“The Brilliant and Forever” by Kevin McNeil is sadly neglected in this day and age. It is indeed brilliant (whether it is forever is more questionable but I hope it is around for a very long while.) McNeil started out as a poet and then published “The Stornoway Way”. I thought that a bit of a "poets novel"; there was some excellent writing and he described a Stornoway recognisable to me (entirely unromantacised which makes a change) but I did not think it was entirely satisfying as a story. “The Brilliant and Forever” goes up several gears. A truly brilliant bit of writing that is quite unlike anything else. That is something in itself but it is a really fun, inventive, clever, thought provoking story. Or rather stories because it is a sort of nest containing numerous short stories, none of which much resemble any others. “The Brilliant and Forever” of the title being a writing competition and all the entries in that are part of the book. There are also nods to Italo Calvino. However, the nearest thing I have read to it is probably Flann O'Brien's “The Third Policeman”. Apart from the... well, I am not sure if you would call it Magic Realism or Absurdist elements, there is something in the tone - it manages to be ridiculous (in a good way) and menacing at the same time, which is quite a trick to pull off. And quite different to The “Stornoway Way” which is grimly realistic.

It isn't perfect. I don't want to caste doubt on its quality by my nit-picking hypercritical ways (and to do so would involve spoilers) - but I think he could get even better yet, he is still a young guy. And it is good indeed. ( )

Enjoyable but in the end disappointing. The device of a literary festival gives the author the opportunity to write a short story collection rather than the chapters of a novel. The linking narrative is surreal and amusing but an idea that is thrown away and undeveloped. Potential unrealised unfortunately. ( )