Ron Butlin

As extraordinary a vision of alcoholism as Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano." Foreword by Irvine Welsh.

The Sound of My Voice

Sound of My Voice

From Ancient Greece, through contemporary Britain, and into the future, from childhood to old age and beyond, the stories in No More Angels capture the idiosyncrasies of life. A widower struggles to keep his family on the tracks after the death of his young wife, becoming obsessive about order and routine to the point of madness. A schoolboy counts down the days, hours and minutes to a friend's party all too conscious of the realities of the popularity game. A house tour is conducted with the unspoken stench of parenticide hanging in the air.

Stories

No More Angels

The Magicians of Scotland will build upon the success of The Magicians of Edinburgh (reprinted five times) and on that book's critical acclaim. Ron Butlin is the Edinburgh Makar and this collection will have an Edinburgh emphasis while seeking to celebrate and interrogate Scotland and its people at a crucial turning point in our country's history. Just as The Magicians of Edinburgh's themes ranged from Sir Walter Scott to the new Parliament, from Greyfriar's Bobby to the trams, the themes of the new collection will include Scotland's past, present and future, its landscape and people, its myths and politics - from Bannockburn, Flodden to Faslane, the Loch Ness Monster, wind farms, Hutton to Higgs, Bonnie Prince Charlie to Donald Trump. It will be accessible, serious and entertaining.

The Magicians of Scotland

In this sparkling new collection of poems about the city in the 21st century, renowned poet and novelist Ron Butlin draws on his experience as Edinburgh's Makar, or Poet Laureate. With verve and wit, Butlin leads the reader on a journey through multi-faceted Edinburgh, a place of sweeping vistas and strip bars, grand towers and failed tramlines, world heritage and homelessness. Underlying all these poems, whether satirical or celebratory, is a deep love for the architecture, landscape, and people of Scotland's capital city.

Recent Poetry

The Magicians of Edinburgh

Bleeters come and bleeters go, they never, never stay -if it's not raining nowmore rain is on the way.It's widely reported that Eskimos have over 50 words for snow. Given the equivalent ubiquity of rain in Britain's northern climes, it is not surprising that Scots have coined just as many (and possibly many more) expressions for the many different types of precipitation that fall from our skies.In this book Ron Butlin introduces 50 of the most colourful Scottish words for rain in humorous and memorable verse, imaginatively accompanied with illustrations by Tim Kirby.

Ron Butlin

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