Scottish Successes: Emma Blair & Jessica Stirling

Both men have become Scottish Success Stories by writing commercial historical fiction, romantic novels often set in Scotland. Historically, many women wrote under a man's name in order to be taken more seriously – writers such as George Eliot and the Brontë sisters, for instance. And some authors have tried to hide their identity behind neutral initials, such as our own J.K. Rowling and A.L. Kennedy. 150 years ago the Paisley poet William Sharp adopted the name Fiona MacLeod for some of his work; a pretence he found increasingly difficult to sustain.

Interestingly, both Blair and Stirling are quite upfront about their gender on their web pages, although Iain Blair hid his true name for eleven years. Is this all really necessary? Do authors need to hide behind pseudonyms? If we're not going to judge a book by its cover, is it acceptable to judge by the sex of the author?

Or should we just sit back, enjoy the story, and not worry about the gender of the writer?

Iain Blair

Iain Blair was raised in Glasgow but emigrated to America, aged 11, after his mother's death. Since then he as lived in Milwaukee, Glasgow and Sydney, and now lives in Devon. He has had careers as an insurance clerk, a journalist, a beach lifeguard and an actor.

During his twenty-year acting career he wrote a series of plays for theatre and television. When his publishers took on Where No Man Cries they insisted that it would sell better written as a woman, so Iain was changed to Emma.

• Complete Emma Blair bibliography

Hugh C Rae

Jessica Stirling's story is rather different. Hugh C. Rae had been writing pulp crime novels for a number of years. His publisher was looking for a new writer for a list of women's historical fiction and approached Rae. He agreed, but felt he needed a writing partner and found long time friend Peggie Coghlan. Together they forged a writing partnership and created Jessica Stirling, with Coghlan providing many of the stories and the historical research, and Rae bringing his writing and editing skills.

After Peggie Coghlan fell ill and moved away from Glasgow, Rae took over writing "for" Jessica Stirling full time.

• Complete Jessica Stirling bibliography

Blair's novels are set in Scotland, England, Australia and South Africa, often against the backdrop of conflicts such as WWII or the Spanish Civil War, and especially during the inter-war period. Most of Stirling's works are set in Glasgow and central Scotland, in both the 19th and 20th centuries.