Fiction - Novels and Short Stories
Another World is Possible (2007) was first written as an online serial and first published as a paperback in 2008. Told in an episodic form that will have you wondering just who is telilng the story and indeed just whose story it is till the very last page, this is a unique and interesting take on narrative psychology and the creation of identity. The story takes us from 1960's Dublin, via London, Beijing and Cuba as we puzzle whether it's possible that Roisin really is Che Guevara's love child, or whether another story entirely is being unfolded.
“A remarkable book with a truly original story line which probes questions of identity and truth. (Mary Smith; Burnt Chickens and Macaroni, No More Mulberries.) Cally Phillips is a unique and interesting writer (Ingrid Ricks; Focus, Hippie Boy) |
Brand Loyalty (2010) is an Orwellian dystopia for a brave new technological world. Nike, Helen and Pryce all have their own problems dealing with a world in which the Ultimate corporation has registered, trademarked and copyrighted their very existence. A vision of a world which is an all too frighteningly real possibility.
Brand Loyalty is overtly and intelligently Orwellian…. The crushing of curiosity and individuality satirised by Dickens amid the surroundings of the Industrial Revolution is directly analogous to the post-Marxian processes favoured by the ULTIMATE® Corporation. .. chilling but brilliant (Julia Jones; Strong Winds Trilogy, Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory) The most challenging, disturbing and fascinating book I’ve read for quite some time. It deserves to be widely read (Rosalie Warren; Charity’s Child, Alexa’s Song.) |
The Threads of Time (2003) Cally Phillips first novel tells the story of Paul Mackie, a young field archaeologist who digs up much more than he bargains for. Set in the beautiful (but muddy) South West of Scotland Paul falls in love with not one but two women and his life becomes ever more complicated, with unpredictably devastating results. The revised paperback version will be available later in 2013 to mark the 10th anniversary of the original publication.
An exceptional novel, with a strange quality of warmth, which juxtaposes beautifully with the meticulous structure and detail of the prose…The book haunts when it is closed and put aside, in a way that I suspect may be permanent, and while reading there are moments of penetrating revelation where a hushed stillness and centre seems to have been suddenly discovered by the author and transmitted into the spirit of the future reader. (John A.A. Logan: The Survival of Thomas Ford, Storm Damage) |
Short Story Collections
Voices in ma Heid (2012) Five short stories which are written in Scots and designed for the adult readers. They cover those perennial Scots topics: football, sex, drink and politics.Available as an ebook in Kindle and epub formats.
An enticing mixture of the dark, the humorous and the moving…. Cally’s stories are always vividly visual and The Stabbin O’ Rizzio is no exception. We feel with and for the narrator, who tells a hideously sad tale of exploitation, abuse and violence in an almost matter-of-fact tone which nevertheless grows in power until the devastating ending. (Catherine Czerkawska; The Curiosity Cabinet, Bird of Passage.) “Cally Phillips is a courageous writer. Would that many more Scots authors had the courage to write like this. Would that many more readers in Scotland and beyond appreciated the writing” (Brendan Gisby; The Bookie’s Runner, The Island of Whispers) |
It Wisnae me (2012) Another handful of short stories in Scots but this time it’s personal. The first person narrator lets us share some of her most intimate childhood secrets.
Two qualities in particular make this collection stand out.The first is the gradual maturing of the voice from naïve youngster in the opening tale to knowing, almost world-weary teenager by the close of the final tale, a feat that could only be accomplished by a highly skilled writer. The second is the emergence of a non-conformist, a rebel. Here we have, I’m certain, the origins of the spirit of Cally Phillips. (Brendan Gisby; Bookie’s Runner etc) Her prose is always written with a playwright’s ear for dialogue, which is one of the reasons why I like it so much. These stories are in Scots, a wonderful, vivid, living, East Coast Scots and once you get your ‘ear’ in you can practically hear the narrator herself... The stories are also a faithful, and at times painful, depiction of young female experience. (Catherine Czerkawska; Ice Dancing, The Physic Garden) |