Books
140 Characters
Simon Sylvester’s “140 Characters’ is a vibrant and exciting collection of Twitter poetry from a debut author. Strictly adhering to the 140 characters or less rule applied on Twitter, Sylvester takes the reader to worlds that are both funny and sad, touching and terrifying. Witness the worlds of prom queens and bin men, of Sherlock Holmes and Noddy, of Glasgow and Colditz, of extinct bees and Catherine wheels. Go read it. Then go tweet about it.
Cancer Party
“Much in common with Irvine Welsh.” –The Scottish Review of Books
“molotov cocktail in the face of Scottish literature” –Scottish Literary Voice
“a well realised novel with a nice sense of place and some great set pieces..promising for the future of Cargo.” –The Skinny
Released 21st October 2009
Available as:
Paperback
Nothing Human Left
Winner of the 2011 Dundee International Book Prize
The Girl In The Bunker
The Number 1 Scottish Bestseller.
“★★★★-keen instinct for a hook…with plenty of depth. A fascinating look…gripping.”-The Big Issue
“Essential. Tracey S Rosenberg has bravely confronted what must be one of the most difficult subjects in the world for any writer, and she has pulled it off.”-WhichBook?
“a thrilling and emotional re-imagining of the last days of the Third Reich…beautifully written…a stunning novel.”-Edinburgh Book Review
Chosen for the 2011 Scottish LoveLibraries Campaign.
The Immaculate Heart
An engagingly breathless and superbly constructed fictional exploration of humanity’s oldest pathology – love – with its 14 year-old protagonist as presiding genius. The teenage scenes and the backstory from the Highlands during WW2 are particularly adroitly handled. Laced with a necessary undertaste of strychnine cynicism, the novel awakens – it is fresh, honest. A revelatory novel of freedom of the imagination and a meditation on the tenuousness of sanity. Illuminating, cinematic, ‘The Immaculate Heart’ carries you long into the night. And it hurts.
-Suhayl Saadi, James Black Tait Memorial Award nominee, IMPAC Prize nominee
“outstanding and thought-provoking…so emotionally loaded that it is likely you will need a tissue before you reach the final pages…Rarely have I come across a novel where narrative and style complement each other as effectively as in The Immaculate Heart. It is definitely a novel to fall in love with. Drennan’s prose is distinctive, mature and simply beautiful.”-Edinburgh Book Review
A compelling, sincere and touching novel. To write a book about enduring love in this time of temporary connections and emotional use-by-dates; to risk the scorn of the fashionistas, is a daunting but important task for modern writers. Drennan is no coward, he has tackled his subject with courage, with commitment and with style. This is a bold new voice, wise before his years.
-Ewan Morrison, author of Swung, Menage.
“★★★★. More innovative is Andrew Raymond Drennan’s The Immaculate Heart. [A] sophomore effort, it marks a substantial leap forward from the young Scottish writer’s debut Cancer Party…a thoughtful and poignant look at the nature of love, as Maggie searches for meaning and affection against a backdrop of heartbreak and loss. Clever without being showy, it’s mature and accomplished writing…Drennan shows real promise for the future.
-The Big Issue
The Moira Monologues
“★★★★. A rising star…A roaring theatrical success… one the most charismatic characters to emerge in Scottish theatre this decade…This is brilliant stuff, an exhilaratingly fresh take on the whole business of class and culture in Scotland. It’s also so funny that some in the audience were literally shouting with laughter.”
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
“★★★★.One of the leading lights of a vibrant, young Scottish literary scene. He’s also, it turns out, a pretty fine performer.”
Alice Jones, The Independent
“★★★★.By playing it fearlessly straight, Bissett makes for the most believable of neighbourhood gossips.”
Neil Cooper, The Herald
“An often side-splittingly funny show that gleefully tramples over all clichés about class.”
