Gordon Legge is not as well known as some of those he is marketed with as part of the modern Scottish literary scene. While Irvine Welsh and Alan Warner have had novels adapated for motion pictures, Legge's writing, despite its similarity to the early films of Bill Forsyth, remains little known. This is a pity because Legge has produced some fine modern fiction.

His writing has a humanity and gentle wit that the writing of Irvine Welsh and others lacks. Legge is particularly comfortable in the short story form, and this collection of short stories is particularly impressive.

From the titles (such joys as "At last, a story about my bike", "I've got no friends but I've a cat called napalm death" and "When I heard about the Mars Bar the shop was shut") through each carefully chosen word Legge is a writer to watch. His vignettes of life are like small paintings chronicling the every day existence of his characters.

Legge also seems to like, if not love, his characters, the sort of people often ignored by much contemporary literature. Inhabitants of small towns in central Scotland, they are working people, or those subject to years of unemployment. Despite their economic degradation these people maintain their humour, they maintain their basic humanity. Often though Legge writes about their hobbies, their football, their love. Some stories are written in the first person, others in the third. Legge can demonstrate his ability to write experimental fiction with the best of them (his editorial asides in "at last a story about my bike"). But he does not rely on stylistic quirks, instead uses character to make his point.

TO describe Legge's work in this way maks him appear to follow a dour central Scottish calvinist model. But that is misleading. His book is funny. The humour stems from character and we do not laugh at those who populate his stories. We laugh with them.

Particularly impressive is his Life on A Scottish Council estate.

Legge's later work grows steadily more assured, and in this collection and in his collection "Near Neighbours" there are some beautiful stories which remind this reader of a Scottish Raymond Carver. For any short story writer there can surely be no higher praise.

If you enjoy Carver's fiction give Legge a try.

I tracked this down because I'd read and loved Legge's short story "Pop Life" in the Children of Albion Rovers collection. Here, he really emphasizes the short side of things, as 33 stories are crammed into 152 pages. Ranging from a half page to twelve pages, the stories are full-on Scot-centric. In general, the longer the story was, the more I liked it. If you want to sample a novel of his, try The Shoe.

Set in a town halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Legge's first novel follows the bright-yet-unemployed Archie and his three friends: Davie (married and very domestic), the Mental Kid (loud and annoying), and Richard (possessor of a record collection insured for 10,000 pounds). Over three days they wander around arguing about football and music in this affectionate portrayal of a certain segment of a generation. Legge's young men are much more relaxed and docile than those of Irvine Welsh's world, for Legge's short fiction check out In Between Talking About the Football, and his excellent story in Children of Albion Rovers.