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Home / Publications / Books / Free Publications

Free Publications

A complete list of the books available as free downloads from ASL.

The Amateur Emigrant

by Robert Louis Stevenson 
Introduction by Julia Reid

Robert Louis Stevenson’s vivid, sharp, and thoroughly engaging account of his (impoverished) travels to and across America. This booklet contains the first five chapters of part one, “From the Clyde to Sandy Hook”. 

As It Was Told to Me

Three short stories by Sir Walter Scott 
Introduction by Daniel Cook

As It Was Told to Me collects three of Scott’s short stories in one volume. ‘My Aunt Margaret’s Mirror’ mixes a tale of reckless romance with supernatural theatrics; ‘The Two Drovers’ offers a slow-burn exposé of national conflict; and ‘Wandering Willie’s Tale’ weaves a tale around the grisly death of a despotic laird and a trip to hell.  

Back to the Future: Negotiating Scottish Sites of Memory, 1707 / 2014

by Leith Davis

Both the 1707 Act of Union and the recent Scottish independence referendum took place in eras of rapid media transition: Professor Leith Davis compares representations of Scotland, England and the Union in 1707 and 2014.

Bessie Dunlop, the Witch o Dalry

by John Hodgart

Based on the historical record of Bessie’s ‘confession’ to witchcraft in sixteenth-century Scotland, Bessie Dunlop, the Witch o Dalry is a three-act play for schools suitable for BGE and S3–S4 students.

The Devil I Am Sure

Three Short Stories by James Hogg 
Introduction by David Robb

In the three supernatural stories in this volume – “Mary Burnet”, “The Brownie of the Black Haggs”, and “Strange Letter of a Lunatic” – James Hogg demonstrates his mastery of the craft of storytelling, and his understanding of the quirks, possibilities, and dark undercurrents of human psychology. 

Fables

by Robert Louis Stevenson
Introduction by William Gray

Published after Stevenson’s death, these strange little stories offer what the author called “tail foremost moralities”. Peculiar and provocative, graceful, funny, sometimes eerie, and always beautiful, Stevenson’s Fables are true masterpieces of art, wit, and style.

Literary Scotland: A Traveller’s Guide

by Alan Riach

Featuring everything from the castle where Bram Stoker penned Dracula to the heights of Ben Dorain, Literary Scotland: A Traveller’s Guide highlights 60 fascinating literary locations throughout the country, including the stunning settings for world-famous novels, the scenery that inspired poets and the birthplaces of some of the country’s most distinguished writers.

The Mannie and Ither Stories

by James Robertson

Four stories in Scots, suitable for readers in secondary schools – “Black Cuddy”, “The Mannie”, “Naebod’d Seen Him”, and “The Deil”. 

Our Multiform, Our Infinite Scotland

by Ian Brown

Our Multiform, Our Infinite Scotland considers the global reach of Scottish literary icons such as Jekyll and Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, Peter Pan and others, exploring how they have become central elements in “English Literature”.

Sins and Follies

Three Short Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson

Three tales of dastardly deeds by Robert Louis Stevenson: “A Lodging for the Night”; “Markheim”; and “The Body-Snatcher”. 

Strange Tales

Three Uncanny Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Association for Scottish Literary Studies presents three uncanny stories by Robert Louis Stevenson: “Thrawn Janet”; “The Tale of Tod Lapraik”; and “The Bottle Imp”. These eerie tales of witches, warlocks, and demonic pacts are outstanding examples of the storyteller’s art.

FREE AUDIO FILES ALSO AVAILABLE

Tartan Noir, or, Hard-Boiled Heidegger

by Matthew Wickman

Matthew Wickman investigates the philosophical underpinnings of “Tartan Noir” – with specific reference to William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw novels.

Three Stories

by R. B. Cunninghame Graham

Introduction by Jenni Calder

Three short stories by R. B. Cunninghame Graham – “A Hegira”, “The Gold Fish”, and “Beattock for Moffat” – about journeys and frontiers, tenacity, loss, and death.

Was There Ever a ‘British’ Literature?

by Alan Riach

‘Was There Ever a ‘British’ Literature?’ is a provocative essay exploring national identities, languages, and allegiances.

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Retrieving and Renewing: a poem for ASL

   Forget your literature? – forget your soul.
   If you want to see your country hale and whole
   Turn back the pages of fourteen hundred years.
   Surely not? Oh yes, did you expect woad and spears?
   In Altus Prosator the bristly blustery land
   Bursts in buzz and fouth within a grand
   Music of metrical thought. Breathes there the man
   With soul so dead—? Probably! But a scan
   Would show his fault was ignorance:
   Don’t follow him. Cosmic circumstance
   Hides in nearest, most ordinary things.
   Find Scotland – find inalienable springs.
  Edwin Morgan, 2004

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