Hi Bonnybrig and Other Greetings

Shug Hanlan's prose and poetry have become a byword for contemporary comic writing set in and about Scotland. These 18 stories and his hilarious novella, Hi Bonnybrigg, are set in an imaginary version of Shug's home village, a place which has now entered contemporary sci-fi folklore as a popular cafe-stop for visiting aliens dropping in on the locals. As Shug recalls, 'When I grew up there the only lights in the sky were from the factories and an alien was someone from Falkirk.' This collection draws on Scottish and American culture in an experiment with differing kinds of language and burlesque possibilities. Some of these include intergalactic oral sex, gangs of homophobic bowlers, profane raps about top Scots sports personalities and are an inspired attempt to see if Scotland can once more become an alien-nation again.