Neil Munro (1863 - 1930) was a Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic. He is now mainly known for his humorous short stories, originally written under the pen name Hugh Foulis. The best known were about the fictional Clyde puffer the Vital Spark and her captain Para Handy, but they also included stories about the waiter and kirk beadle Erchie MacPherson, and the travelling drapery salesman Jimmy Swan. They were originally published in Glasgow newspapers, but collections were published as books. A key figure in literary circles, Munro was a friend of the writers J. M. Barrie, John Buchan, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham and Joseph Conrad, and the artists Edward A. Hornel, George Houston, Pittendrigh MacGillivray and Robert Macaulay Stevenson. In this book: The Vital Spark, 1905 In Highland Harbours with Para Handy, 1911 Hurricane Jack of The Vital Spark, 1923 Bud, A Novel, 1907