Rebel Inc. is a revived once iconic Scots counter-culture publishing company and literary journal, founded by Kevin Williamson in 1992 with the upfront but accurate slogan of "F*** the Mainstream!". Duncan Mclean, Gordon Legge, Barry Graham and Sandie Craigie were involved in setting it up. For a time Sandie was its co-editor. It adroitly managed to tap into the darker undercurrent of Scottish society in the post- Thatcher era, capturing its counter-cultural rejection of mainstream values in its ethos. ''Rebel Inc Magazine'' ran to five issues between 1992 and 1994, publishing new work by writers such as

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...

Alan Warner Alan Warner (born 1964) is a Scottish novelist who grew up in Connel, near Oban. His notable novels include '' Morvern Callar'' and ''The Sopranos'' – the latter being the inspiration for the play '' Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour'' and its ...

, Laura Hird, Toni Davidson and John King before any of them had books in print. Issue 4 featured an infamous 'Ecstasy Interview' - an unedited conversation between Kevin Williamson and

whilst both editor and writer were under the influence of the psychoactive drug, MDMA. In his blog of February 2008, Kevin Williamson wrote "I pulled a stunt on Radio Scotland which satisfied the Malcolm McLaren criteria of "establishing the name", as related to one of the finest exploitation movies of all time: ''The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle''." In 1996, following the success of ''Trainspotting'' by

, Rebel Inc. was incorporated into the

Canongate Books Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner '' Life of Pi''. Canongate wa ...

stable of independent publishers. A steady stream of eclectic but edgy releases then ensued, with out-of-print editions by the likes of Alexander Trocchi and Sadegh Hedayat, themselves substantially influential on many of the recent darker Scots authors like Welsh and

. It also brought on a new generation of foreign writers such as

Henry Baum Henry Baum (born June 29, 1972) is an American writer, blogger and musician and is considered part of the Rebel Inc. writing movement. Career Baum is the author of five novels and several published short stories and prose. His book ''Oscar ...

, Joel Rose and Ray Loriga, who shared its outlook nonetheless. The Rebel Inc. imprint came to a premature end as a result of increasing friction between Williamson and Canongate over the creative and commercial direction of the imprint, which led to Williamson's resignation and departure from the company in January 2001. The imprint ended abruptly at the very height of its success although Canongate would later claim this was due to financial restructuring. Many of Rebel Inc.'s titles and authors were subsequently transferred into the main Canongate itinerary. In 2012 Williamson announced plans to revive Rebel Inc. on its 20th anniversary.

References

External links

BBC profileCanongate's site
Defunct literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1992 Magazines disestablished in 1994 1992 establishments in Scotland 1994 disestablishments in Scotland {{UK-lit-mag-stub