A Son of the Rock

Jetstone, 2021, 80 p. including 9 p Introduction by Macdonald Daly, 2 p Note on the Text and 24 p Explanatory Notes and Commentary.

I suppose this is only really of interest to Lewis Grassic Gibbon completists. I bought it last summer along with the scarce but now also republished The Calends of Cairo, which I had been seeking to buy for years, at the Grassic Gibbon Centre in Arbuthnott (which has a very good café attached.)

It is Gibbon’s first book, published as by J Leslie Mitchell in 1928 in the series “To-Day and To-Morrow” in separate editions in both London and New York and now re-set, re-edited and annotated. To call it a book, though, is a bit of a misnomer as it consists of an extended essay only 11,000 words long. Macdonald Daly tells us the original was distended by a large typeface and generous margins and “ludicrously padded out” with end papers advertising others in the “To-Day and To-Morrow” series.  His own Explanatory Notes and Commentary here – 24 p as opposed to Mitchell’s text at 34 p – welcome as they are, perform what might be thought of as a similar expansion as their smaller font size means they probably contain more than 11,000 words.

In Hanno’s five sections – “To Sail Beyond the Sunset;” Icefield, Forest and Waste; Submarine; Subterranean; and Extraterrestrial – Mitchell, as he saw things in 1928, sets out the areas still ripe for exploration and exploratory discovery.

Some of his ideas about the Earth and the planets have since been superseded by greater knowledge. He seems to think, for example, that the Earth is hollow, or at least has a hollow portion below the surface, that the human species originated in South America and that the Moon has an atmosphere.

Notwithstanding these misconceptions and the cultural assumptions/prejudices of a man of his time (in one example railing against “the lady explorer”) Mitchell’s writing is erudite, very readable and, in some cases, makes accurate predictions – the construction of true submarines as opposed to submersibles, that Mars will be the next target after the Moon to be explored by humans.

As to the book’s title, Hanno (or Hannon) was a Carthaginian explorer – the first recorded such – who travelled out of the Mediterranean and south into the Atlantic.

Despite its attractions, quite why the front cover illustration (taken from the Spring 1928 edition of Amazing Stories Quarterly; there are two black and white illustrations on the rear of the book from the same source) was chosen is, however, a mystery as it does not give any flavour at all of Mitchell’s writing and is in fact misleading.

Pedant’s corner:- Keltic (a now largely disused spelling of Celtic; one of the few examples in this edition of an older spelling norm kept intact.) In the Notes; Mato Gross (Mato Grosso.)

You may have noticed on my sidebar that I am reading Garth Nix’s Massif.

This is my latest book for review for ParSec.

Nix is an Australian writer new to me but has 10 previous adult novels listed on the ‘also by’ page, plus two YA novels and one fantasy, one Romantasy, along with two children’s series, one other children’s book (and three co-authored with Sean Williams,) not to mention three short story collections.

The review ought to appear in issue 17 of the magazine.

This is in Carr-Ellison Park quite near to Hebburn cemetery (whose War Memorial I posted about in 2021.)  It takes the shape of a funeral coffin supported on four feet on top of large tapering plinth inside a circular railed space.

Dedication:-

Side view:-

Second World War Memorial bench to side:-

SPFL Tier 4, Borough Briggs, 7/11/26.

An away win.

I’ll say that again. An away win!

Not only our first for 414 or so days – it’s our first clean sheet away since July 2025.

Well done lads. Leighton McIntosh and Scott Honeyman were on target.

Plus Elgin were third top at start of play (still are.)

The interviews for the new manager are taking place this coming week. Though interim boss Danny Lennon has got a spark out of the team it’s vital the choice is a good one.

Whatever, it’ll be a big game next Saturday with bottom of the table Annan Athletic at home and so a chance to put distance between us and them. That’s the sort of game we’ve been messing up in recent seasons. And Big Ali Omar will be away on international duty with Somalia. Our defence is better with his solidity.

