The Vintage Book of Contemporary Scottish Fiction honors Scotland's explosive and innovative national literature with 47 of its finest representatives.

In addition to excerpts from writers such as Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting, Marabou Stork Nightmares) and James Kelman (How Late It Was, How Late), this vibrant collection includes voices new to the international scene. Alison Fell ignites the page with an art model's rant in "There's Tradition for You." Duncan Williamson reinvents a rural storytelling tradition in the poignant "Mary and the Seal." And in his brilliant introduction, editor Peter Kravitz explores Scottish writers' conflict with publishers at home and abroad--from critics who consider material "depraved" to typesetters who demand higher wages when working on pieces written by Scots.

Provocative, engrossing, and timely, The Vintage Book of Contemporary Scottish Fiction celebrates nothing less than a literary revolution, in which the language and lifestyles of a generation of artists are making themselves known.