTHONY BURGESS 'One of the most gifted writers to have put pen to paper in the English language' IRVINE WELSH

This is a history of how literature spread and developed through three British nations and most North American states.

What strange secret made rich, beautiful, tempestuous Bella Baxter irresistible to the poor Scottish medical student Archie McCandless? Was it her mysterious origin in the home of his monstrous friend Godwin Baxter, the genius whose voice could perforate eardrums?

'All of the stories in this collection exude the unique imagination, social commitment and beautifully clear, concise prose of this singular writer' Irish Times From the legendary Scottish author of Poor Things and Landmark, this is a dazzlingly satirical collection of stories that describe painful kinds of education, starting with the title story in which an uninhibited woman educates a prim Scottish lecturer. 'One of the brightest intellectual and creative lights Scotland has known in modern times' NICOLA STURGEON 'Gray is a true original, a twentieth century William Blake' OBSERVER 'One of the most gifted writers to have put pen to paper in the English language' IRVINE WELSH