“edinburgh tales” is literature.

Ten short stories by four debut authors in one funny book.

edinburgh tales is called edinburgh tales because they are tales from Edinburgh. It sounds stupid to say but that is the case. Nothing witty or satirical, just some short story’s by some Edinburgh locals. They are really short really fun and as authentic as it comes, but its more than that...

Who are we? Nobody really, just four free thinking free speaking Edinburgh locals. Four folk who believe that the city is lacking a cultural connect. “There is no identification with the material we read and view every day, and if there is it’s only a minute part of us. This is isolating a massive part of our culture as disconnected from the norm and it is not good enough.” We just want to talk to Edinburgh in its own tongue. We are a group of people who want to reconnect the city with a voice that it recognises.

Why are we doing this? Because nothing else will allow us to speak without censorship. “The purpose of Madink is to give creative control back to the writer and to praise them for their assets and defects alike.” Plus we don’t believe in the ugly pop-song-formula that owns the book market just now. We don’t care about saleability or if it suits the markets manufactured trends. We want current, raw and authentic work that truly represents the time and place of its birth. “If you want to look like everybody ells go to topshop, if you want to read like everyone ells pick up a harry potter; but if your an oddball looking for a wacky read your looking for Madink Publishing.” Too many great writers are not getting read because cost and profit are the only morality left in big business. “I say fuck big business; let literature exist because a writer expresses it, not because it’s economically viable”

As for the book? The stories are eclectic because our city is so, they are short because life is short, they are weird because we are weird, and that’s ok. “The point of Feet for Hands is to personify how helpless we are when simple tasks prove impossibly difficult. It’s about waking up totally confused but for reasons beyond us we muddle through anyway. It’s about acceptance and life’s lack of resolution.” The other tales express similar notions in a clear and accessible way, from a prospective representative of the city as a whole. Collectively they are expressions of the extraordinary nature of mundane moments and the madness endured in everyday life.

A review: "The most striking thing about edinburgh tales is its immediacy. These stories aren't the sort of comfortable Reader's Digest fodder you might expect from a novel named after its home city; instead, they're sparking, twitching direct lines from unpublished Edinburgh authors' minds right into the reader's eyes. Rough diamonds, joyously unpolished. Also notable is the coherency; for a book with multiple authors, this collection of ten-minute reads is remarkably consistent, not in theme - which veer from courtroom dramas and touching suburban love stories to the most bizarre what-if thought experiments - but in feel. And this can only be attributed to one thing; an honest expression of the voice of the city.

Edinburgh is a literary city. It reads. It's not the sort of place to produce stark tales of urban necessity or stripped-down expressions of industrial angst. But it's also a Scottish city, with the arrestingly straight-spoken voice that this implies. Both of these are reflected admirably in edinburgh tales - Ross MacDiarmid's vibrant prose in Princes Street is a kaleidoscope of literary allusions, yet comes from the mouth of a defeated tramp. Similarly, Dean James' The Size of A Clipper Lighter has an understanding of narrative voice which is completely literary, wrapped in an understanding of Edinburgh vernacular which is completely home-grown.

Edinburgh Tales could take you an hour to read, or a month of happily dipping in and out when a break presents itself. And the brevity is a pleasure, like the book itself. Edinburgh Tales is exciting to read; the immediacy of the stories, their wackiness and energy, gives a real taste of just how much enthusiasm went into their craft. It's a little sample of just how this fascinating city actually sounds.

With compliments,
Aran Ward Sell"

£4.75 inc P&P