Vagabonds

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This series covers novels, poetry, plays, short stories and a little non-fiction originally written in English. It is also our intention to find work by unpublished writers, particularly those resident in Scotland.

The first title in this series is Allan Cameron’s In Praise of the Garrulous, an examination of the place of language, both spoken and written, in what it means to be human. Click on the title for more information and to buy a copy on line.

A non-fiction work, Freudian Slips. The casualties of psychoanalysis from the Wolf Man to Marilyn Munroe, was published on 30 March 2009. This sensational examination of the effects of psychoanalysis starting with Freud's own cases is essential reading for anyone who wishes to know more about the influence of an inspired thinker who was however somewhat cavalier with the scientific method. The author Luciano Meccacci, who is the head of psychology at Florence University, has written a highly accessible study of Freud, his epigones and their methods.

On 8 June, Vagabond Voices published a novel by the celebrated Scottish writer, Allan Massie. Like The Death of Men, one of Allan Massie’s best novels, Surviving is set in contemporary Rome. The main characters, Belinda (the heroine of Massie’s second novel, The Last Peacock), Kate, an author specializing in studies of the criminal mind, and Tom Durward, a scriptwriter, attend an English-speaking group of Alcoholics Anonymous. All have pasts to cause embarrassment or shame. Tom sees no future for himself and still gets nervous “come Martini time”. Belinda embarks on a love-affair that cannot last. Kate ventures on more dangerous ground by inviting her latest case-study, a young Londoner acquitted of a racist murder, to stay with her. There is another murder, but this is not a murder mystery. What matters is the response of the characters to catastrophe. The atmosphere of Rome is lovingly evoked. The dialogue, in which the characters reveal themselves or seek to avoid doing so, is sharp and edgy.

On 22 September, we published Allan Cameron's collection of poetry, Presbyopia, which includes some Italian poems and an essay on the need for poetry to move away from its two-centuries-old obsession with "self-as-subject" as Seamus Heaney has defined it.