William Neil Scott was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, but spent the majority of his life in Calgary, Alberta. Scott completed a BA Honours Degree in English, with a Concentration in Creative Writing, at the University of Calgary. He is currently finishing a writing course at the Vancouver Film School. He has worked in a variety of jobs to finance his education, including being a framer, a painter, a geological soil sampler, and a data delivery technician.
"William Neil Scott's Wonderfull is an engaging journey into a world composed of equal parts rocky Atlantic shoreline and fog-shrouded magic. That irresistible blend draws the enchanted reader into a world where dead relatives play dominoes in the kitchen and radios transmit tantalizing scraps of private conversations. ... This beautifully written novel is Scott's first, and it is a promising -- no, shining -- debut for the Calgarian. Magic realism is a tricky thing: the author must enchant us so thoroughly that we eagerly enter a dream world where the oddest things seem happen in perfectly unremarkable ways. For the most part, Scott performs this balancing act expertly, in prose reminiscent of Salman Rushdie or Louis de Bernieres in its depiction of redemptive relationships offset by the dark whispers of human selfishness. His characters are richly drawn, possessing equal parts magic and realism, making them not just ethereal, but goofily endearing. ...a remarkable, lyrical tale..." -- Leslie Beaton Hedley, Calgary Herald, Sunday, December 2, 2007. "On this really bleak November day, I urge you to get yourself a copy of this book. ... It's the best book I've read in 2007 and right up there with my favourite books ever." -- Amanda Earl, http://amandaearl.blogspot.com/2007/11/wonderfull-by-william-neil-scott.html. Shortlisted for the 2008 Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. The jury says: "Scott follows the tradition of Canadian magic realism in a first novel brimming with quirky writing that would seem forced in less capable hands. The novel has huge scope - bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside and covering the entire lifecycle of a magical town - without ever sacrificing intimacy or detail." To view full shortlist: http://www.sunburstaward.org/2008_Shortlists.htm.
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