The Seven Wonders of Scotland, edited by Gerry Hassan

The Seven Wonders of Scotland brings together seven authors’ imagined Scotlands of the future – examining fantastical worlds where Rannoch Moor houses a Pleasure Palace and we’ve fathomed a solution to global warming. Treading the line between utopia and dystopia, the stories comment heavily on contemporary Scotland. Glasgow Flourishing portrays a self sufficient Glasgow: waste lands are converted into orchards, livestock graze in Queen’s Park and Byres Road is actually a byre. With free food growing everywhere Glasgow is closing the poverty gap that makes the UK the fourth most unequal country in the developed world. The Sectarium explores a Scotland where sectarian expression is illegal outwith the Sectarium. Here the churches sit abandoned while the Protestants and Catholics who refuse re-education compete in a bloody version of football, highlighting the lack of faith in a religious divide now entirely focused on hate. Amongst the provocative social commentary the collection offers some lightheartedness in The Burrows, which derides the predictability of the modern Scot. When abandoned subway tunnels are connected to create a subterranean country Scotland simply repeats itself below ground. High street chains line the streets, ramblers seek out unpopulated caves and rumours abide that Robert the Bruce once passed through. [Rowena McIntosh]