Burials and Other Stories
A Collection of Scottish Short Stories
“a dark and very well-crafted mini thriller, with a finely-drawn detective protagonist who must seek to understand the disturbed mind of her main suspect in order to solve the crime.” – RACHEL SEIFFERT, author, on “Burials”
“a hugely impressive piece of work. Rarely will you read a piece of flash fiction that gets so much into such a short space.” – CLIO GRAY, author, on “Man Walks Into a Bar”
“a tour de force of accumulated impressions and heightened perceptions that convey the way death changes everything and nothing … a poignant short story that immerses its reader in well-conveyed impressions of a particular time and place.” – WRITING MAGAZINE on “Whisky Night”
The fiction in Burials and Other Stories is rooted in Scotland and, in particular, Perthshire, detailing its physical beauty, its history, its people. Ranging from 1832 to the present day, these twenty intertwined stories offer a study of community and kinship, the need to belong and the pain of disconnection. Burials and Other Stories is, at turns, uproariously funny and devastatingly moving, revealing the complexities of lives spent negotiating with the ghosts of the past, the present and the future.
Suffused with the keen sense of place and historical accuracy for which Rob McInroy’s novels are highly-regarded, Burials and Other Stories is a powerful collection of literary short stories.
Click here for more information about the individual stories in the collection.
Promotional Videos
Get a taste for some of the stories in the collection with these short promotional videos.
Joss-n-Jules Forever
At the top of Kinnoull Hill, highest point for miles, the wind gusted and circled. The light was pale. Around them, the Strathearn valley lay revealed, fields resolving into green and gold and yellow, hedges and dykes, stands of oak and beech and birch, the river’s eccentric meander, lazy like the unfurling of eternity.
Peewit
‘Hear that? Thon loud shriek? That’s a peewit.’ He grabbed her arm, pointing. ‘Doon there, see?’
The bird was sitting on its nest, virtually hidden in rush grass. Only the brisk twisting of its neck and a glint from its eye gave it away. They crouched and watched.
Fresh Watter
‘Wee Boab’, abody called me at school. Faither was near sixty and didnae let me mix wi other laddies. They werenae couth, he said. So I didnae hae ony friends. I was juist wee auld-fashioned Boab wi his funny words and short breeks and baggy jumper wi patches all ower it.
Evanescence
The balusters were elongated and vaguely pained like Giacometti figures. She recalled there was one whose head was missing.
Brainspotting
I’d hae been okay if it hadnae been for that fuckin heidbang Nietzsche comin roon. Trouble wi that bam is he’s that fuckin sure ay himsel. Ye’d think a bastart whit spent the last twenty years ay his life in a fuckin loony bin widnae be so cocksure, eh? But no oor Freddyboy. ‘Achtung! Achtung! I teach you ze Superman, zeig heil.’
Launch event
27 November 2024, AK Bell Library
Burials and Other Stories was given a great launch in Perth on 27 November, with a knowledgeable and friendly audience asking questions and listening to readings from the stories.
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