Music has always had its place in literature and a number of contemporary writers, including authors such as Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner and Sarah Champion have cleverly used the music scene as a cultural touchstone and as a way of exploring contemporary mores. In this month's special feature we examine how writers delve into the significance of music upon their characters' psyche, their physical and emotional responses to what they hear, and the environment in which they hear it. Youth culture, sexual attraction, drugs and bravado feature in these stories of contemporary life.

Jacqueline Crooks 'Moose'

Jacqueline Crooks's prose goes deep into the heart of a clubland that features dub music and allows the characters to be connected with their friends, their Caribbean heritage and a sense of identity that they can not always locate. It also reveals the clash of hope and heartache as nights out, initially filled with longing and potential, can turn out very differently from that which is anticipated.

Robert Ewing 'Rapture of the Deep'

Robert Ewing's short story creates an impression of a shallow and nihilistic existence where appearances are everything and identity is based on income, possessions and image. It also explores the tenuous nature of a life and the surprising outcomes that can quickly effect a dramatic change.

Karen McCarthy 'If I was a Buddhist I'd Chant for Your Happiness'

Karen McCarthy's wise and witty poem reflects upon the rituals that we employ in everyday life to help us deal with the challenges we face. Some people, like Buddhists, may have a formal ritual, while others are left to a more informal way of dealing with their personal difficulties. Karen McCarthy's words suggest a willingness and openness to look beyond the surface in quirky but significant ways.

Karen McCarthy

Karen McCarthy has presented her work at a variety of venues, including the Barbican and the South Bank Centre in London, Bath Literature Festival and the International Festival of Women in Slovenia. Her poetry is published in books, magazines, in the London Underground and on a bottle of single-malt whisky.  Spread the Word published her chapbook, The Worshipful Company of Pomegranate Slicers, to conclude her residency there in 2005. She is a contributing editor at the literary journal Wasafiri and has edited two critically acclaimed anthonologies, Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry (Women's Press 1998) and Kin (Serpent's Tail 2004).

Robert Ewing

Robert Ewing is a 34-year-old GP living in Edinburgh. In the past year his fiction has appeared in Northwards Now, Chapman and Libbon and on BBC Radio Scotland. He is currently working on a novel set in the Scottish Highlands and London during the Victorian era.

Photo © Robert Ewing

Jacqueline Crooks

Jacqueline Crooks was born in Jamaica and grew up in London. She has an MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths College. She runs creative-writing mentoring projects for young people. She has completed a collection of linked short stories and is now working on a novel.

Photo © John Dempsie

Illustration © Maurizio Marmorato