There's a role for Tain in writer Nina's latest science-fiction novel
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A Ross-shire town plays its part in the latest novel by Bute-based writer Nina Allan.
Conquest is sci-fi writer Nina’s latest novel which is built around a disappearance and the mystery that follows it and the searches carried out when an obscure science fiction from the 50s seems to offer some clues.
Coder Frank loves the order of Bach and patterns, but his girlfriend Rachel becomes concerned for him as irrational ideas start to fascinate him and link him to a group of people who share his views. Her search for Frank brings her closer to a private detective, Robin.
Nina talks about how Tain plays its part.
Q How did the story of this book start for you?
A My partner Chris is also a writer and we moved to Scotland just over six years ago. I am just fascinated by Scotland and want to learn as much as I can about the landscape and the history especially. I don’t drive so I go everywhere by train.
The year before lockdown I made my first journey on the Far North Line all the way to Thurso and wanted to see the Flow Country and the far north coast and did a trip to Orkney when I was there. On the line north of Inverness, it becomes fascinating because it is that single track. I tell my English friends that when you leave Queen Street station in Glasgow, you still have seven hours to go before you get to the top of Scotland! And Tain is obviously on that line. I look out and I absorb the landscape and the townscapes I see and was always intrigued by this town I would see when I looked out.
Q So Tain began to stand out?
A I found out it was Scotland’s oldest burgh, and a bit about the history of the quarry and Morangie Forest. I thought this would be an interesting location for some characters I wanted to be in an out of the way place [in Conquest] and doing an out-of-the-way thing and no-one would necessarily know who they were, what they were doing or why they were there! Tain just seemed ideal for my purpose.
Q Did you have to come back and spend more time in the town?
A Yes. Once I got it in my head, I went back and I stayed a couple of days. In the novel,there are walks the characters go on, to certain locations. I did them all. It was always really important to me to have my feet on the ground. A sense of a place is really important to me, so that’s what I did! The forest which was a big laird’s hunting forest, there is still some of the original forest where you can walk and in awareness of environmental issues. There is more rewilding going on and now there is an improved awareness of what’s there and trying to enhance the environment. It is a very special place, the Durness estuary landscape. I’m looking out on the Firth of Clyde. And that landscape where the water meets the land is very special to me and you have that in Tain. There is some beautiful coastal landsape there. There is a special light too, the light of the east coast is very different from the west coast and these things were very attractive to me.
Q What time of year were you there?
A In early July – that is the time I love to be in the north, that never-night.
Q Have you been a novelist for a long time?
A I wrote stories and poems from when I was very young, seven or eight. Then I went into academia and write a lot of criticism – I review for papers and magazines. Literature has always been central to my life. I wrote seriously for publication from just over 20 years ago and built my way up from short fiction, acquiring technical skill. It’s a long apprenticeship which never ends and every book is a new adventure, a scary one.
Conquest by Nina Allan (riverrun, £18.99). Out now.
