Trotter's 'clever and subversive' debut to Granta

Granta Books is to publish Muscle, a "very clever and subversive" debut novel by Canongate's Alan Trotter.

Publishing director Alex Bowler acquired world English rights on an exclusive offer from Chris Wellbelove at Aitken Alexander. The novel, which tells the story of two henchmen in a nameless noir city, was awarded the inaugural Sceptre Prize as a work-in-progress.

Bowler described the work as "a very clever, subversive piece of literature fitted inside something genre-shaped". He added: "It’s fast, dark, comic and satisfying, and the work of a major talent – a distinctive new voice with a distinctive imagination, who will put readers in mind of Burgess, Vonnegut and more recently Kevin Barry and Patrick de Witt."

Trotter lives in Edinburgh and is currently digital content editor at publisher Canongate. He said: "I couldn’t imagine a better home for Muscle than Granta. Already, in its pre-life, lots of people have kindly encouraged the book on its way, and that first Chris at Aitken Alexander and then Alex – and everyone at Granta – should have responded to it so enthusiastically, is sheer delight. I can’t wait."

Granta will publish in 2019.