A Showcase of Scottish Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction, Shoreline of Infinity, 2025, 174 p.

The book does what it says on the tin. It’s a collection of SF and Fantasy from a Scottish perspective as promulgated by the website SF Caledonia including poetry and non-fiction. It’s an offshoot of the same publisher’s magazine Shoreline of Infinity now on its 40th edition. I did think it slightly odd that, albeit she lives in Edinburgh, in such a venture the opening story is by a Welsh writer, but then SF Caledonia’s definition of Scots is by no means exclusive – six months residency qualifies. Fair enough.

So there are new(ish) stories by Rhiannon A Grist, Chris Kelso, Anne Charnock, T L Huchu, Ken MacLeod, Katie McIvor, Iain Bain, R/L Monroe, Gwyneth Finlay, Callum Dougan, E M Faulds and Kirsti Wishart, a graphic strip by Mark Toner, a facsimile extract from what was most likely the first ever Scottish SF story, Armata, written by Thomas Erskine, the first two chapters of Gay Hunter, one of J Leslie Mitchell’s (aka Lewis Grassic Gibbon) two SF novels, the start of Space by John Buchan, poetry by Jeda Pearl and Rachel Plummer and a non-fiction piece by Pippa Goldschmidt plus puffs for other SF Caledonia endeavours.

Those familiar with the magazine will find the mix to be much the same. Both it and SF Caledonia are very worthwhile projects.

Pedant’s corner:- “The multitude of deaths ricochet through my brain” (The multitude … ricochets,) “outside of” (x 2, outside; no ‘of’,) “there’s deep red hole” (there’s a deep red hole,) “a peace here the kind of which I am wholly unfamiliar” (a peace here the kind of which I am wholly unfamiliar with; or, better, ‘a peace here with the kind of which I am wholly unfamiliar,) “the dense undergrowth in which lurks all manner of predators” (in which lurk …. predators,) “‘like DHL, now.’ The messenger-boy replied’” (the full stop ought to be a comma,) sat (sitting, or, seated,) “with epaulette on his shoulders” (that’s a big epaulette; epaulettes,) “she sprung up” (sprang up,) “stubble grew on his cheek a few days old” (his cheek was only a few days old? ‘stubble a few days old grew on his cheek’,) “was stood at attention” (was standing at attention,) franticly (frantically,) “florescent lights” (fluorescent,) “she’d do it style” (do it in style,) “Michelle Kodaof the Times” (Michelle Koda of the Times.) “Mal couldn’t keep his eyes on her” (context suggests ‘couldn’t keep his eyes off her’.) “‘Here tae us’” (this traditional Scottish greeting is usually ‘Here’s tae us.) “Comma Press have been publishing” (has been publishing,) “Luna Press have published” (has published,) billio (billy-o,) fit (fitted,) sprung (sprang,) a missing comma before a piece of direct speech (x 2,) “what was going on one the other side of the screen” (going on on the other side.) Kirsty Wishart (elsewhere Kirsti Wishart,) caldron (usually spelled cauldron.)

The Guardian last week published the obituary of Craig Douglas.

Douglas was one of those late fifties/early sixties singers whose career was in effect ended by the advent of the Beatles/Merseybeat, the rise of guitar pop and the shift to artists writing their own songs.

In the Sixties his version of Pretty Blue Eyes was a no. 4 in Britain and four others of his records reached no 9. This is one of them, a cover of a composition by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.

Craig Douglas: When My Little Girl Is Smiling

His biggest hit, though, had come in 1959 when he reached no 1 on the UK charts with a cover of Sam Cooke’s Only Sixteen.

Craig Douglas: Only Sixteen

Terence Perkins (Craig Douglas): 13/8/1941 – 4/9/2026. So it goes.

Alnmouth is, as its name suggests, a village at the mouth of the River Aln in Northumberland. We visited it to have a look at the Old School Gallery.