Scotland on Sunday
A Thousand Cranes: Scottish Writers for Japan
We’re delighted to publish this anthology featuring some of Scotland’s most exciting new authors and we’re even more delighted to say all profits from this collection will go to the Japanese Red Cross to aid in the relief effort in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
This collection of short stories, haiku, poetry and memories of the wonderful, diverse world of Japan, packed with all the humour, joy and passion of Japanese life. The collection includes exclusive contributions from some of the best new authors in Scotland including Katy McAulay, J David Simons, Helen Sedgwick, Lorna Callery and many more.
Wasted In Love
“Quite frankly, it’s a brilliant book, well crafted, authentic and necessary.”
-The Skinny
“★★★★. Drawing on writers like Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff, Wilson casts a perceptive eye over his home town of Glasgow, drawing poignant and touching portraits of flawed characters and their relationships…Assured…many moments of resonance and skill in a confident prose style.”
-The Big Issue
“He reads like the real thing…a terrific debut anthology.”
-Tom Leonard.
“This book is tough and tender Dirty Realism that leaves no stone unturned in its search for the truth. Using lean, economical prose Wilson lays bare the hearts and minds of ordinary human beings, with enough love, concern and humour to prevent mere cynicism. Allan Wilson is a thrilling young voice, and might just represent the future of Scottish fiction.”
-Alan Bissett.
The Year of Open Doors
“A very important book…a genuine breakout collection.”-Irvine Welsh
“Everything that is brilliant about Scotland and new writing.”-The Skinny
“Cargo Publishing has taken a risk here….[it] has paid off in spades. Deserves to be read. And recommended.”-The Scotsman
“Immaculate collection…a mission to revive Scotland’s independent literary tradition.”- The List
“The most Scottish book of the year…a book to admire.”- The Independent
“Buy two and give one to someone you care about…a superb collection, unbelievably important.”-Indelible Ink
“Glass’s introduction gives a super overview of the anthology as a whole and the genesis and design of the project; Orange Prize nominee Sophie Cooke’s cynical depiction of corporate “democracy” (“United Solutions”) is quite superb, and Aidan Moffat’s well-observed confession by a prurient young man who undertakes a phone-based vendetta against the local neds and who feels the need to let the local police know what he’s done (“The Boy Donaldson”) is both a lot of fun and a lot of sinister. “-The Music Slut
“The stand-out story is by Kapka Kassabova. The Hostel In Junction Street concerns an Australian ex-soldier and a Polish-American artist, lovers who move to Edinburgh. He gets a job as a manager and handyman at the hostel opposite their flat. It’s at this point the story unexpectedly becomes eerie, the couple’s disturbed relationship mirrored by weird atmospherics. There’s no night creeper jumping out of a closet. No screeching violins. Just doors that refuse to open, objects that go missing, all foreshadowing the true mystery-the human heart. Alan Bissett’s Celebrity Gossip is likeable too. A gossip columnist returns to his old high school to give a speech. He trades on tabloid outrage for a living, but when he discovers a true scandal, a slipshod school extension built using private-public partnership money, few are interested, including the columnist. Kevin MacNeil’s A Snake Drinks Water And Makes Poison, A Cow Drinks Water And Makes Milk is set on a tourist beach about to suffer the lethal lash of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. MacNeil builds a sense of portent as holidaymakers clown around, unaware of their fate.” -The Herald
“There are two stand-out contributions, those of Duncan McLean and Kevin MacNeil. McLean’s brand of anarchic comedy and exasperated pathos is in fine form in Here Wouldn’t Be There, a story which manages to use the word “jitteryer” as if it wasn’t newly formed. MacNeil’s A Snake Drinks Water And Makes Poison, A Cow Drinks Water And Makes Milk is set against the 2004 tsunami, and manages to balance a striking sense of actually witnessing the events with a feeling of reflective distance. The sentences expand and contract in imitation of the sea’s retreat and apocalyptic resurgence; and MacNeil weaves in reflections about the supernatural and the divine in a purely human manner. Daibhidh Martin, whose piece shows real talent, a willingness to be askance and a poetic sensibility.” -Scotland On Sunday
