‘Each story is like a perfectly crafted art song, no froth, no candy-pop, just clever, diamond-hard ejaculations of love, despair and ki.’ - Suhayl Saadi
‘this wasabi-sharp debut demonstrates the poise, and the abandon, of a major new talent’ – The Scotsman
‘Escalator is an intense, yet understated affair . . . Wonderfully, [Gardiner] squeezes tension and desperation out of the sparest prose style.’ – The Herald
Escalator is Michael Gardiner’s stunning fiction debut. Sparsely written and beautifully observed, these stories resist cliché and overstatement, and refuse to judge their subjects, presenting a compelling glimpse under the skin of an enigmatic country. Against the hectic, densely packed and colourful background of twenty-first century Japan, Gardiner explores the triumphs and trivialities of human life. In the title story, which was shortlisted for the Scotsman / Orange Short Story Award, Shinya is surprised to find himself on the career conveyer belt totally unaware of his destination, while in ‘Model’, a young Japanese student blithely lives her life under 24-hour surveillance in order to pay her way through one of Japan’s ‘prestigious’ universities.
Born in Scotland in 1970, Michael Gardiner has studied in Oxford, London, St Andrews and Tokyo. He is currently visiting fellow at Aberdeen University. His previous publications include Modern Scottish Culture and From Trocchi to Trainspotting: Scottish Critical Theory Since 1960.
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