Two short novels, each first published in 1991, and each prefaced by an introduction to 'the history fiction game' by the author.

A young woman is transformed by a magical journey.

This is the first comprehensive critical analysis of Scottish women's writing from its recoverable beginnings to the present day. Essays cover individual writers - such as Margaret Oliphant, Nan Shepherd, Muriel Spark and Liz Lochhead - as well as groups of writers or kinds of writing - such as women poets and dramatists, or Gaelic writing and the legacy of the Kailyard. In addition to poetry, drama and fiction, a varied body of non-fiction writing is also covered, including diaries, memoirs, biography and autobiography, didactic and polemic writing, and popular and periodical writing for and by women.

The Mainstream Companion to Scottish Literature is the most comprehensive reference guide to Scotland's literature, covering a period from the earliest times to the early 1990s. It includes over 600 essays on the lives and works of the principal poets, novelists, dramatists critics and men and women of letters who have written in English, Scots or Gaelic. Thus, as well as such major writers as Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas, Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Hugh MacDiarmid, the Companion also lists many minor writers whose work might otherwise have been overlooked in any survey of Scottish literature. Also included here are entries on the lives of other more peripheral writers such as historians, philosophers, diarists and divines whose work has made a contribution to Scottish letters. Other essays range over such general subjects as the principal work of major writers, literary movements, historical events, the world of printing and publishing, folklore, journalism, drama and Gaelic. A feature of the book is the inclusion of the bibliography of each writer and reference to the major critical works. This comprehensive guide is an essential tool for the serious student of Scottish literature as well as being an ideal guide and companion for the general reader.

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy in a Nutshell provides a concise overview of a popular therapeutic approach, starting with the ABCDE Model of Emotional Disturbance and Change. Written by leading REBT specialists, Michael Neenan and Windy Dryden, the book goes on to explain the core of the therapeutic process: - Assessment - Disputing - Homework - Working through - Promoting self-change. As an introduction to the basics of the approach, this updated and revised edition of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy in a Nutshell is the ideal first text and a springboard to further study.

"Scottish Skalds and Sagamen explores a previously neglected but important aspect of Scotland's literary history: the influence of Viking culture on modern Scottish literature. The book illustrates, firstly, how the Viking invasions and settlements have made a lasting impact on the history, languages and cultures of Scotland and how, from the very beginning, Scotsmen made a distinct and important contribution to the dissemination of Old Norse culture in Britain and played a significant role in the creation of the notion of a Norse ethos." "Secondly, and more importantly, the book illustrates in detail how a consciousness of this Norse heritage has influenced nine major Scottish writers of this century: Hugh MacDiarmid, Lewis Grassie Gibbon, Neil Gunn, John Buchan, Naomi Mitchison, David Lindsay, Eric Linklater, Edwin Muir and George Mackay Brown, throwing new light on aspects of Scottish identity and literary trends, especially in the period of the Scottish Renaissance 1920-50. Scottish Skalds and Sagamen provides a new and stimulating contribution to the ongoing debate on the nature and sources of modern Scottish identity and Scottish literature." [4ème de couverture].