Alnmouth’s War Memorial is a tapering stone pillar on a square plinth, surmounted by a lantern:-

Dedications:-

Great War names:-

Second World War names, including eight civilian deaths. Seven were killed when the village was bombed on 8/11/1941:-

Hutchinson Heineman, 2026, 364 p including 2 p Author’s Note.

“‘We see the world once only,’ she said. ‘In childhood. The rest is remembering.’” So says Mrs Graveney, the headteacher of Witchelm, the school in which Philip Deval, having recently left the army after service in the Second World War and in the dying days of the Palestine Mandate, is to take up teaching. Farewell to Eden is the novelistic expression of protagonist Deval’s life, which before the war was a kind of aimless drifting through University and a relationship with Alice Western which is to end in tragedy and leave him reticent to expose himself to further possible grief.

At Witchelm he strikes up a companionable friendship with music teacher Frances Darwood, a woman with haunted memories of her own from recent times. In their conversations they eventually come to tell each other about their previous lives. The main body of the book, though, is concerned with Deval’s experiences in Palestine and its ramifications for his later life.

During the exercise of his duties Deval comes upon the aftermath of the bombing of the King David Hotel by the Irgun and Faulks does not flinch from describing its gruesome detail. There are episodes of cloak and dagger in a kind of colloquy with the militants and a pervading sense of imminent danger. One of Deval’s army colleagues habitually refers to the Jewish activists as Bagels. I suspect – and indeed Faulks makes reference to it in his Author’s Note – any such word used would have been much more offensive.

Deval’s encounters with Arab Palestinians portray them – despite the pre-war Arab revolt – as unprepared for the adversity which would shortly befall them.

In one of his conversations Deval’s company chaplain reflects on the Jewish origins of Christianity. “‘Life would have been easier, certainly,’ said Matthew. ‘If He had come from nowhere. If He’d been untouched by previous gods and tribal wars. If He’d been less … specific. But we can’t question it.’

‘Can’t we?’ said Philip.

‘No. It’s too late.’”

That last sentence may also be a comment on the present situation in those troubled lands. Faulks has here examined the turbulence amid which the state of Israel was founded; the genesis of what is an enduring tragedy.

Pedant’s corner:- “in Hebrew Gethsemane meant ‘oil press’.” (Well, no. It means ‘oil press’ in English. In Hebrew it means Gethsemane,) “the lowest point on the earth’s crust” (in the text this is the Dead Sea, but there are many lower points in the earth’s crust than that. The Dead Sea is merely the lowest point on a continental surface.)

The club website has announced that former Sons player Jimmy Veitch has died.

I knew that he had joined from Newtongrange Star as it was the first time I had heard of that then Junior club. I remember a goal for Sons at Boghead soon after when he and another signing also from Newtongrange but whose name for the moment escapes me combined with one of them putting in a glorious cross and the other scoring. The guy behind me said, “That was crafted in Newtongrange.” I had remembered it as their first game but the club’s tribute said Jimmy made his debut at Station Park, Forfar.

Jimmy has a unique position in the club’s history as the first player to come on as a substitute.

Jimmy ‘Tich’ Veitch. So it goes.

Almost no sooner had I read the obituary of Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov in the original Star Trek) than came the news that Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation) had also died.

The line I most remember Koenig uttering as Chekov was in reply to a grandiose claim by one of the series’s baddies. “And I am the Tsar of all the Russias.” I always wondered how well that would have gone down in the Soviet Union.

Koenig’s appearance in Babylon 5 came as a delight – especially since his character’s name in that show, Alfred Bester, was a nod to written SF history.

Walter Marvin Koenig: 14/9/1936 –  25/10/2026. So it goes.

I first saw Patrick Stewart in I, Claudius where he played Tiberius’s enforcer Sejanus. He also played Karla in the BBC adaptations of John Le Carre’s Smiley novels.

I must admit that when he was given the part of Picard, I was somewhat surprised given that he was more well known at the time for stage work. He made it his own though.

Patrick Stewart: 13/7/1940 – 28/10/2026. So it goes.